BOTANY. 919 



in the flask, as the space above the lower end of this tube is filled with air. . . . 

 The condenser rests on the month of the beaker and requires no other support." 



Apparatus for extracting with ether, 1!. II. Hite ( West Virginia Sta. Rpt. 1S9G, 

 pp. 60-64, pi. 1). — An apparatus is described which follows automatically the method 

 of washing on the filter, allowing one quantity of solvent to run through before 

 another is added, thus combining the advantages of the siphon and percolator classes 

 of extractors. All joints with which the ether comes in contact are closed with 

 mercury. The rate of siphoning is easily controlled in the apparatus described and 

 the solvent is recovered "without the use of any accessory apparatus and without 

 the loss which is always incurred by opening an extractor to attach the accessories. 

 The recovered ether is retained immediately under the condenser, where there is 

 little danger of loss." 



Drying apparatus, B. H. Hite ( West Virginia Sta. Rpt. 1896, pp. 57-60, pi. 1). — A 

 convenient apparatus for drying in hydrogen is described in detail. 



Chemical division, H. J. Wheeler (Rhode Island Sta. Rpt. 1896, pp. 211-220).— A 

 brief summary of the work of the year in this department of the station, including 

 analyses of wood ashes, slag, floats, aluminum phosphates, superphosphates, raw 

 and dissolved bone, tankage, Peruvian guano, dried blood, sulphate of ammonia, 

 nitrate of soda; nitrate, carbonate, muriate, and sulphate of potash; soda ash, 

 common salt, Epsom salts, refuse from soap works, wool waste, mangel-wurzels, 

 sugar beets (limed and unlimed), Fungiroid. and water. 



BOTANY. 



The relation of nutrient salts to turgor, A B. CorELAND (Bot. 

 Gaz., 24 {1897), N~o. 6', pp. 399-416). — It is claimed chut turgor cun not 

 supply the energy necessary for growth, since growth occurs without 

 turgor stretching, and abnormally slow growth is more likely to increase 

 and rapid growth to decrease turgor than be influenced by it. How- 

 ever, turgor probably plays an important function in plant economy. 



The author has investigated by means of water cultures Phaseolw 

 multijiorus, P. vulgaris, Piston sativum, Sinapis alba, Fagopyrum sp., and 

 Zea mays noting the effect of various salts on the turgor of the plant. 

 While various compounds were used, the effect of potassium and sodium 

 were principally noted. It was found that potassium presented in 

 solution to the roots of plants causes the cells of both root and stem to 

 exhibit a higher turgor than they do when it is replaced by sodium. 

 This seems to indicate that potassium is a direct factor in the turgor of 

 the plant, and there seems to be no experimental ground for attaching 

 this significance to any other constituent of the mineral food of plants. 

 When offered to the roots, potassium is taken up and stored in the cell 

 sap where it becomes an important part of the osmotically active 

 material which keeps the cell and plant turgid. This function is not 

 shared by sodium, which is considered useless to the plant. 



Homology of organs as shown in cuttings, L. C. Corbett 

 (West Virginia Sta. Rpt. 189(1, pp. 19 1-196, pis. 2). — The author reports 

 upon cuttings grown from potato plants in which about 5 in. of the top- 

 most portion of the growing branches were removed. These cuttings 

 took root readily and small tubers appeared either at the cut surface 

 where the roots develop or from the axil of the leaf, the latter being the 



