[Vor. 8 
238 ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 
the production of hydrogen sulphide to water analysis, the 
assumption having been that the hydrogen sulphide produced is 
proportional to the pollution. The literature pertaining to such 
attempts will be found in the paper by Myers (20). The fate 
of hydrogen sulphide produced in putrefactions and other pro- 
cesses under the influence of ‘‘sulphur bacteria" has also been 
investigated by several workers, chiefly Winogradsky ('87, '88), 
Keil 12), Düggeli ((19), and Skene (14). In addition to the 
hydrogen sulphide produced in putrefactions, another source of 
this compound is from the reduction of sulphates by micro- 
organisms such as bacteria and yeasts. "The literature pertaining 
to sulphate reduction by bacteria and yeasts is discussed in papers 
by Lederer (13) and Tanner (717, '18). 
An interesting phenomenon resulting from the sulphur metab- 
olism of many organisms is the deposition of sulphur in the cells. 
This has been shown for bacteria by Cramer (70), Cohn (775), 
Winogradsky ('88), Keil (12), Miyoshi (97), Hinze (703), and 
Lidforss (12). Wille (02) has denied the occurrence of sulphur 
in Thiothrix. Jonsson (’89) was the first to describe sulphur in 
the hyphae of fungi. He describes refractive bodies which are 
not sulphur, but oily bodies containing sulphur, in the hyphae of 
Penicillium glaucum growing on N/10 H,SO, solution. Raci- 
borski (06) and Kossowiez and Loew (12) have also described 
the presence of sulphur in the hyphae of fungi. 
That sulphocyanate compounds are available for the growth 
of some bacteria and fungi seems established from the work of 
Beijerinck (04), Munro ('86), Czapek (703), Puriewitsch (12), 
Kossowiez and Groóller (12), Fernbach (702), and Sauton (710), 
though Holschewnikoff (89) did not observe a decomposition of 
such compounds by bacteria, and Nägeli (82) states that am- 
monium sulphocyanate can not be assimilated by fungi. 
The relation of many organisms to the thiosulphates has been 
investigated by a considerable number of workers. Hydrogen 
sulphide is most generally produced as a result of the action of 
the organisms on these compounds as was found by Holschewni- 
koff 89), Beijerinck ('00, 704), Petri and Maassen (793), Saltet 
(00), Nathansohn (702), Sasaki and Otsuka (12), Lederer (713), 
and Tanner (17) in the case of bacteria; Neuberg and Welde 
(15), Beijerinck (795), Tanner (18), and Stange (15) in the case 
of yeasts; and Raciborski (06) and Kossowiez and Loew (712) 
