636 



PHYSIOLOGY. 



PORTUGAL. 



not be regarded in calculating the amount that 

 should be imputed for a rational agriculture. 

 The walls of most cells, ducts, and the surface 

 coverings of plants, with certain exceptions, are 

 imperforate, or without any openings that can 

 be demonstrated by the microscope. If gases 

 pass through them, it must be in accordance 

 with some law of diffusion or osmose. Many 

 experiments in this line, according to J. - C. 

 Arthur, have been tried, and the results have 

 been of the most diverse character. The most 

 astonishing and important results were obtained 

 by Wiesner, in experiments conducted at Vienna 

 in 1890-'91. He found that it was impossible to 

 force gases through cell walls of any kind by 

 any pressure they will stand, acting for any 

 length of time. For instance, a bit of grape 

 skin held up a column of mercury, 70 centime- 

 tres high, for seventy-five days, and a piece of 

 cherry skin withstood a pressure of three at- 

 mospheres for twenty-four hours. Similar ex- 

 periments were tried with cuticularized, suber- 

 ized, liquefied, and simple cellulose tissues, from 

 many sources, and with uniformly the same re- 

 sults, whether the tissues were moist or dry, 

 alive or dead. But in the same set of experi- 

 ments it was found that if gases can not be 

 forced through cell walls, they will readily pass 

 through by simple osmotic diffusion. All cells 

 permit the passage of gases by diffusion when 

 moist, dependent upon the coefficient of absorp- 

 tion and the density of the gas. Cuticular and 

 corky formations also permit the passage of 

 gases when dry. Thus we see that gases may be 

 forced through the stomata, or breathing pores, 

 by varying pressure, but can pass through the 

 epidermis and bark of plants only by diffusion. 

 We therefore arrive at the conclusion that the 

 gases inside and outside of the plant are brought 

 to an equilibrium by direct interchange through 

 the stomata and intercellular spaces, aided by 

 the comparatively slow process of diffusion 

 through the whole surface of the plant, both 

 above and below ground. 



The function of oxalic acid one of several 

 plant stuffs, including also alkaloids and tannin 

 possessing the property of protecting plants 

 from animals has been studied by Herr Giessler, 

 in species of rumex, oxalis, and begonia. The 

 acid mostly occurs in the epidermis and periph- 

 eral tissues of the vegetative organs ; parts under 

 ground have none. The leaves show most, but 

 the acid may be found in the stem and the leaf 

 and flower stocks. Curiously, it does not, like 

 other protective matters, appear in young or- 

 gans. The older and more sappy the tissues, the 

 more oxalic acid do they contain. Snails, which 

 avoided those plants in the natural state, ate 

 them when the oxalic acid had been precipitated. 

 The substitution of various means of protection 

 for one another was elucidated by Stahl ; plants 

 not protected mechanically have chemical pro- 

 tection, and vice versa. In the plants studied by 

 Herr Giessler mechanical protection is deficient. 

 Tannin is found in the organs that have little or 

 no oxalic acid. These two substances " vicariate " 

 with each other also in different species of a genus. 

 In many tissues both occur together. The pro- 

 tective function of a secretion does not exclude 

 other functions. Thus, regarding the epidermis 

 as a water reservoir, the osmotically very active 



organic acids doubtless play an important part 

 in the filling of the cells with water. The oc- 

 currence of begonia and oxalis species in very 

 dry places, as also the deficiency in means of pro- 

 tection against transpiration, more pronounced 

 the higher the quantity of acid, put this function 

 of oxalic acid in a still clearer light. 



PORTUGAL, a constitutional monarchy in 

 southwestern Europe. The upper house of the 

 Legislature is a Chamber of Peers composed of 

 52 hereditary members, 13 prelates, 139 mem- 

 bers nominated for life by the King, and 50 

 members elected by delegates of districts and 

 learned bodies from the class paying the highest 

 taxes. When the hereditary peerages become 

 extinct by the death of their present possessors 

 there will be 100 life peers. The Chamber of 

 Deputies has 180 members, 168 of whom repre- 

 sent Continental Portugal and the Azores and 

 Madeira, and 12 the colonies. They are elected 

 for four years by the direct votes of male adult 

 Portuguese citizens who have an annual income 

 of at least 100 milreis. The King of Portugal 

 is Carlos I, the third monarch of the line of 

 Braganza-Coburg, born Sept. 28, 1863, who suc- 

 ceeded Luis I, his father,. Oct. 19, 1889. 



The ministry at the beginning of 1893 was as 

 follows : President of the Council and Minister 

 of the Interior, J. Dias Ferreira; Minister of 

 Public Works, Commerce, and Industry, P. V. 

 da Costa Sequeira ; Minister of Finance ad in- 

 terim, J. Dias Ferreira ; Minister of War, Gen. 

 Pinheiro Furtado Coelho ; Minister of Marine, 

 Capt. Ferreira do Amaral ; Minister of Justice, 

 Telles de Varemculos ; Minister of Foreign 

 Affairs ad interim, Capt. Ferreira do Am;n-;il. 

 The ministry here named was constitute 1 !] in 

 January, 1892. 



Finances. The budget for 1893-'94 makes 

 the total receipts 43.674.457 milreis (1 milreis 

 $1.10), of which 11,020,430 milreis were derived 

 from the land, income, and other direct taxes, 

 20,476,860 milreis from import duties and va- 

 rious small indirect taxes. 1,725,800 milreis 

 from supplementary taxes, 2,002,000 milreis from 

 registration, 1,504,500 milreis from stamped pa- 

 per, 280.000 milreis from lotteries, 3,640,305 mil- 

 reis from railroads, telegraphs, and other public 

 property, and 3,024,562 milreis are recettes de 

 ordre. The total ordinary expenses are set down 

 as 42,860,427 milreis, and the extraordinary ex- 

 penses as 1,816,595 milreis, making a total of 44,- 

 677,022 milreis. Of the ordinary expenditure, 

 18,063,118 milreis are for the public debt, 1,894,- 

 050 milreis for the floating debt of the treasury, 

 1,894,050 milreis for pensions, etc.. 500,000 mil- 

 reis for loss by exchange, 8,148,419 milreis for 

 financial administration, 2,280,415 milreis for 

 the Ministry of the Interior, 1,038,008 milreis 

 for the Ministry of Worship and Justice, 5,123,- 

 656 milreis for the Ministry of War, 3,542,823 

 milreis for the Ministry of Marine and the col- 

 onies, 390,210 milreis for the Ministry of Foreign 

 Affairs, 4,639,642 milreis for the 'Ministry of 

 Public Works, 525,000 milreis for the civil list 

 and appanages, 99,270 milreis for the Cortes, and 

 60,465 milreis for the savings institutions. A 

 commercial treaty was formed with Spain early 

 in 1893. The treaty is to last ten years. Portu- 

 gal reserves the right to concede special ad- 

 vantages to Brazil. Owing to the scarcity of 



