It has been possible by means of classical chemical methods to isolate and to characterize to some extent the nucleic acid of elementary bodies of vaccinia.
Determination by means of diphenylamine reagent revealed that the major part of the nucleic acid was of the thymus type. This was further substantiated by its stability in the presence of ribonuclease, less than 10 per cent undergoing depolymerization during prolonged incubation at 37°C.
By the technique employed, at least 5.6 per cent of the virus was shown to be thymonucleic acid. This amount agreed favorably with the value calculated from the non-lipid organic phosphorus of elementary bodies on the assumption that the phosphorus bound in the organic form was derived principally from nucleic acid.
