370 Prof. J. R. Green. On the 



Miller (W. D.) Die Mikroorganismen der Mundhohle. 8vo. Leipzig 

 1889. The Author. 



Parlatore (F.) Flora Italiana. Vol. IX. Svo. Firenze 1890. 



Prof. T. Caruel. 



Richardson (B. W.), F.R.S. National Health. Abridged from " The 

 Health of Nations," a Review of the Works of Sir Edwin Chad- 

 wick, K.C.B. Svo. London 1890. With Two Pamphlets. 8vo. 



Sir Edwin Chadwick. 



Spencer (J. W.) The Iroquois Beach, a Chapter in the Geological 

 History of Lake Ontario. 4to. [Montreal] 1889. The Author. 

 Waterhouse (J.) Annual Address and Review. 8vo. Calcutta 1890. 



The Author. 



" On the Germination of the Seed of the Castor-oil Plant 

 (Ricinus communis)" By J. R. GREEN, M.A., B.Sc., F.L.S., 

 Professor of Botany to the Pharmaceutical Society of Great 

 Britain. Communicated by Professor M. FOSTER, Sec. R.S. 

 Received January 29, Read January 30, 1890. 



The germination of those seeds in which the non-nitrogenous 

 reserve material is found to be an oil and not a carbohydrate was first 

 studied by Sachs, who, in a series of papers published in 1859,* put 

 forward a hypothesis to explain the manner in which the oil becomes 

 available for the nutrition of the young plant. He records as his 

 starting point the observation that at the onset of germination the oil 

 gradually disappears, just as starch disappears from the reservoirs 

 when germination is started in a seed containing it, and he shows 

 that the development of the young plant proceeds concurrently with 

 this disappearance. From this it follows that the oil, like the starch, 

 is a reserve material to be made use of by the embryo in its early 

 growth. So far as he deals with the changes taking place in the oil, 

 he puts forward the view that starch is directly formed from it, and 

 that this conversion is the first step that may be traced. Subse- 

 quently, sugar arises from the starch, and thus, in all seeds alike, the 

 non-nitrogenous reserves travel as sugar from their storehouses to 

 the seat of growth. 



Though putting forward the view of the conversion of fat directly 

 into starch, he appears to be scarcely satisfied with it, speaking of it 

 as being very surprising, and, indeed, admitting that in many seeds 

 the greater portion of the disappearing oil gives rise immediately to 

 sugar, and not through the intervention of starch. 



Sachs's view that fat or oil is transformed into starch was soon 



* ' Bot. Zeitg.,' 1859, col. 178 et seq. 



