390 
C. L. AusBere and O. F. Buack: Phytochemical 
Studies in Cyanogenesis. 
The relation between the nitrates in the soil, 
nitrification during drought and cyanogenesis in 
sorghum, based on experiments done at the Arling- 
ton Farm in the course of the past summer, is 
discussed and an incidental error in the common 
method of determining hydrocyanic acid in plants 
is pointed out. 
C. L. ALSBERG and W. M. CuarK: Notes on the 
Blood of Limulus polyphemus. 
P. A. YopER: The Presence and Identification of 
Choline in Wheat and Cotton Seed Flours. 
OswaLD SCHREINER and J. J. SKINNER: The 
Action of Nucleic Acid and its Decomposition 
Product on Soils and Plants. 
Nucleie acid as well as some of its decomposi- 
tion products occur in soils and the effect of some 
of these compounds has been studied with wheat 
seedlings. Mineral nutrient solutions with phos- 
phate, potash and nitrate in varying proportions 
were used, and to these were added 50 parts per 
million of the compound tested. The neutralized 
nucleic acid as well as its nitrogenous decomposi- 
tion products, hypoxanthine and xanthine, had a 
beneficial action on the plants, promoting growth 
and decreasing the nitrate absorption. The plants 
appear to be able to utilize these compounds 
directly in their metabolism and require under 
these circumstances less nitrate for maximum 
growth. 
M. X. SuLiivan: Origin of Creatinine in Soils. 
Of samples of the same soil planted and un- 
planted kept side by side in the greenhouse, the 
water and glycerine extracts of the planted soils 
gave larger amounts of creatinine by the creatinine 
zine chloride method. It would seem that the in- 
crease in the amount of creatinine was connected 
in some way with plant growth. Creatinine was 
found in small amounts in the water in which 
wheat seedlings had grown, in wheat seeds, wheat 
seedlings, wheat bran, rye, clover, alfalfa, cowpeas 
and potatoes. Besides the possible production of 
creatinine by microorganisms and the introduction 
into soil in the animal excreta of stable manure, 
the creatinine of soils has its origin in vegetable 
matter. 
EpMunpD C. SHorEY: Nucleic Acids in Soils. 
Nueleic Acids have been obtained from soils by 
extraction with dilute sodium hydroxide, neutral- 
izing and concentrating under reduced pressure, 
acidifying with acetic acid and addition of several 
volumes of alcohol as a light-colored amorphous 
SCIENCE 
[N.S. Vou. XXXV. No. 897 
body which on hydrolysis gave pentose sugars, 
purine bases, pyrimidine compounds, levulinic acid 
and phosphoric acid. Xanthine and hypoxanthine 
were identified among the purine bases and cyto- 
sine among the pyrimidine compounds. 
AUBREY V, FULLER: The Biological Oxidation of 
Sodium Arsenite in Solution. 
The author has shown that sodium arsenite in 
solution may undergo practically complete oxida- 
tion to arsenate through the agency of a micro- 
organism or—organisms as yet not identified. The 
organisms differ from the nitrifying bacteria of 
Winogradsky in that this activity is evidenced 
only in the presence of ordinary culture media, 
such as meat infusion. 
G. A. RUSSELL: The Effect of Mold on the Chem- 
ical Composition of the Fixed Oil from Brazil 
Nuts. 
C. F. LanewortHy and R. D. MinNEr: An Im- 
proved Form of Respiration Calorimeter and tts 
Use for the Study of Problems of Vegetable 
Physiology. 
W. E. TorrineHam: The Influence of Bacteria on 
the Soluble Phosphorus of Manures. 
Relevant to a project embracing study of reac- 
tions between farm manure and reenforeing sub- 
stances, such as feldspar, rock-phosphate and peat, 
investigation of fermenting manures has shown in 
all eases decrease of water-soluble phosphorus. 
Fermenting mixtures of manure and rock-phos- 
phate have shown greater decreases than manure 
alone. A typical experiment with mixed cow and 
horse manure fermented six months without and 
with rock-phosphate (25 Ibs. fresh manure and 
4 lb. rock-phosphate) involved 16.45 grams soluble 
phosphorus in the manure and 18.49 grams in the 
phosphate mixture at the start. The water-soluble 
phosphorus of the manure decreased from 86.7 per 
cent. to 65.6 per cent. of the total, a decrease of 
24.3 per cent. of the original water-soluble phos- 
phorus. The sample with phosphate gave a de- 
crease from 34.3 per cent. to 14.7 per cent. of the 
total phosphorus, a loss of 57 per cent. of the 
water-soluble phosphorus. Common solvents for 
inorganic phosphates, such as carbonated water, 
ammonium citrate solution and N/5 nitric acid re- 
covered the depressed phosphorus only partially. 
Two and one half months standing with and 
without antiseptics produced the following changes 
of water-soluble phosphorus in manure-rock-phos- 
phate mixture. Normal fermentation; decrease 
from 33.26 to 17.64 per cent. of total. Saturated 
with chloroform; decrease from 32.61 to 28.11 per 
