58 PROTEIN POISONS 



find no evidence of cellulose in bacillus subtillis, but Drey- 

 fuss 1 heated masses of this organism to 180 with concen- 

 trated alkali and from this extract obtained a substance 

 that reduced Fehling's solution and from which crystals 

 of glucosazone were prepared. From this Dreyfuss con- 

 cluded that cellulose is present. However, this conclusion 

 is hardly justifiable. Like results were obtained from 

 pyogenic bacilli. Hammerschlag 2 concluded that the 

 tubercle bacillus contains cellulose. The cell substance, 

 previously extracted with alcohol, ether, and 1 per cent, 

 potassium hydroxide, was dissolved in concentrated sul- 

 phuric acid, diluted, and boiled, after which it reduced 

 Fehling's solution. A second portion was treated with 

 potassium chlorate and nitric acid, but most of the substance 

 remained undissolved. A third portion was partly dissolved 

 in ammoniacal copper solution. Hammerschlag stated 

 that if one assumes that the nitrogenous material in the 

 tubercle bacillus is all protein and that the protein contains 

 16 per cent, of nitrogen, this bacillus contains 36.9 per 

 cent, of protein, 28.1 per cent, of cellulose, 27 per cent, of 

 substance soluble in alcohol, and 8 per cent, of ash. Nishi- 

 mura 3 thought that he found hemicellulose in a water 

 bacillus, in prodigiosus, and in staphylococcus pyogenes. 

 De Schweinitz and Dorset 4 extracted dried tubercle bacilli 

 with alcohol, digested the residue with 1.25 per cent, sodium 

 hydroxide for from forty to sixty minutes, washed the 

 residue, then digested with 1.25 per cent, sulphuric acid, 

 washed, dried, and ignited. The loss by ignition they 

 calculated should give the cellulose. Accordingly, they 

 reported 6.95 per cent, cellulose in the tubercle bacillus. 

 However, this conclusion is hardly accepted by these 

 authors themselves, since in the same paper they state that 

 cellulose is probably present in small amount in the tubercle 

 bacillus, and not present in the bacillus of glanders. Brown 5 

 boiled "the membrane" of bacterium xylinum twenty 



1 Loc. cit. 2 Loc. cit. 3 Loc. cit. 



4 Jour. Amer. Chem. Soc., 1895, xvii, 605; ibid., 1896, xviii, 449; ibid., 

 1897, xix, 782; ibid., 1898, xx, 618. 

 6 Jour. Chem. Soc., 1886, xlix, 432; ibid., 1887, li, 643. 



