20 POISONOUS PROTEINS 



that the reducing substance is all carbohy- 

 drate. Indeed, it might be better to speak of 

 both of these groups as those responding to the 

 alphanaphthol test rather than as carbohy- 

 drates and to distinguish between them as non- 

 reducing and reducing bodies. However, it 

 seems clear that the one now under considera- 

 tion is a subgroup in the nucleinic acid constit- 

 uent of the cell substance, (c) The presence of 

 nucleinic acid is beyond doubt, as is shown by 

 the high phosphorus content of some of the 

 split products and by the demonstration of the 

 xanthine bases, (d) That one or more protein 

 groups exist in the cell substance. If all these 

 groups exist in the same molecule the cell sub- 

 stance must contain a highly complex molecule 

 which would be best designated as a glyco- 

 nucleo-protein. The fact that these bodies are 

 removed only by agents capable of causing mo- 

 lecular disruption inclines me to the belief that 

 the molecules which make the cell substance are 

 highly complex. It may be said that this is an 

 assumption and without adequate proof. On 

 the other hand, such a statement as that made 

 by Doerr, that bacterial proteins are of simple 

 molecular structure, is wholly without evi- 

 dence. Because bacteria are simple morpho- 

 logically is no proof that they are made up of 



