New combe . — Cellulose-Enzymes . 
53 
the growth of Bacteria and Moulds, a little chloroform was 
always added to such a preparation. At the end of twenty- 
four hours, sections wholly freed from starch, and all not 
more than two or three cells thick, were selected with the 
aid of the microscope, washed in water, and placed in the 
ferment. 
Ferment -solutions of various strengths were employed, 
from 150 mg. of the dry powder in 10 cc. of water to 150 mg. 
in 3 cc. of water. In no case was the whole of the solid 
ferment dissolved, but the clear, supernatant liquid, after 
standing for twenty-four hours in the presence of the solid 
material, was removed for experimentation. During this 
process a little chloroform was employed to hold micro-? 
organisms in check. All the ferment-solutions were acidu- 
lated with hydrochloric acid not to exceed -05 per cent. 
Various methods were used in testing the action of the 
ferment on the cellulose walls, but the one found most 
satisfactory was the following : — on a glass slide were placed 
three or four drops of the ferment-solution, and a Barley- 
section, prepared as before described, was introduced. Three 
bits of tinfoil were then properly disposed around the liquid 
on the slide, and on these a cover-glass was laid. The slides 
thus prepared rested on a support in a closed dish whose 
bottom was covered with water and chloroform. The dish 
was kept in an incubator whose temperature varied between 
32 0 and 34 0 . By this method the evaporation of the ferment- 
solution was very slight and the growth of micro-organisms 
was prevented. 
Examining these preparations at various intervals, it was 
found that the walls of the starch-bearing cells of the Barley-? 
endosperm are dissolved down to the middle lamella within 
five to ten hours, according to the strength of the solution 
used. The middle lamella persists for a considerable period, 
the shortest period of solution being noted as twenty-seven 
houi^, and the longest as two hundred and fifty-seven hours ; 
during the latter period the ferment was renewed several 
times. The walls of the aleurone-layer, as noted by Brown 
