SPECIFIC ACTION OF ORGANIC COMPOUNDS IN MODI- 
FYING PLANT CHARACTERISTICS; METHYL 
GLYCOCOLL VERSUS GLYCOCOLL 
OSWALD SCHREINER AND J. J. SKINNER : 
(WITH FOUR FIGURES) 
The effect on plant growth of a large number of soil organic 
compounds and other organic substances has been tested in this 
laboratory from time to time. The action of the two compounds 
glycocoll and methyl glycocoll on plants is very interesting, the 
former being beneficial, while the latter is harmful to growth 
and affects the plants in a peculiar way. 
The utilization of certain nitrogenous compounds by plants, 
some having a beneficial effect and replacing nitrates in their 
action, and others having harmful effects, producing peculiar 
characteristics, leaves but little doubt that organic compounds in 
soils or nutrient solutions are absorbed directly by the roots of 
plants and enter into the cells, reacting with the cell contents 
and producing effects which differ according to the nature of the 
compound absorbed. The process is connected with and is a 
part of the general metabolic processes of plants. The absorbed 
material passes through the membranes possessing these properties 
of absorption, and reacts on the cell contents in a favorable or 
unfavorable manner, influencing the life processes of the plant 
itself. Glycocoll, a nitrogenous compound having a definite 
chemical structure, is shown to have been absorbed or used by the 
plant to build up its tissue, while the related compound, methyl 
glycocoll, also nitrogenous but having a different chemical structure, 
is absorbed by the plants and has an unfavorable influence, causing 
decreased growth, and a peculiar twisted lateral growth of the leaf 
of the plant. 
The properties of plants of absorbing the mineral constituents 
from the nutrient or soil solution do not differ in respect to the 
absorption of the organic constituents from the solution. In the 
case of the methyl glycocoll the greatest harmful effect was noted 
445] [Botanical Gazette, vol. 59 
