45 S Bruschi. — Researches on the Vitality and 
more concentrated, the decomposition products would very likely undergo 
a secondary synthesis, or at any rate the breaking-down process would be 
stopped. 
Concentrated juices were made with the same proportion of water and 
ri hydrochloric acid. For a concentration of 2 per cent, at room tempera- 
ture, the following results were obtained : — 
Date. 
Endosperm juice . 
Scutellum and embryo juice. 
Sugar in 5 c.c. 
Amylase of 5 c.c. 
Sugar in 5 c.c. 
Amylase of 5 cx. 
July 3 
» 7 
„ 16 
CuO mg. 
12.5 
27 
3 1 
CuO mg. 
8 
13 
42 
CuO mg. 
26 
76 
80 
CuO mg. 
12 
34 
274 
As we can see from this table, there is a greater amount and a larger 
increase of amylase in the juice from scutella and embryos than in the 
endosperm juice. This would lead one to suppose that the largest quantity 
of pro-amylase always occurs in the scutellum, and that digestion of reserve 
materials takes place by its action. Against this we must, however, place 
the fact that the whole embryo with the scutellum constitutes but a very 
small part of the seed (about one-eighth, |. 2 in weight), while the results of 
this experiment have been calculated as if the scutellum, &c., weighed the 
same as the endosperm. 
In reality, then, the amount of pro-enzyme which became active in the 
endosperm in comparison with that contained in the scutellum and embryo, 
is shown as follows : — 
Date. 
Endosperm juice. 
Scutellum and embryo juice. 
Sugar in 5 cx. 
A mylase of 5 c.c. 
Sugar in 5 cx. 
Amylase of 5 c.c. 
CuO mg. 
CuO mg. 
CuO mg. 
CuO mg. 
July 3 
104.50 
65.6 
26 
12 
.. 7 
221.40 
106-6 
7<5 
34 
» J 4 
254.2 
344-4 
80 
2 74 
So in the endosperm of the Wheat we find much more pro-enzyme 
than in the scutellum and embryo, and its action in the presence of free 
oxygen and dilute acid may itself cause the digestion of the endosperm 
food material. 
Most interesting is the influence of chloroform, which not only inhibits 
starch hydrolysis in the intact endosperms, but also at first hinders the 
solution of the cell-walls. This would indicate that the cytase is produced 
in this endosperm by living cells. However, as the endosperm cells must 
be considered dead for the most part, for the reasons given above, there is 
