Green. — On Vegetable Ferments. 89 
advantageously have been recently investigated by Effront 1 , 
who finds that its action is favoured by very small traces of 
mineral acids and by slightly larger amounts of common salt. 
In the presence of certain other bodies he finds its hydro- 
lysing power is very greatly increased, particularly salts of 
phosphoric acid, certain compounds of aluminium, asparagin 
and some proteids. Experimenting with 1 cc. infusion of 
malt to 100 cc. starch-paste in the presence of these bodies 
he finds the following yield of glucose per 100 parts of 
starch : — 
Malt- extract alone 8-63 
„ „ with *7 % Hydric ammonic phosphate 51-63 
„ 
„ 
5 , ‘5 ,5 
Calcic phosphate 
46-12 
„ 
„ 
,5 *25 ,5 
Ammonia-alum 
56-3 
55 
„ 
,5 *25 5 , 
Acetate of aluminium 
62-4 
„ 
55 
55 *02 „ 
Asparagin 
37 
55 
„ 
5 , -05 „ 
Asparagin 
6 1-2 
Inulase. In various plants of the natural order Compositae, 
notably the Dahlia, the Artichoke ( Helianthus tuberosus ) and 
Inula Helenium , in different parts of their tissues, but especially 
in the tubers or tuberous roots, the ordinary carbohydrate 
reserve material takes the form of inulin and not of starch. 
Inulin has been considered to stand in the same relation to 
laevulose as starch does to dextrose. Starch is absent from 
the parts of the plant which contain inulin and no doubt the 
latter replaces it functionally. During the germination of the 
tubers of the artichoke the inulin is found to give place to 
sugar. During the slow maturation and the resting-condition 
of these tubers no ferment capable of bringing about this 
change can be extracted from them, but when germination 
begins, evidence of the existence of such a body is not 
lacking 2 . If the germinating tubers be minced or beaten up 
in a mortar and the pulp extracted with glycerine, the latter, 
when filtered till clear and mixed with a solution of inulin, 
1 Effront, Sur les conditions chimiques de Taction des diastases. Comptes 
rendus, cxv. p. 1324. Dec. 26, 1892. 
2 Green, Annals of Botany, vol. I, 1888. 
