( 1066 ) 
Microbiology. — “Pigments as products of ovidation by bacterial 
action.’ By Prof. M. W. Brierinck. 
(Communicated in the meeting of February 25, 1910). 
The following experiments make it possible easily to find some 
notable bacteria more or less common in our surroundings and partly 
not observed hitherto. 
1. Formation of Protocatechetic acid from Chinic acid. 
As Léw') had shown that | proc. solutions of calcium chinate 
become brown when exposed to the air by the formation of proto- 
catechetie acid, EMMERLING and ABDERHALDEN *) have investigated this 
bioehemism bacteriologically. They neutralised 10 proe. solutions 
of chinic acid with calcium carbonate, added 0.5 proc. peptone, 
O.A proc. kalium phosphate, and 0.1 proe. magnesium phosphate, 
inoculated this mixture with a few drops of an infusion of putre- 
fying meat, and cultivated for some weeks at 39°C. They obtained 
protocatechetic acid together with a slimy bacterial mass in the 
liquid, from which it was possible to isolate a likewise slimy 
Micrococcus, which proved to be the cause of the production of the 
latter acid and was named JM. chinicus. 
The reaction goes after the formula: 
GHO A Or GRON BH, 0 
Chinic acid Protocatechetic acid 
whereby at most 12 proc. chinic acid is converted; into what the 
remaining 88 proc. change is not noted by these experimenters. It 
is remarkable that only one atom of oxygen takes part in this 
reaction. 
As the said authors had not applied in their experiments the 
so intense colouring of ferrisalis by protocatechetic acid, it seemed 
desirable to make use of it for the easier recognition of the inferred 
bacteria. 
To this end the experiment was effected as follows: 
For the rough or preliminary cultivation a liquid was used of 
the composition : 
1) Berichte der Deutschen Chem. Gesellschaft, Bd. 14, pag. 450, 1902. 
2) Ueber einen Chinasäure in Protocatechusiure überführenden Pilz. Centralblatt 
tir Bakteriol. 2te Abt. Bd. 10, Pag. 337, 1903. 
