096 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



MacNab were made upon the laurel cherry '(Primus lauro- 

 cerasus), the liquid used for testing the rapidity of the ascent 

 being the lithium citrate. 13 A^February 1, 120. 



INFLUENCE OF AMMONIA ON THE COLOR OF FLOWERS. 



An experiment was made by Vogel upon the influence of 

 ammonia upon the colors of flowers, in which eighty-six spe- 

 cies and varieties were exposed, under a glass bell, to a mix- 

 ture of sal ammoniac and lime-water, the fresh flowers being 

 placed at the same height in all the experiments. As a gen- 

 eral result, a difference was appreciable between the action 

 of the gas upon the colored matter deposited in granules and 

 that forming: a solution, the effect beins: much less in the 

 former than in the latter. In most cases the changes pro- 

 duced agreed closelv with those which the coloring matter 

 of the flowers passed through in the course of withering; and 

 even in natural withering and fading there is the same differ- 

 ence to be observed between the soluble colors and the gran- 

 ules. 1 9 , August 5, 260. 



ACTION OF ELECTRICITY ON THE COLORED TISSUES OF 



VEGETABLES. 



In a memoir by M. Becquerel the elder upon the action of 

 electricity upon the colored tissues of vegetables, he remarks 

 that electrical discharges, whether strong or weak, produce 

 three distinct actions upon the colors of the leaves of plants 

 and the flower: First, that by virtue of which the parts elec- 

 trized allow the coloring matters, which are in a state of so- 

 lution' in the cellules, to be absorbed, or, rather, filtered in 

 cold water, in which they are plunged after electrization. 

 This effect takes place principally with red and blue colors, 

 while the yellow shades, due to the solid granules situated 

 in the cellules, do not appear to be modified. Second, a di- 

 rect decolorizing action upon red and blue coloring matters, 

 which are found in a liquid state in the cellules whenever the 

 electrization of the plant is sufficiently prolonged, this effect 

 being sometimes very rapid. Third, infiltration, so to speak, 

 or a transfer of coloring matter sensible to the preceding in- 

 fluences, and that found in the interior of the electrized or- 

 gans. An example is seen in the effect produced in the red, 

 found in the under surface of leaves of the Begonia discolor^ 



