830 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



of saturation, and in absolutely dry air. Tlie seeds were examined from time to 

 time, and the results are j^iven in detail. 



In saturated air tlie seeds were found to deteriorate i-ai)id]y. and after ii 

 months practically all were dead. Wliere tlie degree of saturation was O.S tlie 

 seeds preserved their vitality longer, but all were dead at the end of 6 mouths. 

 Where the saturation was 0.7, which corresponds to the average of the air at 

 Paris, there was practically no change in the seeds during the first month, but 

 at the end of the second month the parsnip seed was dead, while 75 per cent of 

 the poppy and digitalis, 20 to 30 per cent of the beans, lentil, clover, buck- 

 wheat, oats, tobacco, carrot, and campanula, and 5 to 10 per cent of the other 

 seeds had been destroyed. After 3 months the losses were still greater, and at 

 the expiration of G months all the seed of beans, clover, buckwheat, oats, and 

 onion were dead, and nearly all of the lettuce, 90 per cent of the barley, SO per 

 cent of the poppy and campanula, 75 per cent of the carrot and cabbage, 60 per 

 cent of the wheat and beets, 50 per cent of the lentil and rice, slightly less than 

 50 per cent of the tobacco, and 30 per cent of the cress and lupine had been de- 

 stroyed. At the expiration of 9 months the seeds of lettuce, campanula, and 

 poppy would no longer germinate, while for the other species mentioned a fur- 

 ther loss of about 5 per cent had taken place. The depreciation in the other 

 .'jamples is also described. 



In conclusion it is shown that at a temperature of 25° with a saturation of 

 0.7 many grains lose their vitality rapidly. The Crucifera? are among the most 

 resistant. In less humid atmospheres the germination is retained longer, al- 

 though there is some loss for certain species, even when the lowest saturation 

 is employed. The case of rice is particularly noted. It is stated that in the rice 

 l)eds it is customary to germinate the seed under a layer of water, but the author 

 did not find the rice much more resistant than other grains to very humid at- 

 mospheres. In this connection he verified the experience of Takahashi, showing 

 that in the absence of oxygen, whether in a vacuum or the oxygen removed by 

 an alkaline solution of pyrogallol, the rice would germinate whenever placed in 

 contact with water. 



A study of the proteolytic changes occurring in the Lima bean during 

 germination, S. Suzuki (Jour. Biol. Chem., 3 (W07), No. Jf, pp. 265-277): — In 

 order to determine somewhat moi'e definitely the proteolytic changes which take 

 place during germination of seed, the author carried on a series of experiments 

 with Lima beans, in which a number of beans of approximately the same size 

 and ripeness were selected, and one portion analyzed while the remainder were 

 jtlaced in sand, kept moist, and allowed to germinate in darkness. After (I 

 days of growth in darkness, specimens were taken for analysis, and of the seed- 

 lings remaining part were placed in the sunlight and the remainder left to 

 grow in darkness. At the end of 12 days the etiolated and green plants were 

 subjected to analysis. 



In the cotyledons it was found that all the proteids except the i)eptones 

 showed a decrease at the 6-day and 12-day stages of growth. Peptones, dianuno 

 bodies, numoamino bodies, and ammonia showed an increase at the 6-day 

 stage, after which there was a decrease, especially in the cotyledons of the 

 green plants. The increase in these substances is believed to be due to the 

 decomposition of higher proteids. The decrease of all nitrogenous substances 

 in the cotyledons examined at the 12-daj' stage of growth is believed tt) be due 

 to translocation into the stem. 



In the stems of plants grown 12 days in darkness all the nitrogen compounds 

 showed an increase, with the exception of the diamino bodies, in comparison 

 with those of the 6-day etiolated plants, and there was a remarkable increase 

 of insoluble proteids. 



