226 M. Beyer on the Metamorphosis of Fruits. 



effect than with amraoniacal salts alone. The peas and onions 

 treated with nitrates contained ammonia; those with ammonia 

 contained nitric acid, and in larger quantity than before. This 

 is a proof that ammonia is transformed into nitric acid. 



Beyer has furnished a contribution on the metamorphosis of 

 fruits during their ripening % He took gooseberries from one 

 and the same plant, and, commencing with the fruit when they 

 were quite small, he examined them at intervals of three or 

 four days, determining each time the sugar, free acid, nitrogen, 

 fat, dry residue, ash. From these determinations he deduces 

 the following conclusions : — 



(1) Water diminishes during ripening; and consequently the 

 amount of dry residue increases. 



(2) Sugar increases constantly both in the fresh and in the 

 dry residue. 



(3) The proportion of acid is greatest in the middle of the 

 development. The decrease towards the end of the ripening is 

 inconsiderable in the fresh substance, but very considerable in 

 the dry. 



The mineral constituents diminish constantly in both cases. 



Nitrogenous substances exhibit the same relations as free 

 acid. They increase at first, then diminish ; this diminution is 

 very small in the fresh berries, but is very considerable if cal- 

 culated on the dried substance. 



The quantity of fat increases in the fresh substance; with the 

 dry substance it is greatest during the middle, and then dimi- 

 nishes to an inconsiderable extent. 



Kuhnef deduces from his observations on hsemoglobinc the 

 following conclusions : — 



Heemoglobine, even when not combined with gases, is a body 

 crystallizing in the rhombic system, which is more easily solu- 

 ble than hsemoglobine containing oxygen. 



Hsemoglobine is contained in blood in the free state, and not 

 as alkaline solution. In lake-coloured blood it is present in a 

 form differing from that in the corpuscles when dissolved in an 

 alkaline liquid. 



Hasmoglobine is deposited within globules in crystals if the 

 solution in the current of blood- corpuscles be altered. It is se- 

 parated from lake-coloured blood by neutralization of the alka- 

 line serum. Oxygen may possibly bring this about indirectly. 



Hoppe-Seyler's method of blood-analysis is but seldom appli- 

 cable, because it presupposes a sinking of the blood-corpuscles be- 



* Arch. Pharm. vol. cxxvi. p. 21. Zeilschrift far Chemie. 

 t Arch, fur path. Anat. vol. xxxiv. p. 423. 



