1918] 
BONNS—ETHERIZATION AND ENZYME ACTIVITY 273 
The sugar values resulting from the action of the enzyme 
dispersion on the several carbohydrates are by no means con- 
cordant, and in some respects are difficult, if not impossible, 
to account for adequately. In the case of starch, there ap- 
pears to be a consistent relation between etherization and an 
increased hydrolysis. Substrates with enzymes derived from 
both lots of etherized tissues (A 1 and C1) are respectively 
greater than the controls (B 1 and D 1). Опа priori grounds 
we should expect no greater starch conversion in the flasks 
with the previously autoclaved dispersions (A 2, B2, C2) 
than in the control, except such as might be due to hydrolysis 
by organic acids resulting from the destruction of the disper- 
sion by heat under pressure. We shall see in a consideration 
of later tables that such increased hydrolysis by the products 
resulting from disintegration by heat of the enzyme-protein 
complex appears to be highly probable. In the case of starch, 
however, the previously autoclaved dispersions seem to 
have exerted no influence, unless the falling off of the sugar 
values as compared with the control be regarded as producing 
an inhibitive or buffer action upon normal processes. 
In the case of dextrin the results are not in accord with 
those just considered, neither are the two halves of the series 
concordant. The enzyme from the extract made immediately 
after etherization has been less effective than that from its 
control; on the other hand, where the corms were allowed to 
air for 18 hours before extraction, the dispersion from the 
etherized tissues shows considerable increase in hydrolytic 
action over its control. The effect of the previously auto- 
claved dispersions appears to have no great significance here, 
but attention may be called to the marked increase in the value 
of D 2 over the other dispersions previously autoclaved. The 
same relation holds in the series with sucrose and inulin, and 
seems inexplicable, for if it were due merely to an increased 
activity resulting from the products of enzyme disintegra- 
tion, it should have the same relative value with respect to 
C 2 that B 2 has to A 2,—which is not the case. We are not 
warranted in explaining the differences in the two halves of 
this series,—immediate extraction versus extraction after air- 
