KozLowsKi : Primary Synthesis of Proteids 49 



cuse un mode de generation et des fonctions physlologiques toute 

 differcntest). It is then not improbable that such plants as Rumcx 

 and other " oxah'c " plants represent some deviation from normal 

 conditions. 



The deposition of calcium oxalate in places where thick mem- 

 branes are formed was noticed long since by Sachs, and it is very 

 natural to associate this phenomena with the pVoduction of cellulose. 

 The only known method by which this body can be obtained is 

 through the action of living protoplasm and that suggests the idea, 

 that the cellulose is a product of proteids. A direct transition of 

 other carbohydrates, as sugar or starch, into cellulose was never 

 observed either in the chemical kiboratory or in plants ; and we can 

 not imagine the role of the protoplasm in this process, otherwise 

 than by supposing that these carbohydrates become constituent 

 factors In the proteid molecule, and from the reduction of this 

 molecule the cellulose is derived. 



Now the formation of the crystals of oxalates depends upon 

 two factors : the formation of oxalic acid and the supply of cal- 

 cium in amount sufficient to bind that acid. Both factors are 

 present in the considered case, for where large amounts of cellu- 

 lose are deposited by the protoplasm of the cells (as by the forma- 

 tion of sclerenchymatous elements), large supplies of carbohydrates 

 are necessary to form anew the protein molecules of the protoplasm, 

 and the transfer of carbohydrates, as both Schimper and Kohl 

 have shown, is strictly connected with the presence of calcium, 

 which is considered as a " vehicle " for these compounds. 



In the same way we can explain the formation of oxalic 

 crystals in buds ; the predominating phenomenon in this young 

 tissue is the division of cells and the production of a large amount 

 of cellulose membrane, which, according to our supposition, in- 



and the consequent formation of oxalic acid. 



carbohydrates) 



As to the oxalates (called secondary), formed in the chloro- 

 phylic tissue of the leaves, the conditions are more complicated. 

 Schimper has proved that their formation "is dependent upon 

 light and chlorophyl, but not upon assimilation."! Their 



Comptes Rendus, 102: 1044. 

 t Bot. Zeitung, 1888, 69. 



