Vay liege es 
1899 TURRE 
] CURRENT LITERATURE 4 
09 
tobe hoped tha 
ou P t the author will extend his work to the considerati 
ior of parasitic fungi. F. L. STEVENS onsideration of the 
THE ELABORAT Yi | 
BS esos ot aalgaamate on starch published a few years ago by 
Be wii, va Be ets oer ensive account of the state of knowledge 
Oe ps Hao Fi y rates of somewhat similar nature which occur in 
. Hugo Fischer gives in the first half of this paper an account 
_ of the chemical aN 
nature of inulin. Like most of the polysaccharides the com- 
position of its mol : 
ae ae ' not known. It is built up of fructose units, but the 
the a ad ga in each molecule of inulin is not known, and 
Bui. ee : in wide limits. The low osmotic pressure of solu- 
OE ce ben, a “os the molecule is very large. Several modifications 
dics. described, but the independent existence of these as 
laps ich 4 s is not demonstrated. It is possible that some of them 
i... een products of inulin. 
tibes the formation of the spheroidal masses of inulin in plant 
tissues a 
nd com 
are 
pares with these the other spheritic structures occurring in 
plants, partic 7 
—  eaitenaee idin (a glucoside occurring in Citrus rind) and 
“rystalline material ( wo ae The latter includes a nucleus of non- 
"esembles Sech ee ie aps containing proteid). In its spheritic form inulin 
bition of water at a in many ways, particularly in swelling upon the imbi- 
however, does not a pigs temperatures and in double refraction. Inulin, 
t,, but dissolves _ like starch, on the application of hot water, alkalies, 
solve, ike soluble crystals or breaks up into granules which dis- 
ce of inulin, 
140 species, 
a half dozen 
e methods 
Inthe la ; 
sives a a mi arene ape? Fischer describes the occurren 
chiding 95 Co . plants in which it has been found (about 
Violacege, i, Te ieee about 25 species of allied families, 
and places of oe and a few alge), and discusses th 
The most ci transportation. and storage. : 
of the structure oa theoretical part of this monograph is the di i 
ttichite theory - inulin masses and starch grains, particularly in view of the 
held that ine oa structure of starch grains proposed’ by Meyer. Meyer 
facts that many; ing of starch was due to the spheritic structure, ignoring the 
y spherites do not swell and that many bodies which do swell 
te Non-spheritic 
. Fischer shows that when starch grains are air dry (still, 
free, since it does 
Not indj ‘ 
i -hlori Both inulin and 
€Nter int, 
nto the Ss ; 
~ : sh te between the crystals, as Meyer holds, 
‘Would be nece me coloring substances do not penetrate To explain this 
ssary to assume that their molecules were large enough to 
® Cony’ 
s B Stee \ 
eltrage zur Biologie der Pflanzen 8 : 53-10 1899. 
