1915] CURRENT LITERATURE 413 
WATERMAN’ to investigate the behavior of these acids and numerous other 
compounds with reference to their toxic action and to their nutritive value. 
The substances investigated cover a wide range, including acids, alcohols, 
the carbocylic series. The work is not well organized, and the results lack 
quantitative value. The extent of growth of the fungus in the different 
solutions is indicated by + and —. The ranges of concentrations of the sub- 
stances used are not sufficiently wide to permit the determination of inhibiting 
concentrations with any degree of exactness. Moreover, the concentrations 
used are entirely arbitrary and without reference to chemical properties of the 
substances. In some cases of slightly soluble substances (the higher fatty 
acids) the concentrations were not known. Some of the results appear unusual. 
It is known that the various species of blue molds are not particularly selective 
as to their food. It is surprising, nevertheless, to note that such substances 
as chloroform, carbon-tetrachloride, dichlor-brom-ethylene, and benzene are 
said to serve as nutrients for these molds. The question occurs whether the 
belated growth in flasks containing these somewhat volatile substances was 
anything more than the film of growth formed by Penicillium even on the 
surface of inert solutions to which no organic nutrients have been intentionally 
ad The authors believe that a general parallelism exists between the 
relative toxicity of the various substances and their partition coefficient in oil 
and water. They find, therefore, a satisfactory explanation of the different 
behavior of the substances in the theories of MEYER and Overton, both of 
which, it should be stated, however, were formulated with reference to chemi- 
cally inert substances or, at most, very weakly basic organic substances 
(Overton). 
The conclusions reached by the authors may be summed up as follows. 
In general, substances act as food or poison according to the magnitude of their 
partition coefficients in oil and water, those relatively very soluble in oil being 
highly toxic, and those with a low partition coefficient Serving as food. Some 
substances (cetyl alcohol, higher fatty acids, napthalene) very soluble in oil 
but only slightly soluble in water serve as food, and by reason of their slight 
° BOESEKEN, J., gad WATERMAN, H., Over een biochemische methode ter bepaling 
van kleine haeveelheden salicylzuur naast een overmaot p-oxy benzoézuur. Konink. 
Akad. Wetensch. Amst. 20':548-552. 
moore, Cver ce porn van aon ieee op de ontwikkeling van 
Penicillium glaucum. Ibid. 5 : 
ronmncra de ee van — koolstofderivaten op de ontwikkeling va 
Eocimaes glaucum en hunne remmende werking in verband met viteibeiahes’ to in 
eren in olie. Ibid. 207:965-973. 1912. 
———, Werking van in water gemakkelijk, in olie niet oplosbare stoffen op den 
groei van dite Penicillium glaucum. Ibid. 1246-1251. 1912. 
