CELLULOSK. v> 



lose witii tiuf cellulose, it is j(i8tifiiil)ie to nssuiiio from his ri-.-,uiu 

 tlmt j>uii« eellulosM iimHv does occur iu the c«*ll lueiuljntue of 

 fungi. An utteinpt Ui supiiort this assuiuptiuu wus uiade by 

 I. Ukeyfl'SS (I.) in 1S93. For the purpose of extnictiuf; the 

 cell contents jin<l obt«iinin^' the pure niiMuhi-in»' subst<inc<', this 

 worker employed the mcthoil given by Hoi-i-e-Seyleu (111). 

 This consisted in treniting the .specimen with ulcoitol, ether, 

 water, 2 per cent, hydrochloric iiciil, timl 2 pei' cent. cnu>tie 

 sotlii, and then heating to iSo" C with concentrated c;iu>tic 

 potiish, whereby — a.s was then .sup{>oseJ — everything except pure 

 cellulo.se was decomj)ose<l and (li.s.solveil. After acidifying the 

 cooled njolt the residue could then be sei)ai-;ited by tiltnition, 

 anil te.sted for cellulose by the reagents already .specitie<l. In 

 addition U) cultiu-es of bacteria, Dreyfuss examine^l certiiiii 

 higher fungi, viz. Ajannis cavipe^trig, Potypiniig itmrnuiUs, and 

 Axperyillns ijlaucits ; and apparently found cellulose in all of theuj. 

 In view of the greater insight since afforded into the multi- 

 plicity of the isomers and analogues of cellulose, and of which 

 the earlier workers had not the slighte.st iilea. the succe.ssors of 

 Richter iu tliis branch have found it desirable to enlarge the 

 limits of the question. Instejid of the conflict respecting the 

 identity of fungus-cellulose and true cellulose, there arose the 

 endeavour U) identify the various con.stituents of which the 

 membrane is presumably constructed ; and the search for cellu- 

 lose was relegated to a subsidiary position. For more comjue- 

 hensive inve.stigations in this respect we are indeV)te<l in the 

 first place to C. van Wisselixgii (I.i, who, in 1S9S, examined 

 no less than about a hundretl species, comprising members of 

 nearly all the orders, and most of the families, constituting the 

 fungoid kingdom. For extracting the .sjimples he substituted 

 for the above metho<^l a new one devisetl by himself, namely, 

 heating the fungus in glycerin, contained in a seaUnl tube 

 immersed in an oil bath, and raised to 300" C. within half-an- 

 hour. IJy this means the extniction is so fiu* advanced that the 

 residue can be tested for cellulo.se without opening the door to 

 any objection. Apart from the Mi/xomyfftes, with which we are 

 not concerned, Wisselingh could oidy detect the presence of 

 cellulose with certainty in two families of fungi, namel} , the 

 Sapruleipiiete and the Peronosporect, both belonging tt) the Ooiny- 

 cetc^ [I'hi/fonn/cetea, see 5$ 220). On the other hand, this carbo- 

 hydiiite could not be detectetl, either in the Zij'ioinijcttt's or in 

 any of the Mi/comi/rde.'! examined : more pai-ticularly not in Sar- 

 rharomyces cerevmce. These results agree with tluxse obtsiiiunl 

 by E. (1ILSOX (I.) in the examination of Mu'-or -. Thani- 



ui'iiiini ruh/are, and Aijaricu^< ciunpestrii^. The c; - ..lions in 

 the results of Richter and Dreyfuss will be explainetl in the 

 next panigr.iph. Substiinces pos.sibly allie<l to cellulosi*, since 

 they have many reactions in common therewith, were observe*! 

 VOL. II. t . 



