( 54 ) 
in ray opinion that the O t consumption of the small animals is 
considerably larger than that of the bigger ones of the same kind. 
This difference is, I believe, to be attributed to the influence of the 
more rapid motions of the smaller animals and the more intense 
metabolism which a growing body possesses. Tigerstedt ! ), therefore, 
rightly says that in general, where assimilatory processes take place, 
they are accompanied by active dissimilatory ones. Here also belongs 
without any doubt the observation of Warburg 2 ) that the O t con¬ 
sumption after fertilisation of the eggs of the sea-hedgehog increased 
by 6 and 7 times the amount. The action of light, osmotic pressure 
and liquid-pressure, which might cause a certain influence of the 
area on the respiration, has not been settled. The influence of light 
I have not been able to separate from variation of motility. 
Naples, Febr. 8, 1909. 
Microbiology. — “The decomposition of uric acid by bacteria” 
By Mr. F. Liebkrt. (Communicated by Prof. M. W. Beijerinck). 
(Communicated in the meeting of April 23, 1909). 
1. Historical . 
The first investigators who studied the decomposition of uric acid 
by the action of bacteria were Fausto and Leone Sestini *). 
They observed that uric acid in water when exposed to the air 
did not change, but that, as soon as the mixture was inoculated with a 
drop of rotting urine, the uric acid totally disappeared in some days. 
Only when the experiment was interrupted before all the uric acid 
had been converted, they could detect urea. 
Their conclusion was that the course of the process might be 
represented thus: 
C » H 4 K 4 0, + 3 0 + 8 H 3 0 = 4 NH 4 HCO, + c0 * 
whereas as intermediate products alloxan and urea should occur, 
which latter substance they could really detect, but the former 
not They have not worked at all with pure cultures. 
e result obtained by E.- Gerard 4 ) was that 1 
place simultaneously. 
2 w ndbuch i er Ph ? s - Nagel. Bd. 1 2e Halfte 2e Heft. 
L . A T n \ G ’ H°ppe Seyler Zeitschr. f. Phys. Chem. Bd. 57 biz. 1. 
) Landwirtsch Versuchsst. 1890, Vol. XXXVIII, p. 157. 
) Comptes rendus T. 122, p. 187 et T. 123, p. 185. 
took 
