49 
doubt, as have other compounds, a definite chemical composition, and 
which, through the exercise of definite chemical affinities, produce 
alterations in other compounds. He held also that Schwann’s 
hypothesis, as subsequently developed by Pasteur, namely, that fer- 
mentation is the result of the action of the life phases of lower organ- 
isms is insufficient, and that rather the converse of this hypothesis is 
really correct, namely, that the ferments are the causes of the impor- 
tant bio-chemical processes and are not confined to the lower organ- 
isms, but are present also in the higher forms of life. ( See Traube’s 
“Theorie,” supra, paragraph 175, p. 61.) In this connection he 
pointed out that the ferments are produced at ordinary or slightly 
elevated temperatures from the decomposition of protein substances 
by the action of water, probably under the influence of oxygen. Thus 
fresh meal prepared from dry grain contains no diastase. If, how- 
ever, the grain acts upon water in a limited supply of air, chemical 
changes occur and diastase is generated. (Par. 172, p. 60, Traube’s 
“Theorie.”) He also pointed out that in many instances at least, the 
ferments are ideal catalysts, acting as chemical go-betweens between 
free or combined oxygen and the fermentable substances. Thus the 
blood is an ideal carrier of free oxygen, in that in the lungs it becomes 
saturated with oxygen, which is used for the purpose of direct oxida- 
tion in the capillaries, from which it is returned to the lungs to recom- 
bine with oxygen. 
He was led to believe further, as a logical corollary of his theory, 
that various organic and inorganic substances other than those 
elaborated in the living cell may under certain conditions function as 
ferments. That such is the case is shown by the fact that platinum 
is a carrier of oxygen; that is, it may exert the same sort of action as 
the Verwesungsfermente (oxidizing ferments), and that in indigo- 
sulphuric acid we have a substance capable of exhibiting changes 
altogether analogous to certain kinds of fermentation. Later he ( 42S ) 
showed in this connection that platinum black at 150° to 160° C. de- 
composes solutions of sugar with the production of carbon dioxide 
and of a light, oil, which gives the iodoform reaction. 
Briefly put, Traube’s theory of fermentation is based upon two dis- 
tinct chemical propositions; first, that the ferments are definite 
chemical compounds elaborated from proteid as a result of the com- 
bined action of heat, water, and oxygen, and present not only in the 
lower organisms but also in the tissues of the higher forms, where they 
are responsible for bio-chemical processes; second, that the ferments 
are powerful reducing agents and oxygen carriers, capable in their 
capacity of chemical go-betweens ( Vermittler ) of effecting the trans- 
fer not only of free oxygen to easily oxidizable substances but also the 
transfer of combined oxygen from one compound to another. 
11670— Bull. 59—10 4 
