Experiments with Bacterial Enzymes 



137 



The particular question as to the effect of the initial reaction of 

 the medium upon enzyme production was thus answered in a some- 

 what unexpected manner. 



This experiment was repeated with another lot of carbol gelatin, 

 0.6 per cent acid, neutral, and 0.5 per cent alkahne respectively, 

 with the same result, namely, the acid and neutral gelatins were more 

 quickly affected by the enzyme than the alkaline gelatin. A com- 

 parison of B. pyocyaneus gelatinase and Griibler's pancreatin (5 per 

 cent solution in distilled water) resulted as follows: 



EXPERIMENT. 



The gelatinases produced by B. amyloruher and Sp. Finkler-Prior 

 behaved as follows: 



experiment. 



Amount of Filtrate 



B. amyloTuber- 

 0.3 c.c. . . . 

 0.1 



Sp. 



OS 



03 



01 



Finkler-Prior- 



30 c.c 



10 



05 



03 



01 



Carbol Gelatin 



i%~Acid 



+ 

 ± 

 ± 



Neutral 



+ 



+ 

 + 



1% Alkaline 



+ 

 ± 



+ 

 + 



Further experiments with gelatin of a wider range of acidity and 

 alkahnity gave the following results: 



