( 430 ) 
[July, 
•'CORRESPONDENCE. 
*** The Editor does not hold himself responsible for statements of fads or 
opinions expressed in Correspondence, or in Articles bearing the signature 
of their respective authors. 
NOTES ON EXPERIMENTS ON THE ABSORPTION 
OF DYES BY FLOWERS. 
To the Editor of the Journal of Science. 
Sir, — With the desire to throw further light on the physiology of 
plants the following preliminary experiments have been under- 
taken : — 
Solutions were made of the following eleven aniline dyes, viz., 
alkaline blue, eosine, aniline black, tropeoline and methyl green, 
magenta, chrysoidine, Bismarck brown, methyl violet, benzyle blue, 
and malachite green, and a white narcissus placed in each solution. 
In less than an hour the base of the perianth of the narcissus in 
the eosine became veined with pink ; very shortly afterwards the 
flower in the methyl green showed veins of colour ; next, that in 
the alkaline blue became veined with blue, while the narcissi in 
the aniline black and in the tropeoline did not absorb colour until 
several hours later; but the remaining six aniline dyes — viz., 
magenta, chrysoidine, Bismarck brown, methyl violet, benzyle 
blue, and malachite green — were never absorbed at all, although 
the flowers were'left on several occasions a couple of days in the 
solutions. 
It was also observed that the absorption of colouring-matter 
differed in manner as well as time ; thus while eosine invariably 
coloured the base of the perianth, fading gradually, and leaving 
the edges of the segments unchanged, alkaline blue always ap- 
peared first at the edges of the segments of the perianth, while 
the base remained wholly, or almost wholly, white. Again, 
whilst those narcissi in the respective solutions of eosine, alka- 
line blue, aniline black, and tropeoline became veined with colour 
either at the base or edge, in the case of methyl green the colour 
spread over the whole surface of the perianth, the venation of 
the flower not being in any way manifested. 
As it was found that the flowers were always consistent with 
themselves in the manner in which each dye was absorbed, a 
