354 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



almost nothing, the egg shells are absorbed, and the grain is apparently 

 filled with nothing but white powder. This is. as before stated, the dry 

 helminthes. 



ORIGIN OF THE WHEAT PLANT. 



Much interest has of late been excited among botanists by the statements 

 of MM. FABRE and DUNAL, that they have succeeded in producing the culti- 

 vated wheat (Triticurn sativum) from a variety of grass known in the south of 

 Eun ipe as ^Egilops orata. This grass under cultivation is said to assume the 

 form called ^Egilops triticiides, and finally to become wheat. M. Fabre says, 

 that the complete change was produced in twelve years by constant cultiva- 

 tion. If this view is correct, then botanists are wrong in supposing wheat to 

 be a Triticum, and it must be regarded merely as a variety of sEgilops, kept 

 up entirely by the art of the agriculturist. We do not see common wheat in a 

 wild state, but we meet with the grass whence it is derived. Wheat would 

 seem to be a variety rendered permanent by cultivation. The opinions of Fabre 

 have been supported by strong evidence. Of late, however, M. Godron has 

 published a paper in the Annaks des Sciences NaturelUs, in which he maintains 

 that ^Egilops triticiides is not a mere variety of jEyilops orata, but that it is 

 a hybrid between the cultivated wheat and the latter plant. This statement 

 seems, at all events, to confirm the idea that wheat and the ^gilnps are 

 nearly allied plants, for hybrids are not easily produced, except between 

 plants which resemble each other closely. This would be the first known 

 instance of a hybrid among grasses. There can be no doubt that the wheat 

 and ^Egibps orata are congeners, and that they exhibit evident marks of 

 resemblance. There appears, therefore, to be much plausibility in the state- 

 ment of Fabre ; and the hybridization spoken of by M. Godron may be merely 

 such as would occur between varieties of the species. The matter is, there- 

 fore, by no means settled, and further experiments are required. 



SEA WEED FOR FOOD. 



At a recent clinique of the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons, 

 Prof. Dalton discussed the subject of articles of diet prepared in part from sea 

 weeds, or Algas, for the use of that class of patients for whom Iodine is indi- 

 cated. The Professor showed and distributed specimens of the preparations, 

 such as biscuit and chocolate, together with the sea weeds which entered into 

 their composition. 



He stated that recent researches by Dr. John Davy and Prof. Apjohn, of 

 Trinity College, Dublin, had proved the great value of many varieties of Algce 

 as articles of nutriment ; that they had established, experimentally, the fact 

 that they contain the Protein principles so necessary for the support of animal 

 life, to a greater amount than even the best wheaten flour ; that they abound 

 in the phosphate of lime and the fixed alkalies; and that they contain such 

 quantities of Iodine as should render them very valuable articles of food for 

 persons laboring under scrofulous and tuberculous diseases. 



The attention of a firm in New York having been called to this subject, 

 these gentlemen had formed and successfully carried out the idea of preparing 



