PROCEEI>INGS OF SOCIETIES. 319 



Martin, &c., Mr. Moreland declares himself in favour of tho.*e who 

 conceive with Schleiden and others, tliat the starch granule is con- 

 stituted of successive layers or laminae, inserted one within the other, 

 and whose edges are represented by the concentric markings seen 

 on the surface of the grain. He advocates, in fact, the view pro- 

 pounded in a late number of the ' Quarterly Journal of Micro- 

 scopical Science.' by Professor Allrnan. 



The principal additional argument relied upon by Mr. Moreland 

 in support of this opinion, appears to be derived from the use of 

 polarized light in the examination of the grain, whilst undergoing 

 solution in sulphuric acid. Observing that the crop of polarization 

 continues to be well defined after the dissolution, or, as he terms it, 

 the disintegration of what he regards as the outer layers by the action 

 of the acid, he conceives that tiiis circumstance is sufficient to indi- 

 cate that the grain is constituted of a succession of such laminae of 

 like consistence throughout. 



He also notices the effect of chloride of zinc upon the starch 

 grain, which, he says, " instead of disintegrating the vesicle, causes 

 it to expand slowly in the form of a thin membrane." 

 The paper concludes in nearly the following words : — 

 " That all starch granules, which exhibit elliptical or striated 

 markings, and are also capable of polarizing light, are composed of 

 a series of vesicles (hollow ellipsoids), any deviation from this form 

 being produced by circumstances attending their formation. These 

 vesicles are thicker at that extremity of the granule from which 

 they receive their sustenance [addition to their substance], conse- 

 quently the nucleus is situated at the opposite extremity. The gra- 

 nules are attached to the cell-wall by that extremity whicii is 

 ferthest from the nucleus ; the thickness of the vesicles being indi- 

 cated by the distances between the markings. They are, moreover, 

 enclosed one within the other, and it may be proved [the author 

 conceives] by sound reason and observation that these vesicles are 

 deposited and formed upon the exterior surface of tlie one previously 

 existing, and that each vesicle, upon its final development, is a hard, 

 colourless, transparent, homogeneous substance, all being chemically 

 and physically identical, save that a portion of any foreign substance 

 may be deposited with any of the vesicles," &c. 



