MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 51 



The work so far is very incomplete. It was found that corn seedlings 

 would live and grow in a dilution of n-2560 HCl. To find whether there 

 was any chemical action in the killing of the radicles, I put 25 cc. of 

 n-640 HCl into an esmark dish of 50 cc. capacity. In this solution I 

 put 48 seedlings of corn, with radicles 8 to G cm. long; after 24 hours 

 75% of the seedlings were alive. N-640 HCl is four times as concen- 

 trated as the dilution at which a seedling will just live. 



In 40 cc. of n-2560 HCl, I put four corn seedlings, and allowed them 

 to grow for 24 hours, then they were removed and followed by four 

 lupine seedlings. After 24 hours the lupines had grown 10 mm. The 

 lupine dies at a dilution of n-6400 HCl. These experiments show that 

 there is a loss of acid. Since the radicles were free from all mineral 

 matter on the outside, the acid must have united with the mineral 

 substances from within. This loss of acidity suggested that the acid 

 of the solution acted upon some mineral elements of the radicle, hence 

 it was supposed that the mineral content of corn seedlings killed in 

 HCl solution would be less than that of normal radicles, and also that 

 some element or elements would be more abundant in the one than in 

 the other. 



Two lots of radicles were collected. The one was taken from seed- 

 lings killed in a solution of HCl about n-256; the other was taken from 

 normal seedlings as they came from the germinator. 



The corn was germinated in sphagnum. When the radicles became 

 about 2 to 6 cm. long, a quantity of them were put into a large, shallow 

 esmark dish, holding 500 cc. of the solution. The grain was supported by 

 perforated cardboard, allowing the radicles to reach into the solution. 

 They remained in the solution twelve hours, after which they were 

 removed and rinsed off with distilled water. They were then clipped off 

 about 5 cm. from the tip, on an average, and dried. The solution in 

 which they were killed was changed every other day. 



The control lot was taken from the germinator, clipped and dried. 

 About the same length of radicles was taken in both cases. The radicles 

 of approximately 3000 seedlings were collected for each lot, making 

 4.08 gTams of killed radicles and 5.33 grams of natural ones. The solu- 

 tion in which about 2000 seedlings were killed, was evaporated to dry- 

 ness, then burned to ash, and the ash analyzed for calcium and potash. 

 1.235 g. of dry material was obtained. 



As a check on the last test, two hundred seedlings were put into an 

 esmark dish as used for killing the seedlings, but containing distilled 

 water. They were allowed to remain as many hours per 100 seedlings 

 as were taken to kill the 2000 seedlings which were burned. Then the 

 water was evaporated and tested for alkalinity. No fungi grew in this 

 solution, as did in the killing solution. The results of the chemical 

 analysis of the mineral content are as follows : 



