222 
YOSHIMURA ; BEHAVIOUR OF 
ioo cc. of a solution of sodium hippurate, containing 0.340 % 
hippuric acid, were well shaken with 20 grms. of soil from Komaba 
and filtered off after 24 hours, without washing out the soil. 
Of the filtrate 50 cc. were evaporated to a small volume and, 
after addition of some sulphuric acid, shaken with acetic ether. 
The latter after separation left on evaporating, 0.169 grm.= 
0.338 % of hippuric acid. It may, therefore, be concluded that 
practically none of it was absorbed. 
Two experiments were then made with free hippuric acid 
on both kinds of soils, but no absorptive power could be noticed 
to any notable extent. 
In regard to its behaviour towards fungi, I found that dilute 
solutions of its sodium salt, containing neutral potassium phos¬ 
phate and magnesium sulphate, are capable of developing mould 
fungi and microbes, although this salt must be considered as a 
poor nourishing material. 
In order to see whether the microbes of the surface soil 
would be more energetic in decomposing sodium hippurate than 
those of the subsoil, I took portions of soil at different depths 
reaching to 140 centimetres, shook them with sterilised water, 
and infected a sterilised solution, containing 1 % sodium hippu¬ 
rate, 0.2 % potassium phosphate and 0.1 % magnesium sulphate. 
» 
The flasks, plugged with cotton, were allowed to stand from 
December 29th, 1894, to May 5th, 1895. 
From time to time, a few drops were withdrawn by means 
of sterilised glass tubes and tested with Nessler’s reagent, and it 
was thus found that, after two months, the solutions infected 
with the soil from a depth of 50 centimetres, showed moderate 
reaction, while those infected from greater depths, showed no 
trace (r) of it. But, later on, and when the temperature had 
become warmer, increased vegetation of the microbes was noticed 
in all the solutions, and by the 4th of May, 1895, a strong 
ammoniacal reaction was obtained in all of them. 
It was interesting to find nitrites absent ; only in one flask 
was a very slight trace indicated by Griess’s reaction. 
(1) The temperature of the room was, until the end of February, generally lower 
than 5 degrees C. 
