320 Prof. Norton on the Analysis of the Oat. 
The soluble silica, here included in the salts soluble in water, 
is to be added to the insoluble silica. With this addition, the 
silica in the last sample amounts to about 80 per cent. The 
Hopeton chaff, No. 2, is from the same mossy land which I have 
noticed in all the other parts as deficient in silica. In the chaff 
and leaf, however, this deficiency is not so great as in the straw ; 
a subsequent table, No. 30, will show that the husk also has 
nearly its full proportion. 'This partiality, as it may be called, in 
the distribution of silica, I have noticed in several other analyses 
of the various parts. 'The leaf must have its framework to sus- 
tain it, while drawing food for the whole plant from the atmo- 
sphere ; the chaff must have a large quantity of silica to form an 
effective covering for the tender oat; and the husk also must.in 
its turn be fitted to protect the grain through all vicissitudes, until 
it is committed to the earth, and has commenced its growth. We 
find it actually the fact, that these parts are better supplied than 
the stalk, a part which can better perform its functions with a 
small supply than any other. Are we not then justified in sup- 
posing that some law exists by which those parts, where a par- 
ticular substance is most needed, are supplied, even to the de- 
privation of other parts which can ezist with a smaller quantity ? 
Nature thus does all in her power towards the complete perform- 
ance of her duties. She labors to perfect the leaf, the chaff, the 
husk, and through them finally the seed, upon which the future 
continuance of the species depends; if now the materials are ex- 
hausted, the straw must be weak and imperfect. Nature can do 
no more, the necessary substances are not within her reach, or 
she is prevented from obtaining them by the physical condition 
In the consideration of the quantity of the inorganic constituents 
of the husk and of the grain, I shall separate them as I have done 
the other parts of the plant. In the first place, 
draw attention to some points in which comparisons of the two 
parts are involved. 7 
_ 1. [have thought it of some importance to ascertain the rela- 
tive proportions of husk and grain in different samples of oats, 
with the view of determining whether this might be an index of 
quality. 
The following table gives these proportions in nine samples 
of oats. 
Taste XXIV. 
Hopeton Oats. 
No. T. 
Outs. 
76°28 
23: 
Potato | Dun 
Oats. Oats. 
76°30 \76-28 
23-20 [23-66 
Black. Tar- 
tary Oats. 
72:38 
27-62 
Victoria 
Oats, 
71:36 
23°22 
No. 2/No. 8 No.4 
77-99 
22-0 
sais 
76-4 
23-42 
Grain in 100 parts, 
74-26 
Husk in 100 parts, 
25-55 
77-39 
22-61 
