Nov. 15, 1919 



Do Mold Spores Contain Enzyms ? 



197 



Furthermore, it must be remembered that throughout these results each 

 polarization value represents the optical activity of all three sugars 

 present — sucrose, dextrose, and levulose — and consequently can not be 

 accepted unreservedly as an adequate criterion of inversion; rather we 

 must consider the reducing sugars for such a purpose. From these 

 results it is evident that after three hours the enzymic activity of the 

 spores of A spergillus niger was alread y manifest . A microscopic examina- 

 tion of the contents of each flask was made for the purpose of detecting any 

 germination or bacterial contamination, if present. No germination or 

 contamination occurred. Thus the enzymic activity, as evidenced by 

 the reduction in polarization and increase in reducing sugars, was pro- 

 duced by the spores of the mold present. That this inversion was truly 

 enzymic is proved by the fact that when the spores were heated to 

 100°, which temperature kills all enzym activity, the inoculation induced 

 no change in the composition of the original sugar solution. 



Table I. — Analyses of 10 per cent sugar solutions inoculated with spores of Aspergillus 



niger 



[Three hours' incubation] 



