286 The Action of Chlorophyll in the Vine. By Giovanni Briosi. 
and demonstrated in fact that in the chlorophyll of the Strelitziz and 
Musce, instead of starch, oil or fat is constantly formed, and that in 
these plants afterwards, out of those substances, the cellulose, and 
the starch itself (which, too, is found in some of their organs), &c., 
originate. 
And these Musacex and the Allium cepa, in whose chlorophyll- 
grains Sachs could never detect starch, and where it is suspected 
that glucose is formed, are the only plants in which (to my know- 
ledge at least) it is certain that no hydrocarbon is formed. 
Since 1872, whilst studying what substances are formed in the 
vine, and what transformations they undergo, I often had occasion 
to observe, that in the chlorophyll-grains of this plant no starch is 
found, but the knowledge that this well-known and important plant 
had already formed the subject of the researches of the most dis- 
tinguished scientific men deterred me from prosecuting my labours; 
and since then I had no opportunity of taking them up again, as 
during the last few years [ have almost been taken away entirely 
from my studies. 
Having been called upon towards the end of last autumn, by 
His Excellency the Minister of Agriculture, to oceupy myself with a 
new disease of which we were warned in some vineyards at Favara 
(which disease has shown itself at present in the neighbourhood of 
Palermo as well, in a vineyard of Count Tasca, and which seems to 
threaten serious disaster to our wild vine), I recommenced my re- 
searches on the vine, of which, for the moment, I will state the 
following facts : 
Up to the present, I have never been able to detect even the 
slightest trace of starch in all the vine leaves I have examined, 
either young or old, in different vineyards and different varieties. 
The chlorophyll-grains of the vine, when treated with alcohol, 
potash, acetic acid, or iodine (usual method), appear more or less 
with hollows, but there never is the slightest indication of a starch 
reaction. 
Holes and little gutters are also formed in the chlorophyll- 
grains, either under treatment with alcohol, or even with distilled 
water. When dry, and without applying any reagent, the chloro- 
phyll-grains appear (uniform) without any holes or cavities. 
The chlorophyll-grains, which are for several days placed in a 
saturated solution of bichromate of potash, appear mostly without 
holes, but have lost their homogeneousness, and often show in their 
interior more or less dark spots. On the other hand, I never found 
starch in the mesophyll of the vine leaves hitherto examined by me, 
with exception of the enclosure-cells of the stomata, where it is 
never wanting. A small quantity of starch only is found in the 
vast crivellati and in the strati amilacei of Sachs, and in the 
ordinary fibro-vascular bundles. 
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