228 



Scientific Proceedings (115). 



teinsare deficient in both the "X" and the "Y" factors, or whether 

 one may occur without the other. A few preliminary tests have 

 indicated that gelatine and egg proteins contain the "Y" and are 

 deficient only in "X," but the results were not clean cut, and it is 

 possible that other factors came in. Lack of time has prevented 

 the extending of these observations. 



Without more definite knowledge of the chemical nature of 

 these two substances, speculation as to the manner in which they 

 induce growth of the streptococci does not seem warranted. 

 There is no means at present of knowing whether they act as 

 "building-stones" in supplying some necessary grouping in the 

 synthesis of the bacterial protein, or whether they simply initiate 

 or accelerate some essential vital process. Perhaps, in the light of 

 much recent work dealing with the effect of vitamines on bacterial 

 and yeast growth, it is not unwarranted to believe that still other 

 phases of animal metabolism may be cleared up in part through 

 work on the metabolism of lower forms of life. In the case of the 

 study of the streptococcus, there are at least three factors, still 

 unidentified, which determine growth; namely, some substance in 

 the charcoal-treated infusion, the "X" fraction, and the "Y" 

 fraction. It is by no means felt that all or any of these factors if 

 isolated, will prove to be new physiological compounds, but if 

 such should be the case, one must believe, in order to explain 

 their occurrence in meat, milk, etc., that they also play a part in 

 animal metabolism. 



114 (1696) 



The supposed relation between alkalosis and tetany and similar 



conditions. 



By ISIDOR GREENWALD. 



[From the Harriman Research Laboratory, the Roosevelt Hospital, 



New York.} 



Examination of the work of Wilson, Stearns and Thurlow 1 

 shows that their conception of an "alkalosis" as one of the con- 

 sequences of parathyroidectomy rests essentially upon the sup- 



1 Wilson, D. W., Stearns, T., and Thurlow, M. de G., Journal of Biological 

 Chemistry, 1915, xxiii, 89. 



