GERMINATION. 323 
Next, the cavity appears enlarged (2,) its borders assume 
a corroded appearance (8, 4,) and frequently channels are 
seen extending to the surface (4, 5, 6.) Finally, the 
cavity becomes so large, and the channels so extended, 
that the starch-grain falls to pieces (7, 8.) Solution con- 
tinues on the fragments until they have completely disap 
peared. In this process it is most probable that the starch 
assumes the liquid form without loss of its proper chemi- 
eal characters, though it ceases to strike a blue color with 
iodine.* 
Soluble Albuminoids.—As we have seen (p. 104,) in- 
soluble animal fibrin and casein, by long keeping with 
imperfect access of air, pass into soluble bodies, and lat- 
terly E. Mulder has shown that diastase rapidly accom- 
plishes the same change. It would appear, in fact, that 
the conversion of a small quantity of any albuminoid into 
a ferment, by oxidation, is sufficient to render the whole 
soluble. The ferment exerts on the bodies from which it 
is formed, an action similar to that manifested by it to 
wards starch and other carbohydrates. 
The production of small quantities of acetic and lactic 
acids (the acids of vinegar and of sour milk) has been 
observed in germination. These acids perhaps assist in 
the solution of the albuminoids. 
Gaseous Products of Germination. — Before leaving 
this part of our subject, it is proper to notice some other 
results of germination which have been thought to belong 
to the process of solution. On referring to the table of 
the composition of malt, we find that 100 parts of dry 
barley yield 92 parts of malt and 24 of sprouts, leaving 
54 parts unaccounted for. In the malting process 1} parts 
of the grain are dissolved in the water in which it is 
souked. The remaining 4 parts escape into the atmos- 
phere in the gaseous form, 
* According to Liebig, this blue reaction depends upon the adhesion of the 
fodine to the starch, and is not the result of a chemical combination. 
