94 BACTERIOLOGY. 



Recently Lilienfeld and Wolkowicz, with amido 

 acetic ethyl ester as a basis, have obtained a 

 kind of gelatin peptone and, by combination 

 of this synthetic body with the ethyl ester of 

 lencin and tyrosin, have built up a sulphur- 

 free body similar to proteid. Ammonia, that 

 is to say the amido group NH 2 , and formalde- 

 hyde are looked upon as the first members of 

 the series. We are now able, in order to 

 make clear the more intimate arrangement of 

 the atoms composing formaldehyde, to write 

 its formula CH.OH or to use the arrangement 

 H.COH to bring out the aldehyde group. 



If we possess ammonia for a source of nitro- 

 gen we may expect that all chemical bodies 

 which contain ready-made formaldehyde, or 

 are able to form it by simple rearrangement 

 of. the atoms can serve also as material for 

 the synthesis of carbohydrates or of the nitro- 

 gen-free group of proteids. Experience has 

 confirmed this expectation to the fullest ex- 

 tent, and especially is this true of those bodies 

 that contain the groups CH.OH or H.COH 

 (that is, COH) or that form it by loss of hydro- 

 gen (CH 2 OH H = CHOH). " 



I may call attention, however, to the fact 

 that formaldehyde itself, as already mentioned, 

 is a protoplasmic poison, since in the free con- 

 dition even in great dilution it attacks amido 



