LATENT LIFE 177 



changes, and yet it is not dead. For in a few days 

 we may revive it into vigor, or may nurse into 

 lively development the cyst or germ which it in- 

 closes. The riddle stares us in the face in every 

 bag of dry seeds. In what state is the life of these 

 seeds, for most of them are alive in this sense at 

 least, that they can in appropriate conditions give 

 rise to living plants? This brings us to consider 

 the remarkable experiments recently made by M. 

 Paul Becquerel. 



One of the first results of Becquerel's work was 

 the demonstration of the extraordinary imperme- 

 ability of the envelopes of many seeds. Thus the 

 coats of the naturally dried seeds of the lupine re- 

 main impermeable to air and other gases for two 

 years. They are also impermeable to liquids, such 

 as absolute alcohol, ether, and chloroform. The 

 gases and liquids readily soak into seeds of lupine, 

 peas, and beans whose coats have been taken off, 

 but when the coats are left on they are for a long 

 time gas-proof and liquid-proof. Very careful 

 experiments with naked seeds of peas, beans, and 

 lupine, in their natural state of dryness (that is, 

 still containing a minute quantity of water), showed 

 that after a certain time in darkness they absorb 

 traces of oxygen and liberate traces of carbon 

 dioxide. But this gaseous interchange is probably 

 due to a simple chemical oxidation at the surface 

 of the seed and not to an attenuated respiration. 

 It is certain that seeds do not necessarily lose their 

 power of germinating though they have been kept 



