JUNE 15, 1900.] 



SCIENCZ. 



935 



In dead cells caffeine never produces pro- 

 teosomes. If we treat Spirogyra, which is 

 an excellent object for studying the behavior 

 of the proteosomes, for one minute with a 

 dilute solution of iodine in potassium iodide 

 the globules may still be produced immedi- 

 ately afterwards but not after ten minutes. 

 It can easily be shown that the substance 

 has not passed to the outside by osmosis, 

 since the liquid surrounding the treated 

 algse does not show any reaction with caf- 

 feine. Various tests proved that the pro- 

 teosomes consist of protein matter, but in 

 most cases there are impurities present, es- 

 pecially tannin, a fact which has misled 

 Pfeffer and some of his students so far as to 

 assume these proteosomes to be merely com- 

 pounds of tannin with common albumin and 

 with caffeine. It is evident that such com- 

 pounds would not exist in two different mod- 

 ifications and would not change their entire 

 behavior with the death of the cells as above 

 described. Pfeffer's objections are unten- 

 able, as repeatedly demonstrated. He has, 

 for example, assumed that on the death of 

 the cells certain compounds leave the pro- 

 toplasm and upon entering into the vacuole 

 cause there a change of the proteosomes. 

 But it is easy to convince one's self that 

 proteosomes can also often be produced in 

 the cytoplasm itself, especially in the case 

 of Spirogyra. Since these proteosomes re- 

 main in the cytoplasm also unchanged so 

 long as the cells are alive, the assertion of 

 Pfeffer is groundless. He has also argued 

 that the phenomenon in question, viz, the 

 production of proteosomes, may be due to 

 the neutralization of the acid cell sap, but 

 we have shown that the cell sap of Spirogyra 

 has no acid reaction* and nevertheless it 

 yields frequently numerous proteosomes.f 



It is to be regretted that many plant phy- 



*Botanische Zeitung, 1884. 



f A careful observer -will not confound these easily 

 changingproteosomes produced only in Hving cells (as 

 Dr. Albert F. Woods has suggested) with other glo- 



siologists rely upon the declarations made 

 by some ' authority ' instead of forming their 

 own opinion from an unbiased critical in- 

 vestigation. The history of science shows 

 that erroneous conceptions are often sus- 

 tained for a long time in scientific circles 

 simply because a man of a certain influence 

 has defended them. The recognition of the 

 genuine respiration of green plants furnishes 

 a good illustration to this remark. Liebig, 

 by weight of his authority, wiped out this 

 truth for 20 years from science. 



Oscar Loew. 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



THE NEW YOBK BOTANICAL GABDEN* 

 The corporate body known as the New 

 York Botanical Garden was created by an 

 act of the legislature approved by the gov- 

 ernor April 28, 1891, and amended March 7, 

 1894. This association was called into ex- 

 istence " for the purpose of establishing and 

 maintaining a botanical garden and mu- 

 seum and arboretum therein, for the collec- 

 tion and culture of plants, flowers, shrubs 

 and trees, the advancement of botanical 

 science and knowledge, and the prosecution 

 of original researches therein and in kin- 

 dred subjects, for affording instruction in 

 the same, for the prosecution and exhibition 

 of ornamental and decorative horticulture 

 and gardening, and for the entertainment, 

 recreation and instruction of the people." 



By the same act the Board of Commis- 

 sioners of the Department of Public Parks 

 were authorized to set aside two hundred 

 and fifty acres of Bronx Park, and erectsuit- 

 able museum and other buildings at a cost 



bular masses produced by hypochlorite of soda upon 

 the protoplasm of dead cells. Such formations and 

 their distinction from proteosomes were described by 

 Woods in Science, April, 1899. 



* Written by the request of the Editor of SciENCE. 

 See also article on same subject by author in the 

 Bopular Science Monthly for June, 1900. 



