I QO PHYSIOLOGY OF MICROORGANISMS 



The protein substances vary in amount in different species of micro- 

 organisms. Vaughan* compares the compounds of B. coli and Bad. 

 tuberculosis indicating that no similarity of amino acids exists in the 

 protoplasm. Duclauxf has found in the analysis of yeast, 15 years old, 

 only 2.7 per cent, of nitrogen as compared with the yeast (Frohberg) 

 analyzed by Nicolle and Alilaire which contained 10 per cent, nitrogen. 

 Age, it seems from this, changed the amounts of nitrogenous material 

 present in the cell. Then, again, the medium upon which the micro- 

 organisms are cultivated has a decided influence. Cramer J determined 

 69.25 per cent, protein in Msp. comma when grown in bouillon and only 

 35.75 per cent, when grown in Uschinsky's solution. He also noted 

 that the dry matter from this organism was greater when grown at 

 body- temperature than when grown at room- temperature. 



Carbohydrates. Substances which correspond to the reactions of 

 carbohydrates have been recognized. Some of these substances 

 exist as distinctive carbohydrates and some enter into the formation 

 of compounds as gly co-proteins. Their relation to the protoplasmic 

 molecular structure and to nutritive processes is still more obscure. 



Glycogen has been reported by A. Fischer || in B. subtilis and 

 B. coli. Levene has found it in Bact. tuberculosis. Marschall in the 

 study of molds records the presence of 3.7 per cent, starch. How- 

 ever, glycogen is so much like starch that confusion has arisen. 

 Glycogen in molds and yeasts, much like that of animal glycogen, 

 is cla'med by several workers. (Glycogen has been commonly 

 known as animal starch from the time of Claude Bernard.) In proto- 

 zoa glycogen has been determined by SosnowskiU mParamecium and 

 by Biitschli in Gregarina. 



* Vaughan, V. C. and his associates, loc. cit., compare the amino acids of B. coli and Bact. 

 tuberculosis. 



B. coli, Bact. tuberculosis, 



Per cent. Per cent. 



Glutanic acid 3 - oo 0.20 



Glycocoll 0.33 o . oo 



Alanin '. i . oo i . 40 



Valin .' i. 60 4.60 



Leucin 2.00 1.82 



Phenylalanin : 0.20 0.50 



fDuclaux, E.: Kruse, "Allgemeine Mikrobiologie," p. 59. 



tCramer, E., Arch. f. Hyg. 28, i. 



||Fischer, A.: Vorlesungen iiber die Bakterien, Jena, 1903. 



Levene, Jour. Med. Research, 6, 135, 1901. Scheibler, Zeitsch. f. Rubenzuckerindustriei 

 XXIV, 309, 1874, Marschall, Arch. f. Hyg., 28, 19, 189?- 



HSosnowski, Centralblatt f. Physiologic, 13, 1899. 



