RESERVE MATERIALS OF PLANTS. ng 



the influence of living substance, to convert amides into 

 proteids. 



We may now examine the aleurone grains with a view 

 to ascertaining what proteids they are composed of. These 

 are found to vary in different seeds, but the variety is 

 not very great. The classification of them turns upon 

 their solubility in various solutions or extracting fluids. On 

 this point most of our information is derived from the in- 

 vestigations of Weyl (7) and of Vines (8). The former 

 observer experimented on the seeds of oats, maize, peas, 

 almonds and mustard, and on Brazil nuts. He extracted 

 his seeds first with water and subsequently with solu- 

 tions of neutral salts of various strengths. His watery 

 extracts contained certain bodies which have since been 

 shown to belong to the group of the albumoses ; his 

 salt solutions extracted two globulin bodies showing differ- 

 ent properties. The strength of solution of most value 

 was 10 per cent, and the salt was sodium chloride. 

 The extract of the seeds prepared with this solvent was 

 found to give a copious precipitate or coagulum on boiling. 

 Further experiments showed that it contained two globulins, 

 one of which was thrown down by saturating the solution 

 at the ordinary temperature with crystals of common salt 

 while the other remained dissolved in the concentrated 

 solution. On heating solutions of these two proteids 

 separately they were found to coagulate at different tem- 

 peratures, the first at 55° to 6o°C, the other at 73°C. 

 Weyl gave the name of vegetable myosin to the former 

 and that of vegetable vitellin to the latter. 



The work of Vines carried the matter further. Besides 

 working on quantities of the seeds and extracting the pro- 

 teids on a large scale he examined the action of the solvent 

 fluids upon sections of the seeds under the microscope. 

 His most interesting results were obtained with the grains 

 of the castor oil seed and those of the Brazil nut. In these 

 cases the grains are of complex composition, showing a well- 

 derined crystalloid and globoid in the interior of each. 

 When a section of the endosperm of the castor oil bean is 

 examined, after removal by alcohol of the oil it contains the 



