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not by its partial pressure as stated by Paul Bert [Overton p. 25], Overton con- 

 cludes that heightened temperature arrests the effect of ether, as the power of the 

 lecithin-cholesterin compounds in dissolving ether decreases, as the temperature 

 rises [Overton p. 90], a result which Zehl has lately subscribed to [Zehl p. 156]. 

 Yet Zehl draws attention to the fact [loc. cit. p. 161 — 162] that other relations besides 

 the physical ones make themselves felt in this matter, a circumstance which 

 Johannsen had pointed out already 2 years before [Johannsen 1906, p. 58]. Johannsen 

 slates that the irritability of the plants increases with heightened temperatures, for 

 which reason a certain dose of ether is more powerful at higher than at lower 

 temperatures. So the problem is whether the irritability increases at a greater 

 rate than the dissolubleness of the above mentioned substances decreases at a 

 heightened temperature, but this question may only be answered through experi- 

 ments solely because the above named factors, irritability and decomposition are 

 entirely different in kind, so that a direct comparison is impossible. 



As seen by this summary we are able to demonstrate effects produced by 

 etherization with regard to all manifestations of life characteristic of plants : move- 

 ments, growth and metabolismes. At the present stage to which science has 

 attained we cannot join these phenomena in a consecutive chain of cause and 

 effect. We must leave further developments to the future. 



CHAPTER II. 



Experimental. 

 Materials and Methods. 



For my experiments I have used both ripening seeds and seedlings of Pisum 

 and Lupinus. I have always tried to select the most uniform material. For some 

 of the experiments 1 have used "common-legume" portions i. e. portions which are 

 selected in such a manner that each legume contributes one seed to each portion 

 [cfr. Johannsen 1897, p. 18]. Thus a most uniform material is produced. Un- 

 fortunately I could not follow this method in all my experiments for lack of 

 suitable material. Yet this procedure has been followed in all the experiments on 

 ripening seeds and in the experiments on the respiration of seedlings of Pisum. 

 Whereas it has not been used in the experiments on the mobilization of reserve- 

 materials in seedlings. 



Besides the above mentioned materials I have also experimented with buds 

 of Acer pseudoplatanus and with potato-tubers. 



The narcotization of the objects was always carried out in the following 

 manner: ether was poured over a roll of filter-paper in the jar, containing the 



