326 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol. 37 



but very slowly as evaporated by the plant, through cotton or wool to the roots, 

 were found to utilize water much better and more economically than did plants 

 watered in the ordinary way. They also showed modifications as to growth 

 and qualities which suggest the profitable employment of apparatus by which 

 a known quantity of water can be furnished as the needs of the plant may 

 require. 



A study of permeability by the method of tissue tension, S. C. Bbooks 

 {Amer. Jour. Bot., 3 (1916), No. 10, pp. 562-570, fiijs. 5).— It is claimed that the 

 permeability of the protoplasm of Taraxacum officinale remains practically 

 iiuriiiul in a balanced mixture consisting of sea water and calcium chlorid, such 

 that the ratio of univalent to bivalent cations is about 70 : 15. Salts of univalent 

 cations cause a great increase, those of bivalent or trivalent cations a great 

 decrease, in ijermeability. Saccharose permeates protoplasm rapidly, affecting 

 permeability as a univalent cation. 



Similarity in the effects of potassium cyanid and of ether, W. J. V. Oster- 

 iiouT (Bot. Gaz., 63 (1911), A'o. 1, pp. 77-80, fi(i. /).— As relating to the evi- 

 dence obtained by the author (E. S. R., 28, p. 732) that typical anesthetics 

 temporarily decrease permeability, instead of increasing it as claimed by 

 Krelian (E. S. It., 34, p. 333), the author has carried out experiments on the 

 permeability of the tissues of Luminaria agardhii. This was measured by 

 determining electrical resistance in the manner described in an article pre- 

 viously noted (E. S. R., 26, p. 823), in order to ascertain the manner in which 

 permeability is affected by potassium cyanid, which not only acts as an 

 anesthetic but markedly inhibits oxidation. 



In tissue placed in sea water to which had been added potassium cyanid so 

 as to give molecular concentrations ranging from 0.002 to 0.381 no such tem- 

 porary increase of i^ermealiility was observed as do.scribeil by Krehan. Experi- 

 ments demonstrated that there is a temporary decrease of i)ermeability in- 

 stead of a temporary increase. Whenever the permeability began to increase, 

 it continued to increase steailily until the tissue was dead. 



The fact that potassium cyanid resembles typical anesthetics such as ether 

 and cldoroform In producing a temporary decrease in permeability does not, in 

 the opinion of the author, show that anesthesia is a form of asphyxiation. It 

 is considered probable that the decrease of permeability and the anesthesia 

 produced by potassium cyanid are related to its effect on oxidation. 



The mode of action of the oxidases, H. H. Bunzel (Jour. Biol. Chcm., 24 

 (1916), No. ii, pp. 91-102). — The results of studies by the author on the oxidase 

 activity (this term being preferred, for reasons stateti, to concentrations of 

 oxidases) in different i)ortions of various plants are presented and discussed. 

 They are considered to show that in the work under discussion .several factors 

 were operative, each exerting either an augmenting or a depressing effect on 

 the end result. The presence of reductases and the concentration of hydrogen 

 ions are thought to affect the results, but the nature of their action Is not yet 

 clear. 



The relative oxidase activity of different organs of the same plant, H. H. 

 Bunzel (Jour. Biol. Chcm., 2J, (1916), No. 2. pp. lOS-110, figs. 5; abs. in Jour. 

 Chem. Soc. [Londoti], 109 (1916), No. 61,3, I, p. 557).— The author has usetl in 

 this work the oxidase unit as employetl in that previously notetl (E. S. R., 

 27, p. 9) and defined in this article as an oxidase solution of such strength 

 that 1 liter will bring about the consumption by pyrogallol of 8 gin. of oxygen, 

 or the equivalent of 1 gm. of hydrogen. 



The results, as shown in tabular and graphical form, of experiments with 

 potato leaves and tubers, onion leaves and bulbs, tulip tree leaves and bnds, 

 and spinach leaves and roots, show a marked parallelism between the oxidase 



