264 REPORT—1896. 
celluloses (obtained from the mature straws), they yield only in small 
part (20 per cent.) to the action of yeast (in neutral solution). On the 
other hand, on hydrolysing with H,SO,.2H,0, a solution of the furfuroids 
is obtained which yields much more readily to yeast, and the proportion 
fermented amounted to 80 per cent. 
Again, the early growth (barley) of the present year was submitted to 
the treatment with dilute acid at high temperatures. In the solution the 
constants bearing on this point were as under, calculated per cent. of the 
total dissolved solids : 
CuO reduction ay to dextrose = 100°) . : 52:1 
Furfural : : ; . . 16:1 
After fermentation the solution contained traces only of furfuroids, and 
the CuO reduction had fallen to 7:1. 
Then, again, the ovsazones obtainable from the hydrolysed solutions 
indicate important variations in the constitution of the furfuroids. The 
solutions previously obtained from the celluloses at high temperatures gave 
osazones of m.p. 145-155°. The solutions which we are now obtaining 
from the plant tissues in their earlier stages of growth give osazones melt- 
ing at temperatures exceeding 180°. On the other hand again, from the 
lignocelluloses (which also yield their furfuroids to the acid solution at 
high temperatures), hydrolysed products are obtained, the osazones of 
which melt at temperatures as far removed on the other side from the 
melting points of the pentosazones, viz., at 110-120°. 
It appears, therefore, that the furfuroids of the vegetable world are a 
diversified group. In addition to the pertoses themselves they include 
monoformal derivatives of the pentoses, and possibly also hexoses, cer- 
tainly some of their derivatives. In the latter sub-group we may include 
Glycuronic acid, COOH (CHOH),.COH., as it also yields furfural as a 
product of the action of hydrochloric acid. 
A complete investigation of these compounds therefore offers not 
merely developments of the special chemistry of the carbohydrates, but 
from their wide distribution in the plant world it is clear that they play 
an important part in the general physiology of tissue formation. A good 
deal of interest also evidently centres in the problem of their fate in 
the processes of animal digestion. From the investigations of Stone, 
Agr. Science, 1893, 6) it appears that the tissue furfuroids of fodder 
plants are in effect largely digested (60-80 per cent.) by the herbivora. 
H. Weiske has also recently contributed to the same subject (‘ Bied. Centr.,’ 
25, 13), and arrives at a similar conclusion. Though digested however, 
it is still an open question as to what nutritive value they may have. 
It needs no further demonstration at this stage that the subject calls 
for extended investigation from various points of view : that it is a sub- 
ject offering more than ordinary promise of positive results. 
As stated above in this report, our immediate object at the present 
time is the isolation of the furfuroids of the cereal stems in the earlier 
stages of growth. We have already found that the process of acid diges-. 
tion adopted in the case of the straw celluloses gives an equally satis- 
factory separation of the furfuroids of the growing tissues. These we 
have to investigate by the standard methods—1. ultimate analysis ; 2. con- 
version into osazones ; 3. fermentation ; 4. oxidation to mono- and dibasic 
acids ; and so forth. Such investigations have been in progress during 
the last three months. 
