135 
present, it was thought possible that it might have come from air getting 
in during the analysis. In several of our analyses the large percentage of 
nitrogen found would have excluded this possibility. In one case, in our 
laboratory, the fermentation took place in a fermentation solution which 
had been made up in the usual way except that no peptone was used. 
Curiously enough, the percentage of nitrogen in this instance was larger 
than we found in any other. 
A paragraph from an article “On a Pure Cultivation of a Bacillus fer- 
menting Bran Infusions,” by J. T. Wood and W. H. Wilcox, B. Se., will 
show in a general way how unusual this occurrence of nitrogen is: “A 
remarkable fact in this fermentation is the evolution of free nitrogen, 
which seems to be rare, except in the case of putrefactive organisms. As 
in the vast number of fermentative decompositions due to bacteria, al- 
most the only gases found are carbonic anhydride (CO.), hydrogen, H.S 
and marsh gas.’’* 
In our laboratory this year Miss Lillian Snyder found that a species of 
bacillus associated with the pear blight, produced a considerable quantity 
of gas. The analysis of this again showed nitrogen. 
The question was raised as to whether the occurrence of nitrogen in 
these gaseous products of fermentation is really as rare as had been 
thought. An extensive series of experiments bearing on this subject are 
in progress, the results of which we hope will to some degree settle this 
point. So far our results with the same geyms and in the same solutions do 
not give the same proportions of gases. Whether this is a normal varia- 
tion or due to some causes unknown to us, we cannot say. 
The following table shows the results of analyses: 
* Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry, June 30, 1897, p. 512. 
