M. Mayer’s Analyses of the Ashes of various Seeds. 107 
greater importance for certain organie substances than others ; 
and it is impossible, for instance, to establish any relation be- 
tween the mere total quantity of ash and the quantity of albumi- 
nous substances in a plant. Now albuminous substances never 
occur in a vegetable structure unaccompanied by phosphoric 
acid ; it must be admitted, therefore, that the existence of the 
former is dependent on the presence of the latter, and the ques- 
tion arises what is the relation between them. In vegetable 
structures, which principally contain albumen, the relation be- 
tween phosphoric acid, nitrogen and bases, is different to that 
existing in structures which principally contain vegetable caseine 
or gluten, and hence albumen requires a quantity of phosphoric 
acid and bases different to that which is necessary for caseine and 
gluten: experiment must decide under what limits these va- 
riations may take place. 
The seeds which Mayer investigated were rye, wheat, barley, 
oats; and besides these he analysed several leguminous seeds, and 
several sorts of flour, groats and bran. These substances were 
from the most various parts of Germany, and grown on the most 
varied soils. Mayer describes at some length the analytical 
methods used, and states that some of the older analyses of these 
substances are not trustworthy on account of the imperfect me- 
thods by which they were made. 
The general results he arrived at from his experiments and 
from known facts may be summed up as follows :— 
1, The seeds of the cereals contain a nearly constant quantity 
of water, and differences of climate exert no influence in this 
respect, 
2. The proportions of phosphoric acid and nitrogen vary, but ° 
these variations are within very narrow limits. 
3. The proportion of ash in the seeds of the cereals varies also 
within very narrow limits. 
4. The finer the flour is ground, the less is the quantity of 
nitrogen contained in it. 
5. Bran is rich in phosphates and in nitrogen. Its ash con- 
sists principally of phosphates, and does not contain much silica. 
6, Leguminous seeds are richer in nitrogen and phosphoric 
acid than cerea! seeds, The latter contain pyrophosphates ; the 
former, tribasic phosphates. 
7. A remarkable relation exists between albuminous sub- 
stances and phosphoric acid. An increase in the quantity of the 
former is accompanied by a proportionate increase in the quan- 
tity of the latter, and phosphoric acid is a necessary condition of 
the existence of albuminous substances. 
8. This relation varies, however, for each kind of albumen— 
for vegetable albumen, legumine, and for gluten, Leguminous 
