76 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
C2) Other Cell-contents (including 1 Secretions). 
Myrosin in Plants.* * * § — According to Herr W. Spatzier, the presence 
of this substance is not confined to the Crucifer® ; it occurs also in 
certain genera and species of Resedace®, Violace®, and Trop®olace®. 
In the first of these it was found, as in the Crucifer®, both in the 
seeds and in the vegetative organs ; in the latter two in the seeds 
only. In the seeds and vegetative organs of Crucifer®, and in the seeds 
of Tropseolum, myrosin occurs in special cells, the my rosin-sacs ; in the 
aerial vegetative organs of Resedace® only in the guard-cells of the 
stomates. In the myrosin-sacs of the vegetative organs, this substance 
always occurs in the soluble form ; while in the seeds it has the form of 
granules, which are again converted into the soluble state on germination. 
Myrosin is an enzyme, and a product of the protoplasm. Its forma- 
tion is not dependent on light. In its physiological functions it appears 
to stand midway between a product of excretion and a reserve-food- 
material ; it is sometimes partially, but never wholly, resorbed, after 
having once been formed. It has, in common with potassium myronate 
and sinalbin, the property of splitting up glucosides. A substance 
similar in its properties to myrosin was found in the seeds of the 
Amygdale®. 
Spherocrystals of Euphorbia. | — M. E. Belzung has investigated the 
nature of the spheroids and spherocrystals precipitated in the parenchyme 
of the cactus-like Euphorbias — E. cserulescens , resinifera , and Caput 
Medusse — by the action of alcohol. The spheroids, w r hich are at first 
amorphous, but are afterwards formed of radiating needles, are composed 
of a calcium malo-phosphate, soluble in water ; the spherocrystals 
of calcium malate. Calcium malo-phosphate and calcium phosphate 
dissolved in malic acid appear to be the forms in which phosphoric acid 
is assimilated by the plant. 
Elaioplasts.J — Herr A. Zimmermann finds elaioplasts in a few 
scattered genera of Monocotyledons, most commonly in the flower- or 
fruit-stalk. They are usually spherical, though occasionally of other 
forms ; there is generally only one in each cell ; in the living cell they 
appear to be finely granular. They consist of a proteinaceous matrix 
with deposits of oily substances. They appear to be normal organs 
of the cells in which they are found. 
Vegetable Amyloid.§ — Herr E. Winterstein has studied the pro- 
perties and reactions of the amyloid obtained from the seeds of 
Tropseolum majus , Pseonia officinalis, and Impatiens Balsamina , and 
contrasts them with those of starch. It is not acted on by diastase. 
Although coloured blue by iodine, it is probably not nearly related to 
starch, but belongs to the group of saccharo-colloids. 
Contents of the Trichomes of MyriophyUum.|| —Herr M. Raciborski 
has investigated the nature of the substance contained in the trichomes 
* Jahrb. f. wiss. Bot. (Pringsheim), xxv. (1893) pp. 39-78 (1 pi.). 
t Journ. de Bot. (Morot), vii. (1893) pp. 221-9, 261-7 (7 figs.). 
X Beitr. z. Morph, u. Phys. d. Pflanzenzelle (Zimmermann) (1893) pp. 185-97 
(2 figs.). See Bot. Centralbl., lv. (1893) p. 151. 
§ Zeitschr. f. Phys. Chemie, xvii. (1892) pp. 353-80. See Bot. Centralbl., lv. 
(1893) p. 149. || Ber. Deutsch. Bot. Gesell., xi. (1893) pp. 348-51. 
