PHYSIOLOG'ICAL CHEMISTRY. Physiological Chemistry. i. 53 The Consumption of Oxygen and Production of Carbon Dioxide in the Blood of Dogs. I. L. BERCZELLER (Biochem. Zeitsck. 1918 90 294-301).-Sterile blood was kept under mer- cury o r paraffin a t 38O and when fresh and after keeping for vaxi- ous intervals the oxygen and carbon dioxide were estimated by Bar- croft's method. The production of carbon dioxide was generally found to be greater than the oxygen consumption. Similar experi- ments were carried out in the presence of dextrose. Here again there was no direct relationship between oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production. There was a much larger oxygen con- sumption and carbon dioxide production than in normal blood. S. B. S. Analysis of Blood Gases. 11. Haemofflobin as an Indicator.The Theory of Indicators. H. STRAUB and KLOTHILDE MEIER (Biochem. Zeitsch. 1918 90 305-336).-There is a discontinuity of the curve expressing the amount of carbon dioxide taken u p by the blood (hzemolysed by saponin freezing etc.) plotted against the carbon dioxide tension. This discontinuity does not follow the ordinary laws of mass action but begins when p,=7*0 at which point one molecule of carbon dioxide is taken up by one molecule of haoglobin. This indicates that when pH>7.0 the hzemoglobin molecules carry a negative charge which they lose as soon as p,=7. When p,= 6-39 a second point of discontinuity is reached in the curve which indicates that a t this point the hano- globin molscules acquire a positive charge. These phenomena are explained in reference to the charges carried by the colloidal par- ticles and not by the laws of mass action for the position of the bends in the curve depends also on the presence of other ions than those of hydrogen.Univalent anions and cations and bivalent cations exert no influence on the position of the bend; tervalent anions shiftl tho position of the first bend from plr=7.00 to pIi=6'80,i. 54 ABSTRACTS OF CHEMICAL PAPERS. and are without action on the position of the second bend. Ter- valent cations also exert a strong influence on the position. The application of these facts t o the use of hzemoglobin as an indicator is discussed. S. B. S. The Influence of Narcotics on the Permeability of Blood-corpuscles €or Dextrose and Carbamide. GERTRUD KATZ (Biochem. Zeitsch.1918 90 153-165).-The entrance of dextrose into human blood corpuscles is not inhibited by the nar- cotics hcptyl alcohol and thymol. The entrance of carbamide into ox-corpuscles is delayed by thymol. s. B. s. The Part Played by Acid in Carbohydrate Metabolism. 111. H. ELIAS and E. S'CHUBERT (Biockem. Zeitsch. 1918 90 229-243).-The glyco- gen content of the muscles of dogs' legs differs the right from the left by about 2-3% in the mean. Interarterial injection of lactic acid over several hours does not reducs t<o any appreciable extent the amount of glycogen; the muscle glycogen appears to be far more resistant to external stimuli than does the liver glycogen. Acid and- the Glycogen of the Muscles. S. B. S. Salivary Amylase. I. A Preliminary Experimental Study of its Stability in Saliva.RomN C. MYERS and T,EONARD C. SCOTT ( J . Amer. Chem. SOC. 1918 40 1713-1716).- Salivary amylase in sterilised saliva without preservative is found t o be relatively stable for a year. The relative stability may vary froni practically no change to that of more than 50% of its former amyloclastic activity the variation depending probably on slight differences in the composition of the saliva. The causes which lower the stability of salivary amylase in saliva are not solely the degrading action of bacteria mould spores yeast plants and special preservatives. The inherent chemical weakness of the enzyme molecule must be taken into account which weakness may be increased by the maintenance of temperatures from 1 8 O to; 30° by diffused light and by compounds in the saliva.Salivam amylase in saliva is relatively stable for a year when preserved with toluene thymol and chloroform. Toluene has the least destructive action on the enzyme and thymol and chloroform follow in order. Saliva may be kept for two ant1 a-hdf years under the ordinary 1 -t,horatorg conditions without pmservative and may still show :L form of amyloclastic activity. H. W. The Presence of Food Accessories in Urine Bile and Saliva. A. M. MUCKENFUSS (J. Amw. Chem. SOC. 1918 40 1606-1611).-As a result of a series of experiments on pigeons with acute symptoms of polyneiiritis the aut'hor is led t o the con- clusion that tho antineuritic vitamine is probably present in com- paratively small quantity in clean? fresh filtered bile from t;bcVEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY AND AGRICULTWRE.i. 55 bladder of the ox and that traces of i t appear to be present in fresh filtered human urine. H. W. W. J. CROZIER ( J . 4mer. Chem. SOC. 1918 40 1611-1612. Compare Fischer A. 1918 i 129 130 131; Henderson and Cohn ibid. i 316).-The author has carried out a series of experiments on the intracellular acidities in the tissues of three species of sponges one echinoderm and a nudibranch mollusc. The observations made increase the difficulties in the way of accepting Fischer's conception of water metabolism since they indicate a range of intracellular acidities in animal tissues within which it is known tlrat no signi- ficant protein swelling occurs and since they show that an intra- cellular acidity even remotely approaching that a t which significant swelling might be possible is irreversibly associated with natural death. H. W. The Storage and Excretion of Arsenic after Administra- tion by Salvarsan in Serum and Water. HAXS BERGMANN (Biochem. Zeitsch,. 1918 90 348-360).-The author investigated the rate of excretion of arsenic excreted in the urins of man after administration of neosalvarsan in serum (human) and in aqueous solutions. I n the latter case the excretion is much greater. Experi- ments are quoted which tend to show that the salvarsan undergoes clremical change more rapidly in aqueous solutiaii than in serum. A series of experiments is also described. in which the accumulation of arsenic in the organs of rabbits after administration of salvarsan was investigated. They tend t o indicate a greater accumulation after administration of the drug in serum. Fischer's Theory of Water Absorption in Edema. X. B. S.