430 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
BOTANY. 
A. GENERAL, including the Anatomy and Physiology 
of the Phanerogamia. 
a. Anatomy. 
(1) Cell-structure and Protoplasm. 
Disorganisation-Phenomena of Cells.* * * § — Herr P. Klemm classifies 
the changes which result in the disorganisation of the cell under 
three lit ads : — Collapse of the protoplasm, indicated by the disappear- 
ance of turgor; changes in configuration, including a breaking up of 
the protoplasm; and changes in the interior of the protoplasm. The 
objects examined were plasmodes of Myxomycetes, hairs of Gucurbita , 
Momordica, and Urtica , the staminal hairs of Tradescantia, filaments of 
Spirogyra, Vaucheria , Bryopsis, Derbesia, and Saprolegnia, and root-hairs 
of Triania. The changes in the interior of the protoplasm may be of 
several kinds : — Excretions, of a fibrillar, or more often of a granular cha- 
racter ; solution-phenomena which result in the formation of vacuoles ; or 
a coagulating of the protoplasm, accompanied by granulation and forma- 
tion of vacuoles. These changes may be either sudden or gradual. The 
disorganisation caused by a very high or a very low temperature, or by 
excess of light, is dependent on an arrest of the currents of protoplasm. 
The effect of electricity is to bring about swelling and formation of 
vacuoles. By treatment with alkalies the foam- structure can be artifi- 
cially produced. 
Cell-Wall of the Cotyledons of Lupinus.| — By the use of chemical 
methods, Herr E. Schulze has come to a different conclusion from that 
of Elfert J with regard to the composition of the thickenings of the cell • 
walls in the cotyledons of Lupinus angustifolius , albus , and luteus. He 
claims to have established that they do not consist of cellulose, but of 
paragalactan, and that they are reserve-food-substances used up in the 
process of germination. Paragalactan appears to occur only in the 
cotyledons, not in the plumule and radicle, of Lupinus. 
(2) Other Cell-contents (including- Secretions). 
Tyrosinase, a new Oxidising Diastase.§ — In the root of the dahlia 
and beet, as well as in several fungi ( Bussula nigricans ), M. G. Bertrand 
finds a hitherto undescribed diastase, to which he gives the name 
tyrosinase , from its connection with tyrosin. It belongs to the class of 
soluble oxidising ferments of which laccase is the type, and which he 
calls oxydases. 
Pectase in Plants.|| — MM. G. Bertrand and A. Malevre find pectase 
in forty species of floweriug plants examined, belonging to widely- 
separated families, and in five species of Cryptogams, the only negative 
* Jahrb. f. wiss. Bot. (Pfeffer u. Strasburger), xxviii. (1895) pp. G27-700 (2 pis.;. 
f Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Gesell., xiv. (1896) pp. 66-71. 
X Cf. this Journal, 1895, p. 192. 
§ Oomptes Rendus, cxxii. (1896) pp. 1215-7. 
11 Journ. do Bot. (Morot), x. (1896) pp. 37-41. Cf. this Journal, 1895, p. 330. 
