ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 671 



Hence a product was finally attained which had much resemblance to 

 adipocere. With regard to the enzymes which decompose casein, and 

 those which liquefy gelatin, the opinion is expressed that they are pro- 

 bably identical. The hemolytic enzyme is not identical with trypsin, 

 and it is not improbable that the tryptic enzymes secreted by different 

 micro-organisms are different. 



Respiration of Plants.* — K. Purjewicz has studied the value of the 



CO 

 quotient — ^— - in the case of Aspergillus niger, with various nutrient 



2 



media, and has come to the following general conclusions. The value 

 of the fraction is greater, the larger the proportion of oxygen in the 

 nutrient substance ; with the carbohydrates it is, as a general rule, 

 smaller the higher the molecular weight. With dextrose and saccharose 

 the quotient rises as the concentration is increased up to an optimum 

 (10 p.c), decreasing again when the concentration is further increased. 

 With the exception of tartaric acid, all the substances experimented on 

 yielded a relatively smaller amount of carbon dioxide in physiological 

 oxidation than in combustion. 



Intramolecular Respiration and Production of Alcohol by Seeds 

 placed in water."f — A series of experiments by E. Godlewski and F. 

 Polzeniusz on the germination of peas lead to the conclusion that the 

 chemical processes are, in the main, identical with fermentation, the 

 main product being alcohol and carbon dioxide, others only in incon- 

 siderable quantities. Not only the reserve-substances of seeds, but carbo- 

 hydrates absorbed from without, can be fermented in the seeds as they 

 are by the yeast-fungus, cane-sugar being in the first place inverted. 

 The quantity of alcohol thus produced may amount to as much as 22 p.c. 

 of the original dry weight of the seed. Asparagin is not one of the 

 products of intramolecular respiration. It would appear, however, that 

 the chemical processes concerned in the respiration of seeds are not 

 uniform for all plants, but vary according to circumstances. 



Influence of the Alkaloids on Respiration.t — N. Morkowine gives 



the details of a series of experiments on the influence of different alkaloids 



on the respiration of Vicia Faba. The disengagement of C0 2 was found 



uniformly to increase under the influence of alkaloids, i.e. oxidation is 



accelerated but not the decomposition of oxidised substances. When 



CO 

 the action commences, the value of the proportion 2 is below the 



normal ; it then rises considerably, but never reaches unity ; always re- 

 maining above the normal with concentrated solutions, but scarcely 

 above it with dilute solutions. With regard to their toxic influence on 

 the vegetable cell, the alkaloids experimented on may be arranged in 

 the following series : — quinine, cinchonine, caffeine, morphine, cocaine, 

 strychnine, atropine, antipyrine, brucine, codeine, pilocarpine. Of all 

 the materials used, the most poisonous was chlorhydrate of quinine. 



* Scbriften d. Naturf.-Ges. Kiew, xvii. (1899) (Russian). See Lot. Centralbl., 

 lxxxvii. (1901) p. 141. 



t Bull. Internat. Acad. Sci. Cracovie, 1901, pp. 227-76 (1 fig.) (German). Cf. 

 this Journal, ante, p. 558. 



X Rev. Ge'n. de Bot. (Bonnier), xiii. (1901) pp. 109-26, 177-92, 212-26, 265-75. 



