Chap, vii Enzymes and their Action 413 



it sets up was shown to be exactly the same as that which 

 Claud Bernard had discovered in the animal body. The 

 writer showed that the metabolic changes included a forma- 

 tion of sugar and of crystalline acid substances, all of which 

 passed to the seedling. He was not able to explain in 

 detail their appearance. In the course of the next year 

 the writer's results were confirmed by Sigmund, who found 

 lipase in the seeds of the rape, poppy, hemp, and flax. 



The course of the decomposition remained undetermined 

 by these observations. In 1895 Leclerc du Sablon ascertained 

 that two sugars occur during germination, one which reduces 

 Fehling's fluid and another which does not. In 1899 the 

 writer found that the former is glucose and the latter cane- 

 sugar. The former is derived from the latter by the action 

 of invertase, present in the seed. Glycerin does not appear 

 in the seedling nor in the digesting endosperm, though it 

 can be detected when the lipase acts on fat in vitro. 



A partial explanation of these results was afforded by the 

 observation of Biffen in 1898, that when germination is 

 very little more than started, the protoplasm of the endo- 

 sperm cells which are quite quiescent during the winter 

 suddenly springs into vigorous activity and increases 

 considerably in amount. The present writer observed it 

 setting up afresh the metabolic activity that had become 

 suspended, and secreting the sugar, which till then had not 

 made its appearance. The remainder of the changes super- 

 vening on the decomposition of the fat, viz. the nature of 

 the acids and their fate, remained unknown. Evidence was 

 forthcoming, however, that lecithin is formed in the endo- 

 sperm during the germination at the expense of the fat, 

 and passes in a state of fine emulsion into the embryo. 



The distribution of lipase was not investigated at all 

 fully. Besides its localization in germinating seeds it was 

 shown by Gerard (1897), Camus (1897), and Biffen (1899), 

 to occur in the mycelia of certain fungi. 



