22 BIOLOGY AND TECHNIQUE 



Analyses of the tubercle bacillus by Ruppel, 1 Hammerschlag, 2 Weyl, 3 

 and others, have yielded the following approximate results (calculated 

 from results of above-mentioned authors). 



Tubercle bacillus 



Water 85 to 86 per cent. 



Proteids 8. 5 to 9 " " 



Fat and waxes 3. 5 to 4 " " 



Ash and carbohydrates 1 .2 to 1.4 " " 



The proteids which are contained in the bacterial dry substances 

 consist partly of nucleoproteids, globulins, and proteids differing ma- 

 terially from those ordinarily met with. Ruppel, in an analysis of 

 the tubercle bacillus, obtained the following values, for 100 grams of 

 dried tubercle bacilli: 



Nucleic acid 8.5 grams. 



(Tuberculinic acid) 



Nucleoprotamin 25 . 5 " 



Nucleoproteid 23 " 



Albuminoids 8.3 " 



(Keratin, etc.) 



Fat and wax 26.5 " 



Ash 9.2 " 



A true globulin has been isolated from bacteria by Hellmich, 4 and 

 true proteids, coagulable by heat, have been demonstrated by Buchner, 5 

 in the " Presssaft " or juice obtained by subjecting bacteria to mechanical 

 pressure. In this connection, too, we should not -fail to consider the 

 thermolabile toxic substances contained in many bacteria, the endo- 

 toxins, which though of uncertain chemical nature, are probably pro- 

 teid in composition. 6 



The fats which are demonstrable both by microchemical -methods, 

 staining with Sudan III., Scharlach R., Osmic acid, and by alcohol- 

 ether extraction, consist of fatty acids, true fats, and, in the case of the 

 tubercle bacillus at least, of waxy substances. 7 



1 Ruppel, Zeit. f. physiol. Chemie, xxvi, 1898. 



Hammerschlag, Zeit. f. klin. Med., 1891. 

 Weyl, Deut. med. Woch., 1891. 



Hellmich, Arch. f. exper. Pathol., etc., xxvi. 



Buchner, Munch, med. Woch., 1897. 



Shattock, Lancet, May, 1898. 



De Schweinitz and Dorset, Cent. f. Bakt., I, xxii, 1897. 



