in vegetable Structures. 



299 



and assist in producing the important chemical changes 

 proper to that process ; and that, by causing the seed to 

 assume an oppositely electric state, we retard or check its 

 developement. 



In conclusion, I may be permitted to remark, that such of 

 the reasoning in this paper as depends on the results of ulti- 

 mate chemical analyses cannot be shaken or overthrown by 

 differences in the results of the analyses of subsequent 

 chemists ; for, as I have limited myself solely to starch and 

 sugar (which substances, under every variety, consist of 

 carbon united with oxygen and hydrogen in the proportion 

 to form water), it is obvious that the utmost discrepancies 

 existing between the results of analyses can only amount to 

 the addition or subtraction of an atom or two of the elements 

 of water, which cannot seriously affect the view I have taken 

 of the chemical changes proper to germination. I felt myself 

 compelled to make these concluding remarks ; as, since I 

 penned the first part of this paper, the third edition of 

 Mitscherlich's Lehrbuch der Chemie has reached this country ; 

 and I find that his analyses of the different forms of sugar 

 and starch differ somewhat from those of Berzelius*, whom 

 I took for my authority in the commencement of these ob- 

 servations. The following is a view of the composition of 

 sugars and starch, as given by Mitscherlich ; and the re- 

 marks that follow are sufficient to show that, although he 

 differs from Berzelius, yet that, for the reasons just stated, 

 they cannot seriously affect my view of the changes in the 

 germinating seed. 



Cane Sugar. 



Anhydrous Starch 



Sugar of Milk. 



Grape Sugar. 



Carbon - 

 Hydrogen 

 Oxygen - 



12 volumes. 



22 — 

 11 — 



12 volumes. 

 20 — 

 10 — 



12 volume s 

 24 — 

 12 — 



12 volumes. 

 28 — 

 14 — 



" In diesen vier substanzen sind sauer staff und Nasser staff 

 ganz in demselben verhaltniss wie im wasser enthalten. Die 

 umanderung des amidous und milchzuckers in traubenzucker 

 wiirde also darauf beruhen, dass mit beiden sich noch wasser 

 verbindet und zwar als wasserstoff und sauerstoff, bei welcher 

 verbindung die schwefelsaure wei bei der aether-bildung, 

 und das porose platina oder das gahrungsmittel bei der 

 essigbildung wirkt ; sie verandert sich dabei durchaus nicht."f 



* Traite de Chimie, par M. Berzelius, torn. v. p. 207. 

 t Lehrbuch der Chemie, von Mitscherlich, 3te auflage ; erster band, 

 s. 164. 



" In these four substances oxygen and hydrogen exist in the very same 



z 2 



