56 JOSHUA ROSETT 



3. When the solution is poured upon the crystals, or when 

 the crystals are thrown into the solution, they become neces- 

 sarily somewhat displaced from the position assumed by them 

 upon their first contact with the liquid. The manner in which 

 this displacement occurs will have a bearing upon the persistence 

 of some of the stems and the cessation of growth of others. 

 Growth begins immediately upon contact of the KMn04 with 

 the medium. If, now, after stems have sprouted forth from 

 the fragment, the fragment becomes displaced, the stems which 

 arose originally from its highest point, come to arise from its 

 sides or bottom, and must make an abrupt bend in order to 

 proceed upward. If the bend is too abrupt, the increased pres- 

 sure at the highest point of the osmotic sac will cause a rupture, 

 with the consequent outgrowth of a stem. The flow of the 

 KMn04 solution being unimpeded within the lumen of this stem, 

 it will grow faster than the older, bent stems. The flow of the 

 fluid within the more advantageously situated stem moreover, 

 accumulates momentum under the incident force of the osmotic 

 pressure at the expense of the flow of the fluid within the less 

 advantageously situated stems. The stagnating KMn04 solu- 

 tion in the open tips of the latter stems becomes reduced by 

 contact with the medium, clogging their openings with the 

 precipitate formed, with the cessation of growth of these stems 

 as the result. 



4. When several fragments of KMn04 lie close together in 

 the solution, they adhere to each other and form one sac par- 

 titioned on the inside into as many compartments as there were 

 fragments. The KMn04 of those compartments from which 

 no stems grow, or those whose stems have ceased growing, serves 

 as a supply for the growth of the more advantageously situated 

 stems. Thus not only does the better situated fragment pro- 

 duce the taller growth, but the growth which it produces is 

 at the expense of the worse situated fragments. 



