236 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS by hypophyseal growth hormone gonadectomy did not alter rate of hair growth in hypophysectomised rats. Cortisone given orally in large doses temporarily restored hair growth in human alopecia, and intradermal injection of hydrocortisone acetate produced local growth of hair in a case of universal alopecia due to financial stress. 4ø The uptake of cobalt and nickel by various organs of mice was reported 4• to be correlated with hair colour, more cobalt being absorbed by black mice, more nickel by white mice. SWEAT The appearance of a new and greatly expanded edition of Kuno's Human Perspiration •2 provides an up-to-date compendium on the mechanism of sweating. A review • with 221 references on the pharmacology of sweating appeared in 1955. A study • of the pH of sweat produced by various forms of stimulation disclosed that any changes in pH obtained on the skin in response to a stimulus was in the direction oi an increase. The pH changes observed were attributed primarily to eccrine, not apocrine sweat. Fatigue of the sweat glands was produced by repeated intradermal injections of mecholyl sweat production gradually declined until the glands became refractory to further stimulation either by mecholyl or by heat. 4• The histology of apocrine sweat glands •5 and their innerration • was more adequately reported than before, and hormones of wide variety were tested •7 topically and systemically, and found to be without observable effect, although hormonal control is strongly indicated by the fact that apocrine glands start functioning at puberty. Examination of the wax- producing glands of the human ear canal led to the conclusion that they should be classed as apocrine glands. •8 Shelly's earlier conclusions as to the mechanism of axillary odour produc- tion 5ø were supported by new studies • which showed that apocrine sweat and sebum both remained free of unpleasant odour while sterile bacteria of various species were collected from human axill•e, and pure cultures of all but one of the species collected were found to produce bad odours in apocrine sweat it was concluded that the benefit of aluminium salts should not be attributed to suppression of eccrine sweating,, since they are also antibacterial, and may decrease the bacterial population of the axill•e. SEBUM Thiamine deficiency produced marked atrophy and loss of lipid in sebace- ous glands of mice. '2 Mitochrondria in the cells of the sebaceous glands appeared to play a directire part in the synthesis of sebaceous lipids, but not to undergo direct transformation into lipids. • The rate of sebaceous secretion in the forehead in ten elderly persons averaged 31 micrograms per

SOME NEW KEYS TO COSMETIC CHEMISTRY--]9$6 237 cm. 2 in the first 20 minutes after cleansing of the area with ether, and dwindled to 20 micrograms per cm. 2 in 20 minutes after repeated cleansing over a six-hour period. 54 Human sebum was reported to contain twelve aliphatic alcohols of 14 to 24 carbon atoms, straight and branched, saturated and unsaturated 5' in the free acid fraction 31 fatty acids of seven to 18 carbon atoms were detected and estimated by gas-liquid chromatography, •ø including some highly branched and some mono- and di-unsaturated acids. CELLS Improved methods for locating substances within cells and estimating their concentration include a method for determining dry weight within a cell body •7 which is more practical than the interference method and methods for determining four enzymes in single large cell bodies •8 the method for malic dehydrogenase requires only 10 -5 micrograms of dry material, or one two-thousandth the mass of a single cell body. A summary of factors identified as essential for growth of a mouse fibroblast in tissue culture lists 27 substances. 59 About 70 of the chemical elements are claimed to be plant nutrients in concentrations of 10 -• to 10 -•, and are postulated to constitute integral elements of the cell, indis- pensable in the chain of enzymic reactions. 60 A U.S. patent 6• was issued covering the use of metallic complexes as stimulants of cellular respiration, in cosmetics and topical pharmaceuticals. The action of colchicine in blocking mitosis was found to be inhibited by adrenocortical hormones, which favour mitosis. 6• A substance was isolated from deoxyribonucleic acid preparations which markedly promotes cell division in concentrations as low as 1 microgram per litre the promoter was named kinetin, and was shown to be 6-furfurylpurine. 63 Analogues with sidechains of similar size to oeurfuryl were also active, and showed marked regulatory effects on developmental processes in plants, and on growth in animal tissues. 64 The molecular basis of cell division in yeasts was concluded to be reshaping of the protein comprising the inner cell wall by reduction of the S-S linkages, and protein disulphide reductase was characterised as the "division enzyme. "65 Glutathione was reported to play a metabolic role in mitosis. 66 On the yeast cell, evidence indicated the presence of at least two species of sites for binding cations, tentatively identified as phosphoryl and carboxyl groups these are on the periphery of the cell, isolated from endogenous cations by a permeability barrier. 67 Inside the liver cell, quinacrine was seen to be bound by numerous cell constituents, chiefly in its micellar form. 68 It has been observed that in the mitochondria of house-fly muscle cells, there are enzymes which dephosphorylate the triphosphates not only of adenosine but also of guanosine, inosine, uridine, and cytidine, and there appeared to be a separate enzyme for each nucleotide calcium