414 
ALFRED DACHNOWSKI 
of either acid or alkali above these limits retards the reaction, and 
finally when sufficient acid or alkali is present the catalytic action is 
completely arrested. There is a constantly increasing diffusion of by- 
products from the seeds into the solution surrounding them. Accurate 
measurements of the hydrogen or hydroxyl ion concentration in the 
reacting mixtures were not attempted in this case. It is clear from 
these experiments that the variations in the amount of water absorbed 
and retained must be due to changes which are induced by the so- 
lutions within the cells and tissues of the seeds. Briefly stated, the 
following are the conclusions of importance in this discussion : 
1. Seeds of Phaseolus multiflorus swell more and retain greater 
quantities of water in the solution of any acid than in distilled water 
(table I). 
2. The amount of water that seeds absorb and retain in an acid 
solution is not dependent upon the concentration of the acid, and is 
not a function of it. A maximum is attained above which a further 
increase in the concentration of the acid does not lead to a greater 
retention of water but to a diminishing one. The decrease in weight 
is due in part to a loss of food constituents of the cells and is consequent 
upon a series of changes in the cells and tissues through which their 
physico-chemical state is progressively altered. 
3. When equinormal acids are compared the amount of water 
retained is greater in H2SO4 than in HCl or in HNO3. The two acids 
first named are about equally dissociated and yield a higher con- 
centration of hydrogen ions than the equinormal HNO3, but the 
amount of water retention induced seems to be determined not by 
the concentration so much as by the effect of the anions of the par- 
ticular acid concerned. The order of the effectiveness of the anions 
in accelerating the water content is SO4, CI and NO3. 
4. The addition to the solution of HCl w/800 of any salt not 
reacting with the acid does not decrease the quantity of water absorbed 
and retained by seeds of Phaseolus (table II). The amount retained 
is still further increased if K2SO4 is added. However, a higher con- 
centration of any salt is followed by an inhibition in the capacity for 
absorbing and retaining water. The effects of molecularly equivalent 
salt solutions in a solution of n/Soo hydrochloric acid are not only 
unequal in degree but in their time reaction as well. The rate at 
which the absorbing and retaining power for water develops and 
passes away in the seeds is most rapid with K2SO4. In the series of 
