THE FUNCTION OF INVERTASE IN THE FORMATION 
OF CANE AND INVERT SUGAR DATES 
A. E. VINSON 
The chemical character of the ovulary of the date, Phoenix dac- 
tylijera, has seldom been studied, although the seed has long furnished 
a convenient and favorite materia] for the most diverse researches. 
Published analyses with few exceptions have been made by the usual 
WEENDE methods and consequently give no idea of the real chemical 
nature of the fruit. A French analysis' made before 1867 mentions 
Per cent. 
Water | 
Albuminoid and pectin ‘iets... oe a ee me) 
a aaa and aie rcetee Ua ee Li aeree 47. 
trace 
°.4 
Coste Filan i,t Pe Ae eek ei 1.9 
Mince | matter. oe 363 
a trace of inulin, but sieeiwices is of little aie: 
SELNY? seemed to strengthen the prevalent view, that dates con- 
tain little or no cane sugar, by the analysis of a number of Mesopo- 
tamian dates which contained dextrose (invert sugar) only. In reply 
to SELNY’s paper, however, LINDETS points out that a sample of 
Tunis dates—probably Deglet Noors which occur on the Paris mar- 
ket—analyzed by him in 1891 contains 23 per cent. of glucose (invert 
sugar) and 38 per cent. of cane sugar. This is the first mention of a 
cane sugar date that I have found, aside from recent comparative 
analyses, made at this station, of Arizona-grown dates from trees 
imported from all the date-growing regions of the world by the U. S. 
Department of Agriculture and placed in the Cooperative Date 
Orchard at Tempe, Arizona. 
LINDET cautions against generalizing from a few peri when 
they concern plants and fruits, for the absolute and relative propor- 
tions of sugars will vary with climate, condition of season, degree of 
maturity, etc. In this paper I intend to show that other factors, 
t Recueil de Mémoires de Médicine de Chirugie et de Pharmacie Militaires. 
2 Journal de Ja distillerie frangaise. 1895. 
. Ibid. 118. 1895 [abstract Chem. Zeit. 20:808]. 
393. [Botanical] Gazette, vol. 43 
