66 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [JULY 
WE CALL ATTENTION to a series of papers which may be overlooked by 
plant physiologists who fail to keep an eye on the general literature of physi- 
ology. These papers record some of the researches of Professor Jacques 
Loeb and his students in the Hull Physiological Laboratory of the University 
of Chicago. Several have appeared recently in Pfliiger’s Archiv? 
The interest of these papers to botanists lies, of course, in the unity of the 
facts which they present with those observable in plants, and in the theoreti- 
cal discussions which must necessarily be applicable to both. Some of these 
we here summarize. 
It is interesting to find that the development of polyps in colonies of 
Eudendrium racemosum is dependent upon light, and that only the more 
refrangible part of the spectrum is efficient in calling out this reaction ; a 
relation which at once recalls the phenomena of heliotropism, both in plants 
and animals. Professor Loeb explains this reaction in accordance with 
Sachs’ theory; that under the influence of light certain substances are pro- 
duced which further the formation of polyps, while in darkness these sub 
stances are not produced at all or only in small quantities. On this we 
remark that these substances are not necessarily the plastic products them- 
selves, but, as Beyerinck suggested, may be substances which act after the 
fashion of an enzyme to hasten the necessary chemical processes. Indeed, 
this seems a Priori more probable. 
The peculiar dissolution of the protoplasm of many protozoa on the 
anodal side when traversed by a constant galvanic current, and the activity 
of the skin glands of Amblystoma on the anodal side under the same Con” 
ditions are the reverse of the reaction of the common nerve-muscle prepar® _ 
tion, in which, on the closure of the circuit, stimulation begins at the cathode. _ 
the current producing electrolysis. In the nerve-muscle preparation, they 
would say, there was electrolysis of the internal fluids of these structures+ 
In the exceptional cases above noted, they show that the current produces 
electrolysis of the surrounding fluid, and that what is called the electrical 
* Loe, J.—Ueber den Einfluss des Lichtes auf die Organbildung bet Thieren- 
Archiv f. die ges. Phys. 63 : 273-292. 1896. se 
ise J. and Bupcett, S. P.—Ueber die Ausscheidung electropositiver wee 
an der dusseren Anodenflache protoplasmatischer Gebilde als Ursache der A weich- : 
ungen vom Pfliiger’schen Erregungsgesetz. bid. 65: 518-534. pl. 7. 1897- 3 
_ Loe, J—Zur Theorie der physiologischen Licht- und Schwerkraftwirkunge™ 
Ibid. 66 : 439-466. f. 2. 1897. : 
Logs, J.—Physiologische Untersuchungen iiber Ionenwirkungen. I Mittheiluné: 
Versuche am Muskel. /bid. 69: 1-27. 1897. o- 
Logs, J.—Ueber die physiologische Wirkung elektrischer Wellen. Ibid. 69°97 
114. f. 9. 1897. ; 
