Physiologie. 615 



bance, unlike the transmission of excitatory protoplasmic change 

 whJch occurs in an animal nerve. He regards as inconclusive the 

 experiments of Pfeffer and of Haberlandt on which this view is 

 based; these writers found transmission of Stimulus to take place 

 in spite of narcotisation or sealding of the intervening tissue, but 

 according to the author superficial narcotisation or sealding is not 

 effective in abolishing the conducting power in the interior of the 

 tissue. He Claims to have put crucial tests of the excitatory charac- 

 ter of the transmitted impulse by experiments on the action of 

 various physiological bloeks (paralysis by cold, electrotonic block, 

 poi>^ons, etc.) which arrest the transmission of excitation; the results 

 are stated to prove eonclusively that transmission of excitation in 

 a plant is a process fundamentally similar to that oecurring in an 

 animal, being in both cases alike a propagation of protoplasmic 

 chänge. 



In his general conclusion the author remarks upon the nume- 

 rous and varied factors which make up the complexit}'' of the 

 responses in the plant. Stimulus may be modified in its effect 

 according as it is direct or indirect, feeble or strong; the modifying 

 influence of the tonic condition of the tissue depends on whether 

 it is normal, sub-tonic, or fatigued. In the numberless permutations 

 and combinations of these varied factors lies the infinite complexity 

 of the responsive phenomena of life. Hardly a Single phenomenon or 

 irritability is observable in the animal which is not also found in the 

 plant; the various manifestations of irritability in the plant are also 

 identical with those in the animal. The recognition of this unity of 

 response in animal and plant will doubtless greatly further the progress 

 of plant physiology, and many problems in animal physiology will 

 find their Solution in the experimental study of corresponding Pro- 

 blems under simpler conditions of plant life; henee the study of 

 the responsive reactions in plants must be regarded as of funda- 

 mental importance in the elucidation of various phenomena relating 

 to che irritability of living tissues. F. Cavers. 



Bultel. Sur le forgage des vegetaux et notamment sur 

 eelui du fraisier soumis aux vapeurs d'ether. (Journ. 

 Soc. nation. Hortic. France. 4e serie. XIII. p. 212—217. 1912.) 



Les fraisiers soumis 48 ou 60 heures aux vapeurs d'ether (400 

 grammes d'ether par metre cube d'air) fleurissent environ 18 jours 

 plus tot que les individus non etherises. La meme avance des 

 plantes soumises aux vapeurs d'ether par rapport aux temoins se 

 retrouve lorsque les fruits mürissent. R. Combes. 



Gräfe, V., Ueber die Erzeugung organischer und organi- 

 sierter Substanz aus anorganischer. (Verh. k. k. zool.-bot 

 Ges. Wien. LXIII. 5/6. p. (78). 1913.) 



Das Problem der Darstellung organischer Substanz aus anor- 

 ganischer ist von der Chemie langst gelöst, auch wichtige Natur- 

 produkte können im Laboratorium in letzter Linie aus anorganischer 

 Substanz hergestellt werden. Aber stets ist dazu ein grosser Appa- 

 rat nötig, was bei der Pflanze nicht der Fall ist. Heute ist man 

 imstande, lediglich mit Hilfe einer Energieform aus wässriger CO2 

 Kohleh3'drate darzustellen, und auch auf die Bildung von Eiweiss- 



