106 PLANT. ANATOMY. 
its storage ; it is, indeed, sufficiently well known that the oil 
becomes quickly rancid when the seeds are comminuted or even 
moistened. — 
Many cells of other tissues contain, moreover, free fat in a 
liquid or solid form. In the former case, the drops of oil admit 
of especially easy recognition on account of their remarkable 
refraction of light, e. g., in Secale cornutum, and in Senega 
root. ‘I'he fats deposited in a solid form are crystalline, which 
may be seen with special clearness, among other examples, in 
Cacao, Cocculus Indicus, and in the Nutmeg.’ The fat con- 
tained in the kernels and shells of the Cocculus fruits consists 
almost entirely of free stearic acid.” 
In Stillingia sebifera (Nat. Ord. Euphorbiacexe), there is 
found upon the surface of the black seeds a coating of fat, and 
in Peckia (Cybianthus) butyrosa (Nat. Ord. Myrsineacesx), each 
_of the four nuts has a pericarp several millimetres in thickness, 
the inner portion of which forms a yellow, leafy substance. 
Fats are found, not only in the seeds, but occasionally also in 
the fleshy portion (sarcocarp) of fruits {a great deal in that of 
the Oil-palm, Eleis guineensis, the Japanese wax-trees Rhus 
succedanea and Rhus vernicifera, the olive Olea europea), im 
pollen, spore-cells (Lycopodium, Pollen Pini), in some roots 
(Cyperus esculentus), and in the passive state of fungi (Secale 
cornutum). 
As has already been mentioned, fats and oils are found in 
small amounts in almost all tissues which exercise the functions 
of life; they occur regularly in seeds. This is readily seen 
when a section is treated with concentrated sulphuric acid ; 
the protoplasm and membrane become immediately destroyed, 
and the small drops of oil, which are otherwise scarcely visible, 
flow together to form larger drops, which are not attacked by 
the sulphuric acid. 
This is, in general, the best method for the detection of small 
amounts of fatty oil in microscopical preparations. In this 
__ ‘Compare also Miller, ‘‘ Ueber Muscatniisse.” Pharm. Centralhalle, 
1880, No. 51-53. : 
_ *Schmidt and Rémer, Archiv der Pharm., 221 (1883), 34. 
