Vines .- — T he Proteolytic Enzyme of Nepenthes . 5 7 1 
up by that time, and was found to have entirely dissolved by the 
following morning at 9 a.m. 
Another experiment of the same kind was the following. Six tubes 
were prepared, each containing 10 c.cm. of 0-25°/^ HC 1 and 5 c.cm. 
of pitcher-liquid : to. each of three of the tubes (A , B, C) a fragment 
of coagulated egg-albumen was added, and to each of the other three 
(E, E, F) a shred of fibrin : to tubes A and E some KCy (about 
0-05 grm.) was added ; to tubes C and F some thymol ; to tubes 
A and D, nothing. The tubes were all placed in the incubator, temp. 
35 0 C., at 4.30 p.m. on Jan. 25, 1897, and left all night. On the 
following day it was observed at 9 a.m. that the albumen in tubes 
A and C had undergone partial solution, whilst that in B had been 
acted upon in a less degree ; at 3 p.m. the albumen in A was nearly 
all dissolved, that in tube C less so, that in tube B still less : all these 
liquids gave the biuret-reaction, though it was faint in B. The fibrin- 
tubes showed, at 9 a.m., complete solution in tube D and in tube F, 
and nearly complete solution in tube E. 
More recently I have experimented with corrosive sublimate 
(HgCl 2 ) with satisfactory results. 
Oct. 1, 1897. Two test-tubes (A and B) were prepared as follows : 
each contained, to begin with, 10 c.cm. of pitcher-liquid, 5 c.cm. of 
o-2 5°/ 0 HC 1 solution, and a shred of fibrin : to A was added 5 c.cm. 
of a i°/ 0 solution of HgCl 2 , and to B 5 c.cm. of distilled water. The 
tubes were placed in the incubator at 11 a.m.: at 12.30 p.m. the 
fibrin in B was completely dissolved ; that in A was completely 
dissolved at 3 p.m. 
Another similar experiment was made with two tubes, to each of 
which a definite equal weight of fibrin (J-q grm.) was added : the one 
tube Y contained the HgCl 2 , the other tube Z contained none. The 
two tubes were placed in the incubator at 1 p.m. : at 2 p.m. the fibrin 
in tube Z was completely dissolved, whereas that in tube Y was not 
completely dissolved until 3.30 p.m. 
After having performed the foregoing experiments with 
antiseptics, I happened to come across Fiechter’s 1 investiga- 
tions into the action of hydrocyanic acid (HCN) on organized 
ferments and enzymes, from which it appears that whilst 
1 Fiechter, Ueb. den Einfluss der Blausaure auf Fermentvorgange, Basel, 1875. 
Qq 
