320 BIOLOGY OF PNEUMOCOCCUS 



3. Bacteria, oval in form, that decompose the specific carbohydrate 

 of Type II Pneumococcus. To these organisms was given the species 

 name of ovale and the designation Saccharobacterium was proposed for 

 this new genus of the family Mycobacteriaceae including the microor- 

 ganisms decomposing the specific carbohydrates of Pneumococcus of 

 Types I and II. 



4. Slender rods with tapering ends that utilize the specific carbohy- 

 drate of Type I Pneumococcus, for which the authors suggested the 

 name Saccharobacterium acuminatum. 



Again from soil, Sickles and Shaw 1284 isolated another strain of 

 Bacillus palustris, which through the agency of a soluble enzyme 

 decomposed the specific carbohydrate of Type VIII Pneumococ- 

 cus. The enzyme was apparently without action on organisms of 

 Types I, II, or III. Although Type VIII specific carbohydrate 

 gave marked precipitation with Type III antiserum and, con- 

 versely, Type III carbohydrate precipitated Type VIII antise- 

 rum, it was a curious fact that the culture or enzyme that decom- 

 posed Type III carbohydrate failed to attack the polysaccharide 

 of Type VIII, and the enzyme decomposing Type VIII carbohy- 

 drate was without action on the carbohydrate of Type III pneu- 

 mococci. Here the enzymatic selectivity appears to be even greater 

 than the overlapping serological specificity exhibited by chemically 

 related but not structurally identical carbohydrates. 



DIFFERENCES IN SUSCEPTIBILITY OF POLYSACCHARIDES TO ENZY- 

 MATIC ACTION 



A possible explanation for the differences in the susceptibility of 

 pneumococcal polysaccharides to enzymatic action and in their 

 serological behavior is to be found in the recent study of Goebel 

 (1935). 519 Quoting from his communication: 



In the present study the specific polysaccharide of Type VIII pneu- 

 mococcus has likewise been shown to be constituted from molecules of 

 glucose and glucuronic acid. After hydrolysis with dilute mineral acid 

 there appear in the hydrolysate of the carbohydrate from Type VIII 



