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4.4 parts of the anhydrous salt. I ,3-Dinitro-5-sulphobenzene is identical with the acid obtained by Limpricht by nitrating mnitrobenzenesulphonic acid, although Sachse decided that Linipricht’s acid was the vicinal isomer. T h e authors prepared Limpricht’s acid by Sachse’s method, and found its barium salt corresponded exactly in appearance, water of crystallization and solubility, with the barium salt noted above. Sachse’s proof of the constitution of this acid rests upon the reduction of the dinitrosulpho acid to the diaminosulpho acid, changing this to the dibromsulpho acid by the diazo reaction, and identifying the latter by the melting-point of its chloride and amide. T h e authors repeated Sachse’s work, but obtained the symmetrical dibromsulpho acid instead of the vicinal isomer reported by Sachse. >I. T.BOGERT.
Bl OLOG IC A L CH Ell ISTRY. On the Biological Relationship of Proteids and on Proteid Assimilation. By P. A. LEVEKE. N. Y.Mea‘. Record, 63, 495. --This is a preliminary communication of the work of the author in this field. It was observed that if the serum of an animal acquired the power to form precipitins with one proteid of an animal of a differeht species, it had the power to form precipitins also with other proteids of the same animal or animals closely related to it. T h e conclusion drawn from this observation is that proteids have not only a chemical but possess also a biological individuality. Thus, chemically, al! serum-albumins are identical, biologically they are different. From the latter standpoint they may be regarded as isomers. Chemically different albumin, globulin, casein, etc., derived from the same animal may be regarded as having at least one part common to all, or, perhaps, may be regarded as derivatives of one substance, which is the nucleus of the proteid material of that animal. Another observation made, and one which corroborates the above hypothesis, is that a precipitin active for a given proteid is capable of forming precipitins with the primary digestive products of the latter F. P. UNDERHILL. and vice versa. On the Heat Lability of the Complements of Cold-Blooded Animals. BY HIDEYONOGUCHI. 1.Med. Research, g (new series 4), pp. 169-173.-The serum complements of cold-blooded animals are highly labile bodies and are destroyed at temperatures below 50’ C. T h e serum complements of those animals would appear to be multiple in that their action upon different species of red corpuscles is not only different, but the destruction of the complement for one kind of red corpuscle may be effected without loss of the entire complement-content of the serum. T h e complements for given kinds of red corpuscles can be greatly re-
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duced without being entirely destroyed by heating the serum. When such reduction is brought about,a slightly higher temperature completely abolishes the action of the complements. T h e complements occurring in different sera show, for a given species of red corpuscle, different degrees of heat lability. F. P. UNDERHILL.
On the Ilultiplicity of the Serum Hemagglutinins of ColdNOGUCHI. f.Med. Research, g Blooded Animals. BY HIDEYO (new series 4 ) , pp. 165-169.-0n the basis of the experiments recorded in this paper the author has drawn the following conclusions : the serum of Limulusjolyjhemus contains several and perhaps many agglutinins which are, in part at least, specific for certain erythrocytes. The agglutinins show varying degrees of heat lability, although temperatures of 40' C . , when continued for thirty minutes, diminish the activity of all agglutinins. Temperatures approaching 6 j oC., seem to destroy wholly the aggluttnating power of the serum for erythrocytes. The complete absorption of agglutinins for the corpuscles of one or several species of animals from Limulus serum leaves the remainder of the agglutinins fi almost undiminished quantity. A slight difference, in the case of certain erythrocytes, has been noted in the rapidity with which the reaction is completed in the serum from which a part of the agglutinins has been removed. The serum of Mustelus canis, in so far as its agglutinins. are concerned, agrees in its action with that of Limulus. Limulus and .'Mustelus sera contain a multiplicity of agglutinins for erythrocytes of coldF. P. UNDERHILL. blooded animals. III. A Contribution to the Chemistry of American Cheddar I,.VANSLYKE AND EDWIN B. HART. Am. Cheese. BY LUCIUS Shem. 29,371-385.-The results obtained in this research show that paranuclein is a common constituent of all cheeses examined. I n cheese four and one-half months old, the three basic products, lysatitie, histidine, and lysine, were found, and in cheese fifteen months old tetramethylenediamine (putrescine) and lysine were present. In no case could arginine be isolated. There appears to be good evidence that there is regularly in the cheese-ripening process, in the case of hard cheeses like Emmenthaler and American cheddar, a conversion of primary into secondary amido compounds, and these chemical changes may explain, perhaps, the gradual development of flavor in normal cheese. F. P. UNDERHILL. Quick Ilethods for Crystallizing Oxyhaernoglobin : Inhibitory and Accelerator Phenomena, etc.; Changes in the Form of Crystallization. BY EDWARD T. REICHERT. A m . 1. Physiol., 9, g7-1oo.-If to blood, before or after laking, from I to 5 per cent. of ammonium oxalate is added, crystallization of the
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oxyhaemoglobin begins immediately, and a quantity of crystals can be obtained within a few hours at ordinary temperature. Dogs, rats, guinea-pigs, and necturus blood give satisfactory results with this method, but the blood of the horse does not. The rapidity of crystallization varies with the method of laking and the percentage of oxalate. If to the blood of one species, the blood, plasma, or serum of another species be added, the laking of the blood may be retarded, accelerated, or unaffected, according to the character of the mixture. The period for laking may be prolonged for five minutes or more. The typical forms of the crystals of certain kinds of oxyhaemoglobin may be modified or completely changed when the bloods of two different species are mixed. F. P. USDERHIZL.
The influence of Cold on the Action of Some Haemolytic, Agents. BY G. N. STEWART.Am. ?, Physiol., 9, 72-97.-At oo C. the laking actiou of sapotoxin is much retarded, and it can be shown that before any haemoglobin has been liberated tKe conductivity of the blood is increased, presumably owing to an increase i n the permeability of the envelopes of the corpuscles to electrolytes. At this stage sapotoxin has been fixed by the corpuscles. Bile salts produce the phenomenon less distinctly, foreign serum not at all. Both at oo and at ordinary temperature a dose of sapotoxin just sufficient to cause liberation of the haemoglobin causes the discharge of only a small proportion of the electrolytes of the corpuscles. When the dose is increased, the electrolytes are discharged. It seems permissible to divide the action of sapotoxin into three stages : ( I ) An action on the envelope which does not necessarily nor immediately lead to the liberation of the haemoglobin ; ( 2 ) an action on the haemoglobin or the stroma which causes the discharge of the pigment ; (3) an action on the stroma leading to the setting-free of electrolytes. F. P. UNDERHILL. The Specific Rotation of the Nucleic Acid of the Wheat Embryo. BY THOMAS B. OSBORNE. A m . J . Physiol., 9, 69-72. -The specific rotation was determined by suspending the dry acid in water and gradually adding decinormal potassium hydroxide solution until all was dissolved. I n this way a perfectly clear solution was obtained which reacted strongly acid with litmus and contained the nucleic acid as acid potassium nucleate. The results show that with 0.0236 gram nucleic acid per cubic centimeter [a]:" = 66.95' ; with 0.04 gram per cubic centimeter of nucleic acid [a]f= 73". The solutions showed no change in rotation after standing twenty-four hours. From the results given it is seen that nucleic acid is strongly dextrorotatory and that the degree of rotation is considerably influenced by the concentration of the solution. Other experiments show that a combination of protein with nucleic acid may show strong polar-
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ization, and that this dextrorotation may be wholly due to the nucleic acid component. In the recent work of Gamgee and Jones ( A m .J. PhysioZ., 8, 447) the figures given for the specific rotation for most of the nucleo-proteids examined are such as might be caused by the dextrorotation of the nucleic acid. F. P. UNDERHILL.
SANITARY CHEMISTRY. Sewage Work ; A Twenty-five Year Review. BY RVDOLPH HERING. Eng. Record, 47, 21. -The development of sewerage engineering in America during the past twenty-five years has been very rapid. Twenty-five years ago sewage work in this country was in its infancy. New York, Brooklyn, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Providence had sewerage systems, but crude as to design and construction. Boston was just beginning to construct a main drainage system. Sewage treatment was just beginning to be discussed. In 1882 the first large area for sewage irrigation was laid out in Pullman, Illinois, and in 1889 the first plant for chemical treatment in this country, was constructed at Worcester, Massachusetts. To-day, not only almost every city, but a very large number of small towns, have well devised and constructed sewerage systems, and there are over one hundred plants in this country for the treatment of sewage of cities and towns, and if plants for small places are included, the number reaches several hundred. LEONARD P. KINNICUTT. Abatement of the Smoke Nuisance. Report by Committee. Engineers’ Society of Western New York. JOZIY. Ass. Eng. Sot., 30, 41-49, 1go3.-This report is local in character, referring merely to the abatement of the smoke nuisance in the city of Buffalo, N. Y. Accompanying the report is a list of articles that have appeared on the subject of the smoke nuisance, in various American journals and magazines. LEONARD P. KINNICUTT. Slow Sand Filtration Plant for Washington, D. C. BY J. S. SCHULTZ. Eng. Record, 47,-.pp. 26g-z73.-The water supply of the city of Washington is taken directly from the Potomac river, a river subject to frequent and sudden floods, and contaminated by surface drainage, the result being that the water is often very turbid, and, as shown by chemical and bacterial tests, contaminated by sewage. As early as 1874 attention was called to the objectionable character of the water, but it was not until 1894 that the matter was laid before congress. In December, goo, the senate directed the Committee on District Affairs to investigate and report on the relative cost of the mechanical and slow sand filtration systems for Washington, the result being the adoption of the sand filtration. The plant which is now to be
