498 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
immersing the leafy portion of herbaceons stems or growing first-year 
branches of woody plants, partly in distilled water, partly in solutions of 
grape-sugar, cane-sugar, mannite, and glycerin, in the dark. He finds 
that, after soaking for fifteen days in distilled water or glycerin, there 
is a large accumulation of asparagin but no trace of starch or man- 
nite in woody plants ; in herbaceous plants the amount of asparagin 
formed is much less considerable ; after immersion for a month in 
cane-sugar, grape-sugar, or mannite, no trace of asparagin is found, but 
abundance of mannite and starch. These facts point to the conclu- 
sion that the asparagin is the result of continued decomposition of the 
proteids. 
Influence of Saltness on the Formation of Starch in Vegetable 
Organs containing Chlorophyll.* — M. P. Lesage comes to the conclusion 
that saltness has an influence on the formation of starch in vegetable 
organs. In extreme cases it hinders its formation. The author has 
shown that the presence of much salt is accompanied by a diminution of 
the chlorophyll and of the assimilation of carbon ; subsequent processes 
will not therefore take place so rapidly. 
Transformation of Starch into Dextrin by the Butyric Ferment, f — 
M. A. Yilliers has undertaken the study of the action of certain ferments 
on the carbohydrates under various conditions. He gives the results of 
the action of the butyric ferment (Bacillus amylobacter) on potato starch, 
and states that under the action of this ferment it is easy to transform 
amylaceous matter into dextrin. The transformation is direct, maltose 
and glucose being completely absent ; but further investigation is neces- 
sary in order to find out whether the dextrins so formed are identical 
with those obtained by the action of acids or through the influence of 
diastase. There is formed at the same time a small quantity of a carbo- 
hydrate, crystallizing in beautiful radiate crystals from the alcoholic 
solution, and having the composition C 12 H 20 O 10 -f- 3 H 2 0. The author 
regards it as a new substance, and proposes for it the name cellulosin. 
Its physical and chemical properties are given. 
Tannins and Trioxybenzols. i — Referring to the observations of 
Waage§ on the occurrence and mode of formation of phloroglucin, 
Dr. E. Nickel suggests that the trioxybenzols may be formed in the same 
way by the withdrawal of water from inosite, a substance of very wide 
distribution in the vegetable kingdom, having the empirical formula 
C 6 H 12 0 6 , but not nevertheless a true carbohydrate. These trioxybenzols 
are then probably the source of tannins. 
y. General. 
Influence of External Factors on the Odour of Flowers. || — Prof. R. 
Regel states that while the odour of some flowers, such as those of the 
mignonnette, of Stanhopea tigrina superba , and of the stamens of Bhiladel- 
plius coronarius , is due to the presence of a volatile oil, none appears to 
be present in the sweet-pea or in Nycterinia capensis. In both cases the 
* Comptes Rendus, cxii. (1891) pp. 672-3. t T. c., pp. 435-7, 536-8. 
J Bot. Centralbl., xlv. (1891) pp. 394-7. § Cf. this Journal, ante, p. 209. 
|| Arb. St. Petersb. Naturf.-Ver. (Bot.), xx. pp. 32-7 (Russian). See Bot. 
Centralbl., xlv. (1891) p. 343. 
