322 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [MAY 
in coming. Manifestly the first step in proving this assumption 
is to show that proteolytic enzymes are present in all parts of all 
living plants, or to demonstrate their presence in a sufficient number 
of places to warrant the conclusion that they are universally present. 
Such extensive researches have not been undertaken until the last 
few years. 
I shall briefly review the results of the various investigations, 
taking first the studies on the digestive enzymes, as I have called 
them, and then those on the metabolic enzymes. 
Gorup-BESANEZ' appears to have been the first to examine 
seeds for proteolytic enzymes. Using the Wittich glycerin method 
he obtained protease preparations from the resting seeds of hemp, 
ax, and vetch, and from the germinating barley; he failed to find 
enzymes in ungerminated barley, lupin seeds, Secale cornulum, 
pine, and corn, and in seedlings of almonds and beans. 
VAN DER Harst? found that a glycerin extract of the cotyledons 
of germinating beans would digest fibrin. 
The first careful study of a seed proteolytic enzyme was that of 
J. REYNOLDS GREEN? who investigated the germinating seeds of 
Lupinus hirsutus. GREEN’s results showed conclusively that these 
plants contain an active enzyme, capable of attacking fibrin, as well 
as the proteids of the seeds themselves. The enzyme was not present 
in the resting seeds. Later GREEN discovered a similar enzyme 
in the seedlings of the castor oil bean.* 
NEUMEISTER’ undertook the study of a number of seeds and 
seedlings, using a method different from that of any previous investi- 
gator in this field. Pieces of fibrin were soaked in the watery extracts 
from the tissues to be tested; subsequently the fibrin was trans 
ferred to a weakly acid solution and allowed to digest. In case @ 
proteolytic enzyme was present it was taken up by the fibrin, and 
in the acid medium proteolysis of the fibrin took place. The value 
« Gorup-BESANez, Ber. Deutsch. Chem. Gesells. '7:1478. 1874; 8:1510- 1875} “ 
9:673. 1876. 
2 VAN DER Harst, Moonblad voor Naturwetensch. 1867, Sept. 29- 
3 GREEN, J. REYNOLDS, Phil. Trans. 1'78:(B) 39. 1887. 
4 GREEN, J. REYNOLDs, Proc. Roy. Soc. 48:370. 1890. 
5 NEUMEISTER, Zeitschr. fiir Biologie 30:447. 1894. 
