Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
February,  1915.  / 
The  Function  of  Enzymes. 
63 
It  was  found  that  the  process  was  more  rapid  than  with  potas- 
sium permanganate.  This  would  necessitate  the  health  officer's  with- 
drawing promptly  from  a  room  in  which  the  process  had  been  started. 
Lawall,  when  working  on  a  small  scale,  found  in  every  case 
a  corrosive  residue.  Much  to  his  surprise,  the  residue  in  ten  minutes 
was  dry  and  pulverulent,  and  a  galvanized  bucket  which  had  been 
used  showed  very  little  effect  of  the  reaction  after  washing  out  with 
soap  and  water. 
He  made  a  quantitative  determination  by  both  the  permanganate 
and  dichromate  methods  to  determine  the  amount  of  volatile  ma- 
terial given  off,  and  found  that  in  each  case  it  approximated  8 
ounces  avoirdupois  (or  about  half  the  weight  of  the  formaldehyde 
solution  taken). 
As  formaldehyde  solution  contains  between  35  and  40  per  cent, 
of  gaseous  HCOH,  and  as  the  residue  in  each  case  was  found  to 
be  dry  and  particularly  devoid  of  odor  after  two  hours'  standing, 
Lawall  concluded  that  the  two  methods  are  equally  effective  from 
the  quantitative  standpoint. 
Formaldehyde  solution  and  commercial  sulphuric  acid  may  be 
kept  in  stock  and  shipped  in  the  mixed  form  (10  parts  of  formalde- 
hyde solution  and  1  part  sulphuric  acid,  both  by  volume).  Lawall 
found  the  solution  would  be  perfectly  stable. 
The  solution  would  have  to  be  handled  with  more  care  than 
the  plain  formaldehyde  on  account  of  the  acid  making  it  slightly 
corrosive. 
THE  FUNCTION  OF  ENZYMES. 
Products  of  Living  Cells  that  Affect  the  Chemical  Opera- 
tions of  Living  Matter  but  Do  Not  Become  a  Part 
of  the  Final  Reaction.1 
By  Samuel  C.  Prescott. 
The  study  of  the  chemical  or  physiological  activity  of  cells, 
whether  of  microbes  or  of  men,  is  at  once  one  of  the  most  interesting 
and  one  of  the  most  difficult  problems  of  the  biologist,  for  it  seeks 
to  disclose  the  secrets  of  life  processes.  How  does  a  disease  germ 
produce  its  poison,  or  a  yeast  cell  bring  about  its  characteristic  fer- 
1  Reprinted  from  Science  Conspectus,  vol.  iv,  1914,  No.  3,  pp.  76-79. 
