BOOKS AND CURRENT LITERATURE 



Capillary Segregation of Enzymes — An interesting volume on 

 the capillary analysis of enzymes, by J. Gruss,^ the outcome of his pre- 

 vious publications in journals of the brewing industries, places before 

 physiologists a new method for the investigation of the properties and 

 relations of enzymes, which are now generally considered as largely 

 controlling chemical and physical changes in the living cell. While the 

 author makes no claim to the general applicability of his methods, yet 

 there is little doubt that the field here opened up may furnish valuable 

 and much needed information regarding many recondite questions and 

 the book is worthy of careful perusal by all who are interested in the 

 dynamics of protoplasmic processes. 



The method of capillary analysis is essentially an elaboration of earher 

 work (Gopplesroder's "Kapillaranalyse," etc.) in which splutes were 

 separated by allowing the solution to be drawn up by suspended strips 

 of filter paper. Griiss capillarized his solutions on Swedish filter paper 

 held tight between two concentric brass rings, the diameter of the inner 

 ring being 25 cm. If a drop of solution be placed at the center of a 

 sheet stretched in this manner it diffuses outward, becoming more dilute 

 as fresh fibers take up the solute. Following Traube's law, the diluted 

 solution moves with increasing rapidity until the last portions of solute 

 are "piled up" in a bounding rim zone. By conducting the process in a 

 chamber saturated with water vapor, outward movement of solutes is 

 retarded and the width of zones is increased. Diffusion of inert, col- 

 loidal solutions is facilitated by previously placing a ring of water upon 

 the paper and by adding glycerine to the solution, these agents serving 

 to increase the centripetal capillary force. Common dyes may be sepa- 

 rated by this method and such substances, not chemically interactive 

 and forming overlapping fields when applied singly, differentiate into 

 distinct zones when applied in the same solution. Some substances 

 can be separated by capillarizing in acetic acid vapor or ammonia gas 

 or by previously infiltrating the paper with a suspension of clay in acetic 

 acid or with Ume water. By this means, for example, proteins can 



1 Griiss, J., Biologic unci Kapillaranalyse der Enz3Tne, pp. 227, text figs. 58, 

 colored plates 2. Borntraeger, Berlin, 1912 (mk. 16). 



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