Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 157 



of borate of soda; wash the precipitate slightly, and calcine it also 

 slightly. Mix one part of this borate of cobalt with one or two 

 parts of fused phosphate of soda, and heat the mixture to redness 

 in a crucible. Phosphate of cobalt may be used instead of the borate, 

 and a fine blue will be obtained. The phosphate of soda may be 

 replaced by the arseniate 



Borate of cobalt may be prepared as follows : Add an excess of 

 borate of soda to a solution of a salt of cobalt, and a solution of 

 carbonate of potash or soda, as long as a precipitate is formed. Wash, 

 filter, and calcine slightly. Another blue may be formed by mixing 

 twelve parts of phosphate of cobalt slightly calcined, twelve parts of 

 fused phosphate of soda, two parts of fused borax, four parts of cal- 

 cined alumina ; and there may be added, if preferred, three parts of 

 calcined carbonate of soda. Mix them intimately in a mortar, and 

 heat to redness in a crucible. By this process a very fine blue is 

 obtained. — Journal de Pharmacie, Sept. 1834?, p. 536. 



ON THE INFLUENCE OF ELECTRICITY IN GERMINATION. BY M. 

 CHARLES MATTEUCCI. 



Although the effect produced by electricity upon vegetation has 

 long been a subject of inquiry, the greatest uncertainty still exists 

 as to the nature of its action and the true influence which it exerts. 

 The most recent work on this subject is by M, Becquerel, in which 

 it is stated, that the act of germination always produces acetic acid. 

 As, however, it is well known that the fecula of the cotyledons of le- 

 guminous and other grains undergoes changes analogous to those 

 which it suffers by exposure to the air, it becomes a subject of in- 

 terest to multiply the experiments on a great number of grains. 

 Grains of wheat, hempseed, and lentils, &c., were made to germinate 

 in well washed carbonate of lime. In a very short time acidity wa^ 

 developed ; but the germination was allowed to go on for ten or 

 twelve days. The carbonate of lime was then washed, the aqueous 

 solution evaporated and treated with alcohol. The spirituous so- 

 lution by evaporation yielded acetate of lime, muriate of soda, a 

 saccharine substance, and gluten partly altered, in the greater num- 

 ber of cases : the hempseed alone gave a small quantity of acetate of 

 lime only. It appears from this, that independently of the chemi- 

 cal action exercised by the gluten on the starch, in the simple act of 

 germination there is always acetic acid developed. Regarding then, 

 with M. Becquerel, the embryo and all that surrounds it as an elec- 

 tro-negative system which retains the bases and rejects the acids in 

 the same manner as the negative pole of a pile, an experiment was 

 made to try if it were possible by the aid of artificial electricity to 

 assist or to contravene germination. With this view a pile of ten 

 pairs of zinc and copper was prepared, and the positive pole was 

 made to touch some lentil seeds, moistened with water, and the nega- 

 tive pole touched some others. Germination, indicated by acidity, was 

 soon perceptible in the grains of the negative pole, while in those at 

 the other pole it did not begin until long after. This result led to the 

 idea that the action of ihe negative pole was derived from the alkali 



