The Coagulation of Latex. 
BY 
R. H. BXFFEN, 
Frank Smart Student , Gonville and Caius College , Cambridge. 
W HILE engaged during the latter part of 1896 in 
studying the functions of latex, my attention was 
frequently called to its spontaneous coagulation when in 
contact with the air. 
De Bary describes the phenomenon as follows 1 : — ‘ As soon 
as latex comes in contact with the air, and still more quickly 
on treatment with water, alcohol, ether, or adds, coagula 
appear in the hitherto apparently homogeneous clear fluid 
itself, and independently of the aggregation of the insoluble 
bodies described by Mohl (Bot. Zeit. 1843, No. 33). The 
coagula collect together and separate with the insoluble bodies 
from the clear fluid. These phenomena of coagulation which 
appear under the action of so various agencies point especially 
to a complicated composition of the fluid, and deserve further 
investigation.’ 
An examination of the subject was therefore commenced 
with the small quantities of latex obtainable from plants 
grown for the purpose in the Cambridge Botanical Gardens. 
The results obtained were of some interest, and accordingly 
the experiments were continued, together with other researches 
1 De Bary, Comp, Anat. of Phanerogams and Ferns, p. 184. 
[Annals of Botany, Vol. XII. No. XL VI. June, 1898. 
