346 ANNUAL KECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



trogenous substance present, the kreatine being absorbed 

 unchanged, remarks that, from his own experiments, he has 

 found that plants may absorb unchanged, and apparently de- 

 rive nitrogen from potassic nitrite, potassic cyanurate, and 

 potassic ferrocyanide. 1 A, December 8, 1871, 273. 



ABSORPTION OF MOISTURE BY LEAVES. 



Mr. M. Cailletet has lately been investigating the question 

 as to whether the leaves of plants are capable of absorbing 

 water in a liquid state, and sums up the result of his experi- 

 ments by stating that the fact seems to be demonstrated 

 that a plant growing in a humid soil, and receiving by its 

 roots the quantity of water necessary to its normal condition, 

 does not absorb the water which moistens its leaves, but that 

 such absorption takes place as soon as the leaves begin to 

 wither, in consequence of the desiccation of the soil. In this 

 way he explains the phenomenon of certain plants maintain- 

 ing a healthy condition without any contact with the soil, 

 and even absolutely isolated from all assimilable substances. 

 Thus a specimen of Pourretea, a rootless Bromeliaceous plant, 

 maintained a healthy existence and exhibited considerable 

 increase in weight while suspended for more than six years 

 in the air by a wire. No moisture ever reached it except 

 that from the garden syringe, and yet it was continually put- 

 ting out new leaves and flowering abundantly. 1 JB, Septem- 

 ber 30,1871,334. 



DIFFERENCE IX THE ASH OF GRAPE AND OTHER FRUIT WINES. 



According to Dr.Tuchschmid, the difference in the ash of 

 combustion of grape wine and of fruit w T ine may be used as 

 a convenient mode of detecting: the adulteration of the for- 

 mer by the latter, since, while fruit wine contains 1 to 4 

 tenths of carbonate of lime, grape wine, at the highest, con- 

 tains only about 5 hundredths. 6 C, /September 28, 1871, 

 xxxix., 398. 



EFFECT OF THE RED RAYS ON THE ASSIMILATION OF GREEN 



PLANTS. 



A series of experiments upon the influence of the different 

 red rays upon the assimilation of green plants has resulted 

 in showing that the middle red rays are in themselves capa- 



