H54 Stoward.—Amyloclastic Secretory Capacities of the 
TABLE XXIV. 
Cultures of Endosperms and Inner Endosperms on Moist 
Calcium Sulphate saturated with Nitrobenzene. 
Exp. 
Objects. 
Reducing sugars per Amylase per 20 objects 
20 objects in :— per hour in :— 
Medium. Objects. Objects. 
(equivalent to mg. of Cu.) 
Weight of 5 objects 
at termination of 
culture experiment . 
1. 
5 inner endosperms 
42 29 
— 
J 35 
2. 
73 — 
168 
175 
3* 
5 endosperms 
95 29 
— 
212 
Experiment i. Inner endosperms prepared from air-dried seeds by filing off aleurone layer; 
objects steeped successively in (r) absolute alcohol, (2) water. 48 hours in each reagent. 
Experiment 2. Intact seeds steeped in (1) absolute alcohol, (2) water. 48 hours in each 
reagent, and aleurone layer then removed with razor. 
Comparison of the results of Experiments 1 and 2, Table XXIV with 
Experiment 3, Table XX, shows that amylohydrolytic action proceeds to 
practically the same extent in anaesthetized inner endosperms as in 
those where no anaesthetic agent is employed, i. e. the inner endosperm 
behaves like a lifeless tissue. 
Comparison of the results of Experiment 3, Table XXIV with Experi¬ 
ments 1 and 2, Table XX, shows a very striking difference; not only is the 
total amount of the reducing sugars significantly lower, but the weight of tissue 
remaining at the termination of the culture experiment is only feebly reduced. 
The results, again, are obviously due to suppression of the secretory 
function of the living aleurone layer, and they afford strong confirmatory 
evidence of the results already derived from the more direct method of 
investigating this function described in Section IV, Table X. 
VII. Starch-liquefying and Saccharifying Properties of (i) 
Embryo and Aleurone-layer Secretions, (2) Extracts of 
Endosperms and Inner Endosperms. 
The methods of culture employed permit of the separate collection 
and investigation of the secretions of the embryos and aleurone layer 
comparatively free from substances likely to exert any very marked influence 
on their intrinsic properties. Similar advantages accrue in the case of 
endosperms and inner endosperms cultivated separately on moist calcium 
sulphate substrata. In this latter case the examination amounts to a com¬ 
parison of the behaviour, on the one hand (endosperms), of a mixture 
of residual amylase and that derived from the aleurone layer ; on the other 
(inner endosperms), to the residual amylase reinforced by that c liberated ’ 
during culture. 
Since it was inconvenient and impracticable to prepare the secretions 
of the embryo and aleurone layer as required, the following method was 
devised :— 
