GRAINS AND OTHER SEEDS l8l 



eaten the chit out of five other grains. It had also 

 eaten fourteen grains of wheat and had eaten the chit 

 of eleven others without injury. Several similar ex- 

 periments were carried through with like results. 

 Hence it seems safe to conclude that dry grains treated 

 for several days with hydrocyanic acid gas of sufficient 

 strength to destroy insect pests that may be in the 

 grain will in no way poison the grain, and it may there- 

 fore be used for food without injury. 



Damp seeds. The damp seeds were soaked for 

 twenty-four hours and then treated with gas in the 

 same manner as in the preceding experiments and were 

 kept in the gas for different periods of time varying 

 from several hours to several days in the different ex- 

 periments. Here, as in the germination experiments, 

 we find that moisture has a decided influence upon 

 the ability of the grains to absorb gas, i.e., after soak- 

 ing some corn and wheat for twenty-four hours in 

 water and then leaving for forty-eight hours in the gas 

 obtained from one gram of potasium cyanide per cubic 

 foot, a mouse in apparently good health was given 

 twelve grains of corn and thirty-six grains of wheat. 

 The mouse began eating at once and ate the chit out 

 of one kernel of corn and began eating a second ker- 

 nel when he suddenly became stupid and was unable 

 to walk without staggering. That the mouse was 

 hungry is evidenced by the fact that it began eating as 

 soon as the grain was placed in the cage and from the 

 fact that it had been given but little food on the pre- 

 ceding day for the purpose of having it hungry enough 

 to begin at once on the grain as soon as it was removed 

 from the gas. Although the mouse lived for several 



