46 



A FEW CHEMICAL CHANGES 



denote the amount of amygdalin solution required to decolour- 

 ise 2 cc. of Pavy's solution (25 cc.=0.0151 g. CgH^Og), at 



the specified times after the instant of mixing. The tempera- 

 ture at which the action took place was 18 .5 C. 



TABLE III. 



From an examination of this table it will be seen that there 

 is a striking difference between the behaviour of solutions of 

 amygdalin acted upon by radium and those which have not been 

 so influenced. For the solutions that have been bombarded with 

 the radiations from radium, the content of glucose reaches a 

 maximum and then falls off again; but with the solutions not 

 under the influence of radium the amount of glucose present 

 increases with time and then remains constant. An effect sim- 

 ilar to this has been observed by the author 1 when acid solutions- 

 of potassium iodide made up with ordinary distilled water are 

 allowed to decompose in the sunlight or dark ; and when acid 

 solutions of potassium iodide made up with pure water (con- 

 ductivity 2.16 x 10 ), are allowed to decompose under the 

 influence of radium. In each of these cases the content of free 

 iodine reaches a maximum and then gradually falls off again. 



It would seem that the effect of the radium is to cause the 

 glucose, in some manner, to change into some new product. In 

 the case of the solution of amygdalin which has not been under 



Loc. cit. 



