FATE OF SEEDS INDICATED BY BALANCE 227 



biotic seed (that is to say, a long-living seed with more or 

 less impermeable coats) is subject to slow and gradual molecular 

 changes and rearrangements, such as take place in glass or 

 wood in the progress of centuries, and that these changes 

 cannot take place in the contents of the seed without destroy- 

 ing the molecular arrangements and groupings requisite for 

 the restoration of life." 



Admitting for argument's sake the force of this contention, 

 we should be compelled to credit such seeds with the capacity 

 of retaining their germinative powers for many centuries. 

 But this seems to me to be hardly a correct comparison. 

 Glass and wood are at all events exposed to atmospheric 

 influences, and the last named in particular would be continu- 

 ously subjected to the hygroscopic reaction. The feature 

 of the non-hygroscopic impermeable seed is that as long as 

 its coverings are intact it remains hermetically sealed up and 

 beyond the influence of atmospheric conditions. If we allow 

 that such a seed may be expected to retain its germinative 

 powers as long as it retains its weight, then the question 

 left to determine is concerned with the duration of its capacity 

 of preserving its weight unchanged ; and in illustration of 

 this point there are appended the results of some experiments 

 on impermeable seeds extending over a period of from two 

 to four years. 



It has already been established in Chapters IV. and VI. that 

 impermeable seeds weighed from day to day give no indication 

 of any response to the varying hygrometric states of the air. 

 The data in the table below given make it plain that these seeds 

 preserve their non-hygroscopic behaviour from year to year. 

 Time alone will show how long they will remain in this 

 irresponsive condition as far as any reaction with their 

 surroundings is concerned. Although, as pointed out in a 

 previous chapter, the experiment truest to nature would consist 

 in burying the seed deep in the soil in a dry climate, still, 

 these tests in free air go to show that impermeable seeds may 

 remain for many years in this inert condition. 



