STORAGE, RESPIRATION, AND GROWTH. 15 



Lechartier and Bellamy fl published two papers which give results 

 of experiments with apples stored in sealed vessels. Large quanti- 

 ties of carbon dioxid gas were evolved during the long periods of time 

 in which the fruit was under observation. Ver}^ considerable quanti- 

 ties of alcohol were found, and the presence of yeast cells in the par- 

 enchyma cells of the sound apple is noted. These observations have 

 never been confirmed, neither alcohol nor yeast cells occurring in an 

 apple whose skin is intact; however, so far as is known no work has 

 been done since on apples held in sealed chambers. 



Pfeiffer 6 gives a review of the chemical study of fruits. In the 

 same paper are given the results and a discussion of the study of the 

 growth of apples and pears. Crude fiber, ash, protein, sugar, acid, 

 water, and pectin and dextrin, are all shown to increase during growth, 

 the constituents of the apple increasing more rapidly in the three 

 varieties studied than those of the pear, of which two varieties were 

 used. 



Mach c carried on work on the growth and ripening of grapes and 

 later d extended the work to other fruits, viz, apples, pears, mulber- 

 ries, strawberries, red and black currants, cherries, and peaches. 

 With grapes he found that the fruit grows rapidly in si^e until it 

 begins to color, then grows more slowly. Sugar develops slowly at 

 first, but after the coloring of the grape, very rapidly. The percent- 

 age of acid remains about constant till ripening begins, when -it falls. 

 Tannin is present in the largest quantity at first. Starch is present in 

 the growing shoots in the leaves and in the grape stems. It disap- 

 pears, however, as "the fruit ripens. Unfortunately, with the other 

 fruits studied, no determinations of sucrose are made. 



Ricciardi/ followed the ripening of bananas, the starch being found 

 to give rise to sucrose. The author agreed with Buignet/ that in the 

 banana ripened on the tree there is no invert sugar, but this point is 

 not brought out in the analysis given. No alcohol was found in the 

 over-ripe fruit. 



The work of De Luca is used as a basis for further work by Gerber? 

 on the ripening of olives. In De Luca's paper h a table showing the 

 growth of the olive from June to February is given. Thirty-four 

 examinations were made on different dates to determine the average 

 weight and densit}^. Picked olives }aelded more oil when they were 

 allowed to stand in oxygen, or in air in daylight, than when analyzed 

 at once or after they were kept in carbon dioxid. The presence of a 

 bitter principle was noted in green olives, removable by prolonged 

 soaking in water. Mannite was found in considerable quantity in the 

 fruit and leaves of the olive tree and was isolated by extracting with 



Compt. rend., 1869, <>9: 356, 466. 'Compt. rend., 1882, 05: 393. 



& Ann. Oenol., 1876, 5: 271. /Loc. cit. 



clbid., 1877, 0: 409. tfCompt. rend., 1897, 125: 658. 



d Ibid., 1879, 8: 46. A^bid., 1861, 53: 380. 



