191 1-1 2. J Autolysis of Animal and Vegetable Matter. 
251 
XIX. — On the use of Antiseptics in Autolysis of Animal and Vege- 
table Matter. By Dorothy Court, B.Sc., Carnegie Research 
Fellow. Communicated by Dr E. Westergaard. 
(MS. received March 18, 1912. Read June 3, 1912.) 
In a previous publication (1) allusion was briefly made to the difficulty 
which had been experienced in preserving sterility in material during a 
series of auto-digestion experiments. Contrary to expectation, it was found 
that a mixture of ground barley and water, when incubated at 37° for a 
few days, developed, even in the presence of chloroform or toluol in excess, 
a strong butyric acid fermentation. 
Since this question was one not only of vital interest to the work in 
hand but also of great general importance, it was decided to carry out a 
series of experiments in the endeavour to determine the position with 
regard to the use of antiseptics in the study of biochemical processes. 
The study of enzymatic activity is rendered particularly difficult by the 
fact that the presence of the active agents — the enzymes — is, as yet, only 
recognisable by the results of their action. Consequently, the study of 
enzymes is, in the meantime, confined to the examination of the reactions 
with which they associated, and it is generally agreed that these must be 
of such a nature that the action of the enzyme can be regarded as catalytic, 
and also that the catalysis and the agent producing it must be separable 
from life. The third generally accepted condition — the specific nature of the 
catalyst — does not concern the present paper, and the same may be said of 
the other condition which may or may not be introduced into the definition, 
viz. the capacity of producing anti-bodies. Provided, then, that it has been 
shown that all the conditions as to the nature of the reaction, which are 
demanded in the definition, have been fulfilled, it still remains to be shown 
that the reaction is neither the result of the presence of surviving proto- 
plasm of the organism in which the enzyme is supposed to be produced, nor 
of bacteria or other micro-organisms. It is with the purpose of settling 
this point that recourse is made to the use of antiseptics. 
The majority of these reactions seem to take place, under the natural 
conditions, in heterogeneous colloid systems, and in all probability they are, 
in the first instance at least, of the nature of adsorption processes. It is 
found, moreover, that the activity is more or less rapidly destroyed by 
almost any manipulation or treatment, a fact which is fully in accordance 
