On this media several strains of A. niger will produce almost pure citric acid with only traces of oxalic.

Growth was conducted on 50 c.c. of media contained in a 200 c.c. Erlenmeyer flask at 30° C. Cultures were examined at 6 to 10 days of age. The cultures employed were obtained from Dr. Charles Thom.

The influence of hydrogen ion concentration, the substitution of other sugars for saccharose and the influence of numerous inorganic salts on this reaction have been studied but can not be reported in detail at this time.

The Equation of Fermentation of Glucose by Bacillus coli communis: OLIVER KAMM.

The acid, alcohol, gas fermentation of glucose by B. coli, as given by Harden,2 was found to be a combination of several fermentations. In particular, the lactic acid fermentation was found to proceed independently. In the absence of most inorganic salts and especially of phosphates, evidence was obtained that the gas formation (carbon dioxide and hydrogen) is due to the secondary fermentations of formic acid.

The Liberation of Ammonia from Ammonium Salts by B. Coli Communis: ROBERT BENGIS AND A. R. ROSE.

A synthetic medium containing ammonia lactate and ammonia phosphate was used in growing B. Coli communis in quantity. The bouillon, when aerated, lost appreciable amounts of NH, and the 2 J. Chem. Soc., 79 [1], 610–28.

amount that could be removed in this way was increased by inoculation with B. Coli communis. In agar media the amount of ammonia given off under sterile conditions was very minute, but upon inoculation with B. Coli more NH, was liberated than in the bouillon media.

The Change in Urinary Constituents following the Feeding of B. Coli Communis: ARTHUR KNUDSON AND A. R. ROSE.

The dogs were kept on a basal ration for long periods. This ration consisted, in part, of a fixed amount of bouillon which was inoculated at stated intervals with B. Coli communis. There was a rapid increase of indican and etherial sulfur eliminated in the urine following the inoculation of the bouillon, but these gradually decreased for a period of 2 to 3 weeks to the status of the normal periods, though B. Coli was still introduced. After a period of rest from B. Coli, the inoculation again produced an increase in these two constituents in the urine of the dogs, with the same gradual deOther changes were noted.

crease.

The Analysis of the Urine as a Part of the Physical Examination of the College Student: G. O. HIGLEY, E. T. LOWREY AND C. T. J. DODGE. This work was begun in September, 1915. From the urine voided by the student at the close of the physical examination a sample was taken and tested for albumen and dextrose and, in some cases, for other pathological substances. If any such substance was found, the student was advised to consult a physician. Also, the student's urine was reexamined twice, at intervals of a month or so, if found necessary.

Of 426 students who took the test, the urine of 15 showed albumin in two successive tests, and 5 showed sugar. A strong test for bile was obtained in one case. This work will be continued next year. Plant Immuno-Chemistry: R. W. THATCHER.

The question as to whether there is in plants a series of phenomena comparable to those of antibodies in animals has not yet been settled, but is now being investigated. Two general methods of investigation are being employed: (a) a comparative biochemical study of the composition of healthy and diseased plants, and (b) a biochemical and microchemical study of the reactions produced in the host by the growing parasite. Sufficient progress has been made to justify the recognition of two types of resistance, or immunity; (a) an antagonism of the tissue substances of the infected plant to the action of the enzymes or other agents excreted by the growing hyphæ of the parasite, and (b) a hyper-sensitiveness of the host, whereby its tissues at the point of entrance of the

parasite are killed and no longer supply nutrient material for the latter, thereby causing its death by starvation.

The Presence and Origin of Volatile Fatty Acids in Soils: E. H. WALTERS.

In a recent examination of a sample of Susquehanna sandy loam soil from Texas acetic acid and propionic acid have been isolated and identified. The soil was found to contain approximately 41 parts per million of acetic acid and 13 parts per million of propionic acid.

In determining the kinds and amounts of volatile acids produced during the decomposition of green manure it was found that 98.5 c.c. N/10 acetic acid and 49.5 c.c. N/10 propionic acid were produced from 100 grams of rye when this amount of finely ground material was mixed with one kilogram of soil and allowed to decompose for six months under optimum moisture conditions in a loosely covered jar. During the decomposition of alfalfa under similar conditions it was found that 44.6 c.c. N/10 acetic acid and 35.4 c.c. N/10 propionic acid were produced from 100 grams. Methods used in the isolation and estimation of these acids are described in detail.

On the Reaction of the Pancreas and other Organs: J. H. LONG AND F. FENGER.

The livers of a number of animals and the press juice from the parotid glands of cattle were likewise found acid. An acid reaction was recognized also in the juice of the spleen of hogs, but the liquid from the thyroid was practically neutral. Some explanation of the possible reason for this variation in reaction is discussed.

The pancreas reaction is undoubtedly an important physiological phenomenon and the source of the acidity was found to lie in two directions. A complete quantitative analysis of the salts in the press juice shows that they consist largely of alkali phosphates, with potassium acid phosphate in largest amount. A combination of the various ions determined discloses the fact that the solution must have an acid behavior. Another source of acid reaction is found in the character of the nucleo-proteins present. Among these the a-proteid of Hammarsten is probably the most important.

Contributions of Chemistry to the Science and Art of Medicine: L. J. DESHA.

The fundamental relationship between chemistry and medicine is emphasized by a résumé of chemical contributions to progress in physiology, pathology, therapeutics, diagnosis, etc. Such contributions will be increased by providing more men adequately trained in both chemistry and medicine. The question is raised as to the feasibility of providing for regularly trained chemists a special oneor two-year course in those branches of medicine most intimately related to chemistry. A field for such men exists in teaching the new medical chemistry, in research, and particularly in the widening applications of quantitative methods in diagnosis. Chemical Aids in Diagnosis. I. A Comparative Study of the Tests of Renal Function: L. J. DESHA.

A preliminary report is made including the data on thirty-six cases in which the Hedinger-SchlayerMosenthal test diet has been used. The normal standards and diagnostic advantages set forth by Mosenthal are in general confirmed. The Greenwald precipitation of the blood proteins has been successfully employed. Most cases with established nephritis show increased nonprotein nitrogen in the blood, but there appears no close relationship between this value and prospective fatal termination. The work is being continued to include the Ambard and other tests.

Oxalic Acid and its Salts in Foods and Spices: ARNO VIEHOEVER AND JOSEPH F. CLEVENGER.3 Information is given as to the presence and distribution of oxalic acid and its salts in foods and spices. Some of the data are taken from literature and some are the results of a special microscopical and microchemical investigation.

Oxalic acid is present in many of our daily foods, usually in the form of calcium oxalate. Very small amounts of oxalic acid have been reported in potatoes, cabbage and pickles, where its presence was not detected microscopically by us. No calcium oxalate has been found so far in peas, carrots, parsnips, kale, cranberries or any of the cereals.

A new specific microchemical reaction with resorcin sulphuric acid was applied.

On Some Proteins from the Jack Bean, Canavalia ensiformis: CARL O. JOHNS AND D. BREESE JONES.

When meal made from the Jack bean was extracted with 10 per cent. sodium chloride about 10 3 Contribution from the Pharmacognosy Laboratory, Bureau of Chemistry, Washington, D. C.

per cent. of globulin was obtained by dialyzing the extract. This globulin was composed of two proteins which may be separated by fractional precipitation with ammonium sulphate. These are designated globulin A and globulin B. Globulin A was present in very small amount and gave the following figures: C=53.35, H=6.95, N=16.62, S=0.81, 0=22.27. Globulin B, which was the chief protein present, gave the following percentages: C=53.21, H=7.02, N=16.77, S=0.51, O=22.49. The nitrogen in globulin B was distributed as follows: Humin nitrogen 0.30, amide nitrogen 1.40, basic nitrogen 3.17, non-basic nitrogen 11.53, total nitrogen 16.40.

An albumin of the legumelin type was also obtained from the Jack bean. This gave the following figures: C=53.23, H=6.99, N=16.30, S=0.87, O=22.61. The nitrogen was distributed as follows: Humin nitrogen 0.23, amide nitrogen 1.16, basic nitrogen 3.73, non-basic nitrogen 11.18, total nitrogen 16.30.

On an Alcohol-Soluble Protein from Kafir-Corn, Andropogon sorghum: CARL O. JOHNS AND J. F. BREWSTER.

About three per cent. of an alcohol-soluble protein was obtained by extracting kafir-corn meal with hot 70 per cent. alcohol. The purified protein gave the following percentages:

C=55.41, H=7.25, N=16.38, S=0.62,

A Chemical and Bacteriological Study of some Non-Pathological Gastric Residuums: CHESTER C. FOWLER, MAX LEVINÉ AND SUE B. MORE. The contents of forty fasting human stomachs free from gastric symptoms were examined for free and total acid, pepsin, trypsin and bile. The volumes and physical characteristics were noted and the number and kinds of organisms determined by plating on wort agar and plain and glucose agar.

The stomachs fall into three groups: (a) practically sterile, (b) containing less than 2,000 organisms per c.c., (c) containing more than 4,000 per c.c.

There were three main groups of yeasts, (1) not producing gas from substance tested, (2) forming gas from glucose, fructose and galactose, (3) forming gas from these mono-saccharides and maltose.

Many of these yeasts formed acetyl-methyl-carbinol (CH,CHOH.CO.CH3).

A Study of Eighty Samples of Gastric Residuums obtained from Apparently Normal Women: CHESTER C. FOWLER AND ZELMA ZENTMIRE. Sixty women were the subjects of this experiment. Twenty-one submitted to the collection of samples a second time; making a total of eightyone samples.

The determinations made were: total and free acid, pepsin and trypsin.

The averages obtained were: volume 49.44 c.c., total acid 30.31 c.c. (N/10 alkali to neutralize 100 c.c. of juice), free acid 15.63 c.c., pepsin 3.32, and trypsin 5.22.

A marked constancy in the residuum of the same individual at different times was noted. In gen eral the results of Fowler, Rehfuss and Hawk obtained on men at Philadelphia were confirmed. CHARLES L. PARSONS, Secretary

(To be continued)

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 1916

CONTENTS

THE BASIS OF INDIVIDUALITY IN

ORGANISMS1

INTRODUCTORY

To enter upon the "higher criticism" of the concept individuality, is far beyond my powers. Even the humble attempt to think of it, in the organic realm, in what I conceive to be the simplest terms, offers difficulties most of which must be bequeathed in their entirety to future generations. Yet to point these out and to take a few soundings, unsatisfactory though they be, may not prove entirely futile even at this time.

For me, the basis of individuality in organisms is the mechanism by which living things, despite profound and constant change, keep themselves capable of identification. Some of the changes through which organisms pass are so radical that by common consent we treat them separately under the head of development, but since there is no evidence that living things become individuals at a particular point in their history, we may expect to find anywhere in the life-cycle the mechanism upon whose workings the possibility of identification rests. For obvious reasons the arrangements that make for constancy must occur in their least complicated form in the simplest of all the stages of development.

Fortunately, since it forces us at once to engage with fundamentals, the beginnings of development offer no refuge from our most insistent problem. We habitually identify a given organism at two more or

1 Read at a joint symposium of the American Society of Zoologists and Section F of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Columbus, Ohio, December 30, 1915.

less remote points of time, but no biologist limits himself to this relatively simple pursuit, since every living thing can be, a least partly, identified also with the better known portions of its ancestry. Indeed, these so-called genetic similarities are so striking and constant that one generation can be inferred from another with considerable precision.

If there is a substantial basis for the resemblances between parents and offspring, it must be the chromatin, for this is the only material capable of being contributed to each generation in essentially equivalent values by all the members of a given lineage. But if chromatin is responsible for the partial identifications possible between the individuals of two or more generations, we must also suspect that the specific recognition of a given individual at any of the numerous phases of his life is traceable to the same source.

THE SYNTHESIS OF CHROMATIN

Strictly speaking, "chromatin" is a morphological concept. Chemical analysis shows that it contains a conjugated phospho-protein provided with a nucleic acid. group, the latter a complex of phosphoric acid and a nuclein base. During the socalled resting state of the cell, this material appears segregated in the nucleus.

We must attach to this substance a degree of specificity not less exact than the specificities we are seeking to explain. In this we have ample encouragement from cytologists and geneticists. But the question at once arises how chromatin can increase in quantity during more than one life cycle and yet lose none of its original characteristics. Brothers, who in the onecelled state derived from their mother the kind or arrangement of chromatin which in her father was associated with colorblindness, not only exhibit this defect in

their own persons, but between the ages of 25 and 55 produce each some 169,692,750,000 examples of the same factor, all traceable to their own original endowment.

Compared with cytoplasm, the nucleus seems meager in the diversity of its chemical make-up. It is free from salts; it is devoid of fats and carbohydrates. Moreover, iron and phosphorus, easily demonstrable in the cytoplasm, are present in nuclei in forms difficult to detect and for that reason spoken of as masked or organic. These facts are not altered by doubting the localization of the iron in chromatin2 or the accuracy of the tests for organic phosphorus.3

From the constancy of their occurrence we must conclude that both elements, as nuclear constituents, are essential. However, their absence in inorganic form, coupled with the general chemical poverty of the nucleus, indicates that simple raw materials for the synthesis of chromatin are excluded by the nuclear membrane (Macallum).

This conclusion is out of harmony with prevalent interpretation. Yet no one need be misled. That nuclei are rendered eonspicuous by staining, are scrupulously divided in cleavage and maturation, and combined with equal exactitude in fertilization, are all beside the point. Further, though no cell devoid of a certain proportion of nuclear material can live, it is no less true that a nucleus embarrassed by the loss of cytoplasm also fails to maintain itself. Chromatin, moreover, is present in the bacteria, but not in the form of a nucleus. Here its complete cytoplasmic synthesis is not open to doubt. We are ready enough to admit that the cytoplasm of nu

2 References in Aristides Kanitz, "Handbuch d. Biochemie," etc. Herausgegeben von Carl Oppenheimer, pp. 253-254, Bd. II., Teil 1.

3 R. R. Bensley, Biological Bulletin, Vol. X., pp. 49-65.