THE CONSERVATION OF OUR 

 CEREAL RESERVES 



It may appear at jQjst sight that the subject of this 

 lecture is of an economic rather than a physiological 

 nature and that it is accordingly somewhat out of 

 place in the present series. A moment's reflection, 

 however, will serve to convince you that this is 

 not the case. Indeed, the problem before us — how 

 best to conserve the cereal reserves of the Empire 

 — is one which can be solved only by an adequate 

 knowledge of the physiology of a considerable 

 number of distinct organisms, some of them plants 

 and others animals, apart altogether from the fact 

 that its importance depends entirely upon the 

 physiological requirements of the human body. 



On the one hand, I would remind you that a grain 

 of wheat, or maize, or any other cereal you may like 

 to name, is a living organism, a seed, containing an 

 embryo plant, which, though dormant so long as 

 the grain remains dry, is capable, under the influence 

 of moisture and warmth, of resuming an active life. 

 Even in the dormant condition its vital powers 

 are not entirely suspended, and destructive meta- 



105 



