360 ANNUAL KECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



of the six which compose thehead, open, and are fertilized like 

 those of wheat. Numerous other instances are cited in which, 

 by like means, sometimes the one method of fertilization is 

 favored, sometimes the other, but with little uniformity of 

 plan, even among species of the same genus. Monatshericht 

 Akcul, Berlin, October, 1872, 737. 



DISTRIBUTIOX OF ATROPINE IN THE PLANT. 



According to Lefort, atropine is more abundant in the 

 leaves of the deadly nightshade before flowering than after- 

 ward, so that they should be collected for manufacturing pur- 

 poses between flowering and fruitage. The quantity in the 

 foots varies very greatly, the young roots yielding more than 

 roots of two or tlirce j^ears old, because the latter contain a 

 smaller proportion of bark. 21 A,Decemher, 1872, 110. 



CHANGE IN THE OIL OF SEEDS IN GERMINATIONt 



A series of experiments by Mr. Muntz, instituted to ascer- 

 tain whether seeds containing fatty oils, when germinating, 

 are decomposed into glycerine and acids, and whether one 

 of the constituents is absorbed sooner than the other, result- 

 ed as follows: 1. During the germination of oily seeds, the 

 fatty substance progressively separates into fatty acids and 

 glycerine. 2. The glycerine disappears as soon as liberated. 

 3. At a certain time the young plant contains no free fatty 

 acid. 4. While the embryo is growing, these fatty acids ab- 

 sorb oxygen slowly but progressively, the amount of which, 

 in the above experiments, never exceeded three fourths' per 

 cent. 28 (7, March, 1872. 



CHANGE OF TEMPERATURE DURING THE GERMINATION OF 



SEEDS. 



Professor Wiesner has ascertained that, during the germi- 

 nation of seeds, the temperature increases before the develop- 

 ment of carbonic acid begins, and he believes that water is 

 condensed within the tissues of the seed, and heat thus liber- 

 ated. He considers this as proof that the increase of tem- 

 perature is, to a certain extent, independent of the chemical 

 process. In another series of experiments, different seeds 

 were exposed to increased temperature, and it was foimd that 

 some, as beans, the seeds of conifers, etc., will not sufler from 



