322 Cyanogenesis in Plants. 



amygdalin and salicin, and in this respect resembles the emulsin Of almonds, 

 it must also contain a /3-enzyme identical with or similar to emulsin. The 

 only other possible hypothesis, viz., that Phaseolus lunatus contains a single 

 glucosidolytic enzyme capable of decomposing both a- and /3-glucosides, 

 seems incompatible with our present views of the relationships of enzymes 

 and glucosides. 



A mixture of the same two enzymes must also occur in cassava and in 

 flax* since, as we have shown previously, enzyme preparations obtained from 

 these two sources behave in precisely the same manner as the enzyme 

 preparation obtained from Phaseolus lunatus. It is also worthy of mention in 

 this connection that yeast is capable of decomposing phaseolunatin, amygdalin, 

 and salicin, and on this and other grounds has been assumed to contain an 

 emulsin-like enzyme as well as maltase.f 



* Dunstan, Henry, and Auld, ' Roy. Soc. Proc.,' 1905, vol. 78, p. 145. 

 t Henry and Auld, ' Eoy. Soc. Proc.,' 1905, vol. 76, p. 568. 



