June 23, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



943 



be only indirect, since the I'oots, as -well as 

 the aerial parts of chlorophyll-bearing 

 plants, are said to possess, to a certain ex- 

 tent, this synthetic power. Interesting 

 suggestions have been recently made by 

 Godlewski. The part played in photo- 

 synthesis by nucleus and cytoplasm, re- 

 spectively, is unknown and may be im- 

 portant. 



Some careful studies have been made 

 dealing with the sources of organic nitro- 

 gen in certain of the molds, but owing to 

 the very great variety of fungous habitats, 

 further studies may indicate unusual spe- 

 cialization — perhaps even to such extent as 

 is now known to be true with the bacteria. 



Saida has confirmed and extended the 

 early work of Puriewitsch and others, 

 clearly demonstrating that under certain 

 conditions some of the fungi are able to 

 utilize to a variable degree the atmospheric 

 nitrogen. It would be interesting in this 

 connection to give further attention to 

 various groups of saprophytic fungi. In 

 a public lecture Moore has recently made 

 known the results of remarkably definite 

 experiments showing that the organism (or 

 organisms) of leguminous tubercles assim- 

 ilates free nitrogen apart from its hosts, 

 and that, therefore, the symbiotic associa- 

 tion gives the parasite no nitrogen-assim- 

 ilating advantages. Moreover, this nitro- 

 gen assimilating capacity increases under 

 conditions of artificial culture, and this 

 increased power is heritable to a consider- 

 able extent at least. This is an important 

 fact and deserves further attention. 



Recently Reinke, Benecke and others 

 have focused owr attention upon the nitro- 

 gen supply in sea water. They find that 

 the organisms Clostridium Pasteur ianum 

 and Azotohakter chroococcum are found in 

 the ooze of sea bottoms ; and the suggestion 

 is made that the external but, neverthe- 

 less, close association of these micro-organ- 



isms with certain marine algte may explain 

 the power of these algae to grow so vigor- 

 ously in situations in which they are 

 found. The nitrogen supply is probably 

 one of the most important problems re- 

 lating to the marine' algie. It is to be 

 borne in mind, however, that the question 

 of fundamental interest is always that of 

 how these micro-organisms are able to 

 utilize the nitrogen which is absorbed in 

 gaseous state. No such power is known 

 among phanerogams. It has not yet been 

 demonstrated to be possible with the lower 

 algfe, and certainly none of the interesting 

 results so far obtained indicates that it is 

 a very fundamental character of fungi and 

 bacteria. In this connection, perhaps, it 

 may also be stated that nothing whatever 

 is known concerning the method by which 

 carbon dioxide is chemo-synthetically util- 

 ized by the nitrite and nitrate bacteria. 



There are many interesting problems 

 afforded by the general phenomena of 

 metabolism, with relation both to those 

 products which may be immediately util- 

 ized and to those which may be stored up 

 for future use. It is well known that dur- 

 ing active growth special foods may be 

 taken out of circulation and stored up. 

 The stimulus to such storage is not easily 

 determined. In many instances it is ap- 

 parently the protoplasm which is decom- 

 posed in order that these storage products 

 may be formed ; therefore, so far as pos- 

 sible a study of all protoplasmic decom- 

 position phenomena is especially necessary. 

 The deposition of the cell plate and the 

 storage of reserve cellulose are especially 

 interesting. It will be extremely difficult 

 to follow the succession of changes in- 

 volved, yet some information will un- 

 doubtedly be gained. 



The migration of compounds, particu- 

 larly of those containing nitrogen, mag- 

 nesium and potash, to growing vegetative 



