For the study of cecum digestion, the movement of cecal contents in the rabbit with abdominal window was studied by injecting ³⁵S-barium sulfate into the cecum. The fecal output and the distribution of radioactivity in cecum, indicated that the hard and soft feces in the rabbit are formed from the same cecal contents. A new assumption was thus suggested to explain the formation of the hard and soft feces.

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1) In the case of yeast, it has been demon-strated that acid-soluble compounds are not sufficiently eliminated when extracted twice with 0.2 N PCA according to Ogur and Rosen's method.
2) Even if the extraction with 0.2 N PCA is repeated further, acid-soluble compounds are not extracted completely; on the contrary, RNA begins to dissolve into the acid-soluble fraction.
3) It has been shown that these defects can be eliminated only when acid-soluble com-pounds are extracted with water instead of with 0.2 N PCA.
4) Based on the facts described above, the previous report on the determination of nucleic acids in fresh or durable yeast has been further modified, from the viewpoint of elution behavior of acid-soluble compounds.

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The apparent Michaelis constants of each component for the coenzyme are the same values.
Each component is inhibited by the substrate according to the same mechanism.
The optimal pH values and the equilibrium constants of the reactions catalyzed by each component are the same.
E^1%_1cm (280mμ) values of each component are are identical. E_280mμ/E_260mμ absorption ratios also similar.
It may be concluded that each component is almost the same enzyme protein.

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The relation between the enzyme activity of the watar extract and the autolysis time is investigated.
The crystalline PGA mutase preparations having the same crystalline forms and different specific activities are obtained from the auto-lysates incubated for different periods at 38°C.
The specific activities of these crystals decrease as the autolysis time is prolonged.
The content of component I in these crystals decreases in proportion to the autolysis time.
The 20 hr.-crystal is component V only.
The PGA mutase protein is only component I in yeast cells and this component is modified by PGA mutase-modifying enzyme during autolysis.

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Cysteine mercaptals and mercaptoles were prepared by the reactions of L-cysteine with formal-dehyde, acetaldehyde, n-butyraldehyde, benzaldehyde, furfural, pyruvic acid and levulinic acid in 6 N hydrochloric or sulfuric acid. Hydrogen sulfide released from cysteine mercaptals and mercaptoles in heated aqueous solutions (oil bath:120°C) was determined. Although a small amount of hydrogen sulfide was liberated from L-cystine on one hour heating, its amount increased suddenly after three hours. Among these compounds L-cysteine mercaptal of furfural was most unstable and a large amount of hydrogen sulfide was produced.

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In the course of study on the amino acid composition of sheep rumen Protozoa, a new ninhydrin-positive substance was isolated from acid hydrolysates of a proteolipid-like material of Protozoa. This substance was ideneified as 2-aminoethane phosphonic acid, and the occurrence of a C-P bond in Nature has been demonstrated for the first time.

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Although the manometric study of the catalatic reaction has several drawbacks in comparison with the titrimetric method, the manometry has often been used to determine the catalatic activity of an impure preparation because the oxygen evolution from hydrogen peroxide is owing exclusively to the action of catalase.
To overcome the drawbacks a sensitive recording electronic manometer was constructed using a RCA 5734 subminiature triode, a mechano-electronic transducer, with diaphragms, which was reliable for the studies of not only the catalatic reaction but also other reactions which accompany a rapid or minute pressure variation. Measurements of the catalatic reaction with the apparatus was satisfactorily compared with the titrimetry.

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1. L. fermentum can utilize glyceraldehyde, forming almost equimolar lactic acid per triose consumed. Neither the evolution of carbon dioxide nor the uptake of oxygen was observed manometrically, and any by-product such as volatile acid, ethanol or acetoin was not detected in the process of its dissimilation.
2. Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate, 3-phospho-glycerate and pyruvate were identified as inter-mediates of triose metabolism; the two formers were equally labeled with inorganic P³² in reac-tion systems.
3. Considerable degree of inhibition by both iodoacetate and dinitrophenol on triose dis-appearance as well as on lactic acid formation was observed. In consequence, possibility of the presence of Embden-Meyerhof route for triose utilization and some relating problems are discussed.

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1. Resting cells of both homo- and heterofermentative lactic acid bacteria oxidized mannitol aerobically to produce lactic acid, where half mole of oxygen per mole of utilized mannitol was found to be consumed monometrically. But anaerobically no consumption of the substrate was observed.
2. The crude cell-free extracts of heterofermenters oxidized mannitol to fructose, accompanied by approximately theoretical yield of reducing sugars, and those of homofermenters oxidized mannitol-1-phosphate to fructose-6-phosphate in the same manner, and not vice versa.
3. The presence of mannitol dehydrogenase in the extracts of heterofermenters, and mannitokinase and mannitol-1-phosphate dehydrogenase in the extracts of homofermenters were demonstrated spectrophotometrically. DPN-dependence of both dehydrogenase and reversibility of the reactions were ascertained.
4. Mannitol dehydrogenase was purified and about 40-fold active preparation was obtained from Lactobacillus brevis. The enzyme is specific for mannitol and activated by cobalt ion.

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1. Pyruvate and acetaldehyde were detected as intermediates in the pathway of heterolactic fermentation by L. fermenti.
2. Acetaldehyde was accumulated aerobically as an oxidation product of ethanol in the pre-sence of semicarbazide.
3. Dismutation of acetaldehyde to ethanol and acetate was observed when acetaldehyde was added to the system of glucose fermenta-tion.
4. Alcohol dehydrogenase in an ammonium sulfate fraction catalyzes both DPN- and TPN-dependent oxidation of ethanol to acetaldehyde. Acetyl CoA was reduced in the presence of either TPN or DPN with the same fraction.
5. By coupling of D-xylose degradation with mannitol utilization appreciable increase of ethyl alcohol was observed with resting cells of heterolactic microorganisms.
6. With the continuous supply of reduced methyl viologen approximately half molarity of acetate to be produced from D-xylose was transformed to ethyl alcohol in an absolutely anaerobic condition. From L-arabinose only poor amount of ethyl alcohol was produced by both strains of microorganisms.
7. A metabolic pathway of lactic acid fer-mentation including D-mannitol fermentation was suggested.

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In the reduction of (-)-isomenthone with sodium in aqueous ammonia, it was found that the reduction product gives a mixture consisting of 75.5% of (-)-isomenthol (a, e, e), 9.5% of (+)-menthol (e, e, e) and 8.6% of (-)-neoisomenthol (a, a, e). From this fact, it might be concluded that this reduction is stereospecific for isomenthone and is mechanistically different from reduction with sodium and alcohol.

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In the reduction of (±)-piperitone with sodium in aqueous ammonia, by means of infrared analyses, it was found that the reduction product is composed of (±)-isomenthol in a slight excess over (±)-menthol, and the components were isolated in a pure state.

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On the reduction of the condensation product of mesityloxide with methylvinylketone by treatment with sodium in aqueous ammonia, the main product was (±)-menthol and (±)-isomenthol, which were isolated in pure state. This experimental result suggests the possibility of menthol synthesis from acetone and formaldehyde.

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By polarography, isoniazid (INH) gives three reduction waves and sarkomycin-isoniazid derivative (SK-INH) gives three or four waves. Polarography of the mixtures of two out of sarkomycin (SK), INH and SK-INH suggests that the first, the second and the fourth wave of SK-INH are derived from the first, the second and the third wave of INH, respectively, and the third wave from SK. Alternating current polarography of SK-INH shows three or four maxima, whose numbers are the same as wave numbers in direct current polarography.

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Quantitative analyses of sarkomycin-isoniazid derivative (SK-INH), isoniazid (INH) and their mixture are discussed. The diffusion current of SK-INH gives a linear relationship with the concentration only in the same lot, but this calibration curve cannot be applied for samples of other lots. Increase in the diffusion currents of the first and the second wave in a mixture of SK-INH and INH yields straight lines against the added INH, which coincide well with the calibration curve of INH. Relation between diffusion currents of the first and the second wave and nitrogen contents, obtained by a lot of SK-INH, cannot be used for other lots of sample. Ratios of the diffusion currents of these waves show different values in each sample, which are larger than in INH.

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Es wurde aufgeklärt, daß die im Tee-blättern weit verbreitet vorkommende natürliche Blätter-alcohol-fraction aus einem Gemisch der cis, trans-Isomere besteht, wobei bisher das cis-Isomere besteht, wobei bisher das cis-Isomere stark überwiegt.

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The high concentration of sodiumchloride content in the diet has deleterious effects both on the occurrence of liver cancer induced by p-dimethyl amino azobenzene through decreasing riboflavin concentration of liver and on the production of hypertension in rats. The effects can be largely counteracted by the simultaneous feeding of riboflavin.

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Isolation and screening tests were carried out to obtain microorganisms capable of producingamino acids from pentoses and hexoses directly in the presence of nitrogen sources and inorganicsalts.
Three strains having exceedingly high amino acids producing ability were obtained. Oneof them produces remarkably L-glutamic acid and alanine and the other two have high pro-ductivity of alanine.
As a result of the taxonomical studies, all of these strains were found to belong to the Genus Brevibacterium. Moreover, there are no species which conform to these strains described inBergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology 7th Ed., so the authors decided them to be newspecies.

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