918 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



leaves of the Sensitive Plaut and of the stamens of Berheris and 

 MaJionia, he found that these agents had precisely the ordinary effects 

 in arresting the sensitiveness of the organs. He concludes, therefore, 

 that the phenomenon of sensitiveness in plants is due to similar 

 causes as the same property in animals, the protoplasm in both cases 

 being sensitive to impressions from substances with which it is not in 

 actual contact. 



Albuminoids of the Fig."^' — The fact that in Calabria and other 

 parts of Southern Italy fresh or dried figs form almost the entire diet 

 of the labourers, who are nevertheless able to perform the hardest 

 labour, gives interest and importance to an examination of their 

 nutritive properties. 



The pseudocarp consists, according to Malerba, of elongated poly- 

 gonal cells, which increase regularly in size from the epidermis in- 

 wards, and have a parenchymatous character. Among these are a 

 number of fibro-vascular bundles, which branch from the base of the 

 pseudocarp, afterwards anastomosing. Between these are laticiferous 

 vessels, the contents of which have not been accurately examined ; but 

 the presence of nitrogen and of sugar has been determined. 



The albuminoids were extracted from the fig by means of artificially 

 prepared peptic acid, thus causing them to be peptonified. The average 

 of four experiments gave the proportion of albuminoid in the fig as 

 1 • 825 per cent. The pancreatic juice dissolved them more rapidly than 

 artificial peptic acid. The author was unable to determine the exact 

 nature of the albuminoid ; but he believes he has detected a mixture 

 of three kinds or forms, one of which is soluble in distilled water, 

 with the characters of legumin, another soluble in acidulated water, 

 Avhile the third is insoluble in distilled water. 



The skin and pedicel contain a large proportion of the albuminoid 

 substance, the flesh of the pseudocarp a larger proportion of sugar. 



Paracholesterin.f — J. Eeinke and Eodewald laid masses of the 

 protoplasm of ^thalium septicum in alcohol, by which a substance 

 was extracted which coloured the alcohol yellow. On evapo- 

 rating the alcohol there remained a friable mass, from which ether 

 extracted a brownish-yellow oil. In this were formed in the course 

 of a few days colourless acicular crystals, composed of a substance 

 apparently isomeric with animal cholesterin and with isocholesterin, 

 although it may possibly be an adjacent member of a homologous 

 series. The discoverers gave it the name paracholesterin. 



Formation of Xanthin in the Germination of Seeds.J — Accord- 

 ing to G. Salomon, fibrin may be split up into xanthin and hypo- 

 xanthin. Since the products of animal fermentation are to a great 

 extent the same as those produced in the germination of seeds, it 

 might be assumed that xanthin would be found in seedlings. This 



* Eend. K. Ace. scienze fis. e mat. Napoli, xx. (1881). See Bot. Centralbl., vi. 

 (1881) p. 340. 



t Liebig's Ann. d. Chemie, ccvii. (1881) pp. 229-35. 



J Verhandl. Bot. Ver. Piov. Brandenburg, 1880, p. 104. See Bot. Centralbl., 

 vi. (1881) p. 339. 



