496 TRANSACTIONS AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE [Sess. lx. 



that time the barley was extracted from the flask and 

 weighed. In every case it was found that the germinating 

 corn had lost weight, and that the loss very nearly corre- 

 sponded to the weight of carbon oxidised to carbonic an- 

 hydride and removed by the current of air passing through 

 the apparatus. To be exact, the loss of weight suffered by 

 the corn is always a little less than that accounted for by 

 the carbon removed, this is due to the fact that a small 

 amount of oxygen is absorbed and retained by the germi- 

 nating barley, and is not again excreted in the form of 

 carbonic anhydride. This small loss in weight of the 

 germinated grain is a good indication that the experiment 

 has been successfully carried out, and that the grain has 

 neither gained nor lost in moisture since the start of the 

 experiment. As a matter of fact, there is always a small 

 increase in the amount of moisture in the grain, which is 

 due to the process of respiration. If we take COHg to 

 represent the formula of a carbo-hydrate, it is evident that 

 if sufficient oxygen be supplied to convert the contained 

 carbon into carbonic anhydride, we have OHg, i.t. water, 

 left. This water remains in contact with the seed. 



Having weighed the 100 corns after germination as 

 above, the next thing was to find the amount of moisture 

 present in the embryos, and in the endosperms. In order 

 to do this 20 corns were selected and weighed at once. 

 The weighed corns were put into a watch glass and placed 

 under a large bell glass containing a sponge saturated with 

 water to keep the air moist. The corns were then dissected 

 as quickly as possible with a small scalpel, and the embryos 

 were placed in a weighed porcelain boat, the endosperms, 

 with the husk, being placed in a similar weighed boat. 

 Both the boats, except when necessary, were kept under 

 the bell glass, so as to minimise the loss of moisture during 

 the operation as much as possible. As soon as the dissec- 

 tion was complete the boats were weighed. A loss of 

 moisture was always found to have taken place during dis- 

 section in spite of all precautions. This loss was always 

 divided, and half given to the moisture subsequently found 

 in the embryos and half to that found in the endosperms. 

 To determine the quantity of moisture the boats were 

 placed in a wide glass tube surrounded with boiling water, 



