FERMENTATION 205 



After a short time the odor of ammonia will be 

 perceptible. The alcoholic precipitate contains a 

 ferment capable of quickly hydrating urea. 



" The alcoholic precipitate from the unfiltered 

 urine consists chiefly of various salts together 

 with the cells of the Torula, hence when treated 

 with water some of the salts are dissolved and 

 pass with the ferment through the filter. If this 

 first aqueous extract be again precipitated with 

 alcohol, a portion of the salts will be again 

 removed, and if this second precipitate be several 

 times redissolved in water and reprecipitated 

 with alcohol, the body with the ferment proper- 

 ties may be ultimately separated as an amor- 

 phous white powder soluble to a clear solution 

 in distilled water and not characterized by any 

 special chemical reactions." 



The ferment is not secreted by the cells into 

 the surrounding liquid, but is retained within the 

 cell bodies, for the living cells may be filtered off, 

 and the filtrate will not hydrate the urea. 1 



SPLITTING AND SYNTHESIS OF FATS 

 Chemistry of Fats and Soaps. When olive oil 

 is saponified, glycerine appears (Scheele, 1779). 



1 Lea : Journal of Physiology, 1885, vi, p. 138. See also 

 Musculus: Comptes rendus de 1'academie des sciences, Paris, 

 1874, Ixxviii, p. 132 ; idem, 1876, Ixxxii, p. 333 ; Archiv fur 

 die gesammte Physiologic, 1876, xii, p. 214. 



