New combe. — Cellulose-Enzymes . 
55 
lying next the cell-lumen soon breaks up into small granules, 
the hyaline zones gradually fade away, the middle lamella 
becomes thinner and thinner till it vanishes. Just at the time 
of the disappearance of the middle lamella, the employment 
of Bismarck-brown will demonstrate a gelatinous residue ; 
a later test on a similar older preparation will fail, however, 
to show any remaining trace of a membrane. 
To test the action of Barley-malt-extract on the reserve 
cellulose of Lupinus albus , seeds of that plant were softened 
for twelve to twenty-four hours in water, and thin, partial 
cross-sections taken from the middle of a cotyledon. These 
sections were extracted in chloroform or ether, then in water, 
and then immersed for twenty-four to forty-eight hours in 
a solution of extract of pancreas, by which the cell-contents 
were for the most part removed. As far as a microscopical 
examination could detect, the cell-walls suffered no change 
even when immersion in extract of pancreas was continued 
for two weeks. Preparations were made on glass slides, just 
as described for the Barley-sections ; the temperature was 
maintained at 3 2° to 34 0 ; and chloroform was employed, which 
successfully kept down the growth of Bacteria and Fungi. 
It was found that a ferment-solution sufficiently active to 
convert, in a section of Barley-endosperm, all the thin walls 
except a middle lamella to the hyaline condition in nine 
hours, required as many days to reduce the walls in the Lupin 
to the hyaline condition. The process must be described in 
greater detail : — within twenty-four hours of the immersion of 
the section in the malt-extract, the thick membranes can be 
seen to have lost their brilliant appearance in a narrow zone 
next the cell-lumen. This change to a hyaline condition 
progresses centrifugally from the cell-centre, requiring one to 
two weeks to reach the outer part of the inner lamella. In 
the first few days of enzyme-action, the wall becomes distinctly 
laminated. The outer zone of the inner lamella is apparently 
more resistant than the remainder of this layer, for it remains 
brilliant, even in very thin sections of the cotyledon, for 
a month after the action of the ferment begins. When a 
