A Study of the Acetone and Butyl Alcohol Fermentation of Various Carbohydrates.*

A great deal of research has been performed on the acetone and butyl alcohol fermentation of maize, potatoes, horse-chestnuts, and other cereals rich in starch, in which various organisms of t’he widely distributed Granulobacter type have been employed. No systematic investigation has been made, however, of the action of this type of organism on other carbohydrates; namely, the various sugars. dextrins, and sugar alcohols. In consequence, at the suggestion of Professor Horace B. Speakman, a survey of these sources of carbon has been made with a freshly isolated soil organism. It was hoped that such an investigation would throw some light upon the biochemistry of the acetone and butyl alcohol fermentat.ion by defining exact’ly which carbon compounds can be utilized by the organism. In the early literature are found reports of work with various sugars but these are mainly concerned with the determination of end-products. Beijerinck (1) employed malt-wort in the butyl alcohol fermentation by means of Grcrnulobacter butylicum and found maltose far better suited to the fermentation than glucose. Perdrix (2) submitted glucose, saccharose, and lactosetoferment,aCon by an organism isolated from the Seine and called by him “Bacillus amylozyme.” The fermentation products from t,hese sugars were acetic and butyric acids, hydrogen, and carbon dioxidc, but no alcohols were formed. These latter products, however, were produced in considerable quantities from starchy