230 SCIENCE PROGRESS. 



reacts more energetically in the germinating seed, or must 

 this further hydrolysis be referred to that incubus of biolo- 

 gists — protoplasmic activity ? The question is at present 

 open. 



It has been seen that von Gorup-Besanez' statement, 

 that the proteinic chemolysis of germination resembles that 

 in vitro, has been justified as far as its qualitative aspect is 

 concerned. But the quantitative proportions in which the 

 products arise during germination differ considerably from 

 those that result from artificial decomposition. A glance 

 at the table inserted above and its context shows that, 

 whereas all the plants have yielded some of the character- 

 istic products of proteohydrolysis, others have not been yet 

 identified, although in many cases very probably present in 

 minute amount. Also the proportion, in which those that 

 have been identified occur, bears no resemblance to that 

 obtaining in artificial hydrolysis. Moreover in each plant 

 there is one predominant substance, arginin, glutamin or 

 asparagin, the others being as a rule in quite subordinate 

 amount. Arginin predominates in the Coniferce examined, 

 and in the footnotes to the context of the table is a list of 

 plants in which asparagin and glutamin preponderate re- 

 pectively, as also one in which such are noticed as contain 

 both amides. 



If von Gorup-Besanez' hypothesis is correct, it becomes 

 essential that the qualitative differences and quantitative 

 disproportions between these compounds in different species 

 be explained. The simplest and most apparent interpreta- 

 tion is, that the amido-bodies arise directly in varying 

 proportions, any one albuminoid yielding products that 

 vary with the conditions. This view was put forward by 

 Pfeffer some years back in a criticism of an earlier form 

 of Schulze's present theory. The latter explained the 

 observed phenomena through supposing that the proteohy- 

 drolysis of germination resembles both qualitatively and 

 quantitatively that occurring in vitro, the products being 

 utilised for regeneration with unlike celerity, inasmuch as 

 the amido-acids on the whole are more adapted for this 

 process than the amides. But since this explanation was 



