312 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. I\^. 791 



or inhibiting tlie putrefactive microorganisms 

 without efifecting germinative properties. In 

 order to determine this, I made another series of 

 experiments by placing eggs upright in copper 

 and distilled water solutions with the broad end 

 projecting above the liquid so that air could enter 

 into that part. In another set, one half of the 

 egg was longitudinally immersed in copper sul- 

 phate solutions and distilled water twenty-four 

 hours, then turned so that the other half would 

 be immersed twenty-four hours, but at all times 

 air had free access through the upper half. After 

 seventeen days' treatment, these eggs as well as 

 some check untreated ones were placed in the 

 incubator. On the twentieth day a chick hatched 

 from an egg which had been three quarters im- 

 mersed in distilled water seventeen days. I 

 waited five days longer, and, no other chick coming 

 out of any shell, I opened the eggs and found that 

 two of the fertile ones had almost completely de- 

 veloped. One of these was from a partly sub- 

 merged egg and the other from alternately im- 

 mersed and daily turned one. 



From the eggs containing the chicks, I sucked 

 up part of the liquid with a pipette, digested it 

 with sulphuric acid in a Kjeldahl flask and tested 

 for copper. It was not even necessary to digest 

 the liquid, as it could be diluted with water and 

 electrolyzed direct, the copper depositing on the 

 cathode. This evidently showed, as you see by 

 these specimens, that embryonic gro'n'th to al- 

 most complete development took place, although 

 the imbedded liquid was practically a copper 

 bath. While these experiments are still very in- 

 complete, it strikes me all signs point to the 

 belief: that small amounts of copper salts in 

 their selective antiseptic action towards the 

 putrefactive ferments and tmpronounced effects 

 on others, may be of great therapeutical value. 

 Destruction of Invertase by Acids and Alkalies: 



H. S. Paine. 



Samples of the same invertase preparation were 

 kept at a constant temperature of 30 degrees for 

 different time intervals in acid (HCl) and alka- 

 line (NaOH) solutions at varying concentrations. 

 At the end of the respective time periods all the 

 samples were brought to the same acidity (the 

 acidity favorable to optimum activity of the 

 enzjone) in cane sugar solutions of the same 

 strength, all volumes being equal. After an in- 

 verting action of one hour, the velocity coefficient, 

 E, of the rate of the inversion was calculated 

 from the formula for monomolecular reactions, 

 viz: K=l/t log {R„ — Roo/R — iJoo), where i?„ 



is the rotation of the pure cane sugar solution, 

 Rco the rotation of the same solution after com- 

 plete inversion and R the polarization at the time 

 t, seconds and decimal logarithms being used in. 

 the calculation. The activity of the enzyme, as 

 measured by the above coefficient, K, was found to 

 decrease as the strength of the destroying acid 

 or alkali solution was increased. 



By an application of the above formula a co- 

 efficient, K', measuring the rate of destruction of 

 the invertase was obtained as a derived value of 

 the coefficient just referred to. 



Destruction commenced at about 0.015 normal 

 in acid and 0.01 normal in alkaline solution, re- 

 quiring about five to six hours for completion at 

 those concentrations. It was very rapid and re- 

 quired only about five minutes in 0.05 normal 

 acid and 0.04 normal alkaline solution, showing 

 that, while invertase is inactivated in very 

 faintly alkaline solutions, the destructive action of 

 alkalies on it is not much greater than that of 

 acids. 



In view of the fact that the degree of acidity 

 or alkalinity of the media in which many enzymes 

 naturally occur is subject to change, quite often 

 between wide limits, investigations, such as the 

 one just described, are of value in determining 

 just when inactivation or destruction takes place. 

 As only one instance of such media of changing 

 acidity and alkalinity may be mentioned the 

 alimentary tract of the higher animals, considered 

 in its entirety. 



The Estimation of Arsenic and Morphine in Ani- 

 mal Tissue: Charles E. Sangek. 

 One three-thousandth part of an ounce of 

 arsenic and one thousandth part of an ounce of 

 morphine can readily and quickly be detected by 

 the new method, and it is expected that all un- 

 certainty in post mortem examinations will be 

 eliminated by the new method of analysis. 



Stagnation vs. Circulation in House Air: Ellen 



H. ElCHAKDS. 



The science of living is more and more engag- 

 ing the attention of those who are exploring the 

 borderland of chemical physics of chemical biol- 

 ogy. No part of this land is more unknown than 

 the air we breathe and its significance in mental 

 activity. 



In no quarter do we do greater wrong than to 

 our young students, by compelling them to listen 

 to lectures, and to work, in an atmosphere that 

 dulls their wits and befogs their minds. It is 

 quite time that the biophysicist wrote a convinc- 



