CHAP. I. 
AMYLACEOUS TISSUE. 
45 
to have a power of spontaneous motion in water. Shortly 
after germination the amylaceous bodies, according to Turpin, 
appear to lose their substance, to become more transparent 
and flaccid, a circumstance which he thinks is owing to the 
chemical change of their starch into sugar : the granules how- 
ever at this time retain their property of becoming blue under 
the action of iodine. When this alteration has been pro- 
duced, the maltster stops the new chemical action by heat 
and dryness, and fixes the sugar, as we see in malt. When 
the amylaceous granules are placed in water of a certain tem- 
perature, rendered sweet by the dissolution of their own 
sugar, and exposed to the influence of the oxygen of the at- 
mosphere, they evidently produce little sprouts like themselves 
from their sides. Turpin states that, if examined after fer- 
mentation has been going on for some hours, they will be 
found to have each formed several new granules exactly like 
the mother-granules ; and he not only considers this to be 
the cause of the curious phenomena observable in fermenta- 
tion, but regards the granules as seeds and the result of their 
growth as a plant, which he calls Torula cerevisice. He adds, 
that in the inside of each of the new granules formed during 
fermentation, he finds a number of still smaller granules. I 
have not repeated the observations of this ingenious writer 
further than to ascertain that the granules in fermentation 
do sprout ; and that they have at that time lost all their 
starch, for iodine produces no sensible effect upon their 
colour; a circumstance to which he has not adverted. 
According to Schleiden amylaceous granules are gradually 
changed into gum and mucus in the process of lignification. 
(Beitrdge zur Phytogenesis, p. 17.) This author considers 
starch to be analogous in plants to the fat in animals. It is 
nutritious matter in excess, laid by for future use, and is 
usually found in those places where new organization is about 
to commence, or where a luxuriance of vegetation has pro- 
duced an excess of nutriment. Starch is sometimes repre- 
sented by another half-granular matter, found in pollen, in 
the albumen of some plants, and abundantly in the Paren- 
chyma of leaves, as the centre of the Chlorophyll. It is especially 
