232 Green. — On the germination of the tuber of 
formation during the digestion and not from having been present 
in the inulin used, for the dialysates of the first three days 
were rejected. If any had been mixed with the inulin taken 
for experiment this would have escaped during that time, 
as its dialysing power is so great compared with that of 
inulin. Its occurrence as a consequence of the action of the 
ferment recalls the occurrence of dextrin during the action of 
the ordinary amylolytic animal ferments. The body too 
somewhat resembles dextrin, being soluble in stronger per- 
centages of alcohol than the original carbohydrate, but not 
soluble in a greater percentage than eighty-two, at which point 
dextrin also is precipitated. Unlike dextrin, it gives no re- 
action with iodine, but this is not remarkable, as inulin differs 
from starch in the same respect. 
The slowness with which the ferment-extract was found 
to work is probably due to there being an extremely small 
quantity present at any particular time. The progress of ger- 
mination in the tuber of the artichoke is extremely slow and 
gradual. As the plant continues to develop, the tuber be- 
comes more and more exhausted, but it contains inulin for 
months, until in fact the new tubers are being formed on the 
underground stems that have been developed from the parent 
tuber. The interior is the first to be exhausted, the outside 
often continuing hard and succulent till it is only a thin shell, 
while the inside is spongy and dry. The ferment is only to 
be looked for at any moment in the cells which are parting 
with their carbohydrate contents. 
It cannot be found at all until the young stems begin to 
emerge from the tuber, and then its presence is maintained 
till the store of inulin is all exhausted. The quantity that 
can be extracted from the minced tubers is small, for a single 
digestion with glycerine takes it nearly all up, hardly any being 
found in a subsequent extraction. An examination of the 
plant while the germination is going on enables the course of 
events to be followed fairly well. In the resting tuber before 
germination begins, the inulin is found to occupy nearly all 
the cells in its interior, which consist almost entirely of paren- 
