682 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXSVII. No. 957 



of xanthine, much hypoxanthine, some ^anine, 

 adenine, histidine, arginine in very small quantity, 

 probably lysine, thymine, choline, mannite, pen- 

 toses, cholesterol bodies and lipoids resembling 

 cerebroside, a small amount of an unidentified 

 hydroxy-fatty acid, and large amounts of oleic 

 and palmitic acid and some stearic acid. In the 

 culture solution was found fatty acids, guanine, 

 adenine and hypoxanthine, a small amount of his- 

 tidine, pentose sugar, unidentified aldehydes, man- 

 nite and probably thymine. The general conclu- 

 sion is drawn that molds, and other microorgan- 

 isms play a considerable role in the formation of 

 organic soil constituents. 



J. J. Skinner: Effect of Salicylic Aldehyde as a 



Soil Constituent. 



The isolation and identification of salicylic alde- 

 hyde in soils is pointed out. 



The effect of this soil organic compound on 

 growth was studied by growing plants in nutrient 

 culture solution, in soil and in sand. 



In culture solutions salicylic aldehyde was very 

 harmful to wheat, corn, cabbage and cow-pea 

 plants, in amounts of 10 parts per million. 

 Amounts from 50 to 100 parts per million killed 

 the plants. The aldehyde was harmful in cultures 

 containing phosphate, nitrate and potash, regard- 

 less of whether the salts were used singly or in 

 combinations. The aldehyde in small amounts 

 was also harmful when added to soil and to sand. 



Forty-five unproductive and thirty productive 

 soils from various parts of the United States were 

 examined for salicylic aldehyde. Seventeen of the 

 unproductive soils and three of the productive soils 

 contained the aldehyde. The extracted soil alde- 

 hyde was tested in water cultures as to its effect 

 on growth and in each case proved harmful. 

 Maky Louise Foster: A Comparative Study of 



the Metabolism of Fneumococeus, Streptococcus, 



Bacillus lactis erythrogenes and Bacillus anthra- 



coides. 



Two strains of pneumococcus grown at 37°- 

 40° C. on serum with three parts of water showed 

 that proteolysis is progressive, the largest phos- 

 photungstic fraction being found at the highest 

 temperature. Sterilized milk at 37° C, inoculated 

 with streptococcus, bacillus lactis erythrogenes, or 

 bacillus anthracoides showed hydrolysis of the 

 native protein, diamine and monoaniino acids be- 

 ing formed. The amount of monoamino acid in- 

 creased with the time of the interaction. 

 L. W. Fetzeb: A Biochemical Interpretation of 



the Inheritance of Acquired Characters. 



W. T. Bovie: The Chemical Effects of Ultra- 

 violet Light on Albumin. 



Ultra-violet light causes egg white and crystal- 

 lized egg albumin to coagulate and to give off a 

 peculiar odor similar to the odor of burned hair. 

 Coagulation can be produced while the albumin is 

 cooled in ice water. The albumin is decomposed 

 by the light. Lead-blackening gases are given off. 

 Cystine and hydrogen sulphide are also decom- 

 posed. The coagulation and decomposition are 

 produced almost entirely by the ultra-violet light 

 not found in sunlight. Protoplasm is unstable in 

 light of shorter wave-lengths than is found in 

 sunlight. Life as we know it would be unstable 

 in a world unprotected by an atmosphere at least 

 as opaque as ours. 

 Alfred Dachnowski: Plant Groioth in Belation 



to Acid and Alkaline Solutions. 

 A. P. Mathews: The Nature of Irritability and 

 the Action of Anesthetics. 



Confirming his earlier work, the author finds that 

 the anesthetics act chemically, not physically, as 

 generally supposed. By means of the method of 

 computing valences in molecules, it is shown that 

 all anesthetics have residual valences by which 

 the.y may unite with protoplasm. Thus nitrous 

 oxide has six valences, the oxygen having two free 

 valences; the esters, alcohols, aldehydes have free 

 valences on the oxygen; this is also true in the 

 urethane group; in carbon monoxide, the free 

 valences are probably on the carbon; in ether, on 

 the oxygen; in chlorine compounds, on the chlo- 

 rine; in bromine compounds, on the bromine; in 

 carbon bisulfide and sulphuretted hydrogen, on the 

 sulphur; in the cyanides and nitriles, on the car- 

 bon; in the terpenes, benzenes and aliphatic 

 hydrocarbons some of the carbons are hexavalent. 

 The ease of dissociation of the anesthetic from 

 the protoplasm also points to a molecular union. 

 All anesthetics probably unite with hemoglobin, 

 forming molecular unions similar to oxyhemo- 

 globin. The interpretation offered of irritability 

 based on the work of the author, Tashiro and 

 others, is as follows: The irritable compound in 

 most protoplasm is a molecular union with oxygen. 

 This is unstable like oxyhemoglobin, which passes 

 easily to methemoglobin. When stimulated in a 

 variety of ways it passes into firm union, oxida- 

 tion taking place. This is at the basis of most 

 cell syntheses. The anesthetics act by displacing 

 the oxygen from its molecular union, just as CO 

 displaces O, in oxyhemoglobin, the anesthetics 

 uniting by their residual valences in molecular 



