ENZYMES 115 



Reinders upon lipase, invertase, diastase and emul- 

 sin, shows that there is a marked correspondence 

 between catalysis and enzyme action. By working 

 with inorganic colloidal solutions, such as platinum 

 and gold, Bredig was able to show that they had such 

 a strong resemblance to the action of enzymes that 

 he called them inorganic ferments. This corre- 

 spondence has led to the idea that ferment action is 

 due to the play of electricity which comes with the 

 metallic ions in colloidal solutions. We have seen 

 that a colloidal solution consists of very fine particles 

 which have assumed an electrical charge through 

 giving off ions, just as have electrodes. In con- 

 sequence the enzymes act pretty much like elec- 

 trodes. Some of these ferments, called catalysers, 

 determine the direction of a reaction, whether it 

 shall be oxidation and reduction or hydration and 

 splitting off of water. Such catalysers can act in 

 two directions, depending on the relationship be- 

 tween the original substance and those to be formed. 

 Amygdalin can be split into amygdalic nitril 

 glucoside and glucose under the influence of yeast- 

 maltose ; it can also be rebuilt from these con- 

 stituents by help of the same enzyme. In the living 

 organism many antagonistic reactions take place 

 under the influence of such catalysers. The syn- 

 thesis of glycogen from dextrose, and the splitting of 

 glycogen into dextrose, represents such an antago- 

 nistic reaction, in which the dextrose becomes poly- 

 merised into glycogen, with loss by the molecules of 

 H and OH ions ; " while the synthesis of starch in 

 plants and its diastatic splitting into glucose or 

 maltose represents a heterodome antagonistic reac- 



82 



