On Relationship between Stairctise phenomenon and fatigue. 289 



gligeable in comparison; but when acetic acid itself is used as 

 the catalysing acid then the acetic acid liberated during the 

 reaction considerably modifies its time-relations. Ostwald has 

 investigated this reaction and, using an equation similar to 

 that deduced above, found a highly satisfactory agreement be- 

 tween theory and experiment.^) 



Victor Henri has pointed out that the velocity of the 

 in Version of Cane Sugar by invertase does not fall oS with 

 the progress of the reaction in the proportion that it would 

 were the reaction an instance of simple catalysis, but, assuming 

 that one of the products of the reaction, the laevulose, also 

 accelerates the Inversion and introducing this factor in the 

 manner outlined above he obtained an equation which accu- 

 rately represented the experimental data.^) 



Instances of autocatalytic oxidations are afforded by the spon- 

 taneous oxidation of many metals and organic Compounds in 

 the presence of oxygen at atmospheric temperature; it has long 

 been observed that in the spontaneous oxidation of these sub- 

 stances they acquire the power of inducing oxidation in others 

 substances which are not spontaneously oxidisable, and it has 

 been shown that this action is due to the formation of per- 

 oxides which catalyse oxidations, including the oxidation of the 

 spontaneously oxidisable material itself. ') 



Other instances of autocatalysis in which one of the 



1) W. Ostwald, Joum. f. prakt. Chem. (2) 28, 449, 1883. 



2) V. Henri, Zeitschr. f. phsikal. Chem. 39, 194, 1902. 

 3)Schönbein, Verhdl. Bas. naturw. Ges. N. F. 1, 467; 2, 113; 



Joum. f. prakt. Chem. 93, 25, 1864. — Cf. also Letters of J. J. Ber- 

 zelius and C. J. Schönbein 1836 bis 1847, edited by W. A. Kahl- 

 bäum und Franzi: by J. U. Darbishire and N. V. Sidgwick, Lon- 

 don 1900. — Brodle, Phil. Trans. Roy. See. London 1850, 759. Jahresber. 

 f. Chem. 1850, 248. — Clausius, Pogg. Annalen 103, 644, 1858; 121, 

 256, 1864. — Loew, Zeitschr. f. Chem. N. F. 6, 610. — Hoppe - 

 Seyler, Zeischr. f. physikal. Chem. 2, 24, 1888; Ber. d. Deutsch, chem. 

 Ges. 12, 1551, 1879. — Baumann, Zeitschr. f. physikal. Chem. 5,244, 

 1890. _ M. Traube, Ber. d. Deutsch, chem. Ges. 15, 644, 1888. — 

 van't Hoff, Zeitschr. f. physikal. Chem; 16, 411, 1895. — Jorissen, 

 ibid. 22, 34. 1897; Engler und Wild, Ber. d. Deutsch, chem. Ges. 30, 

 1669, 1897. — Engler, ibid. 33, 1109, 1900. 



Biochemische Zeitschrift. 19 



