PHANEHOCIAMIA. 
609 
Sachs, J. —Zur Keimungsgeschichte der Dattel. Ib. p.241, 249. With 
1 plate. An enquiry into the way in which the nutritive matter 
of the albumen is appropriated during germination. Sachs finds 
that both the nitrogenous and lion-nitrogenous formative matter 
of the albumen are transferred to the embryo through the means 
of the absorbent epithelial layer of cells of the “ corpus cotyledo- 
nenm ” {Saug organ) ; the latter—cellulose and oil—being found 
in the embryo, under the form of grape-sugar and starch. These 
materials, accumulated in the albumen in the same cells, and in¬ 
deed absorbed by the same epithelial layer, separate in the ger¬ 
minating embryo; the albuminous substances being conveyed 
through the thin-walled cells of the vascular bundles, to the site 
of active formation of tissue; the non-nitrogenous finding their 
way through the parenchym, especially those layers which imme¬ 
diately surround the vascular cords. 
-TJeber saure alkalische und neutrale Beaktion der Safte 
lebender Pflanzenzellen. Ibid. 257. 
-— TJeber den Einfluss des Lichtes auf die Bildung des Amylums 
in der Chlorophyllkornern. Ibid. p. 865. The author’s observa¬ 
tions agree generally with those previously recorded by Bohm 
and others, upon the relations of starch and chlorophyll, and lead 
him to the opinion that starch in chlorophyll-granules may be 
regarded not only as a secondary deposit, but as a product of the 
assimilative activity, under the influence of light, of the chlorophyll 
substance. Amongst Hr. Sachs i assured results,’ are the follow¬ 
ing :—1. During germination in the dark or twilight the starch 
of albumen or cotyledons becomes completely consumed, while 
the leaves, root, etc. develope. 2. If the plant remain under the 
above conditions it ceases to grow, and at length perishes. 3. In 
the mesophyllary cells of the cotyledons and first leaves there is 
found, at first applied to their walls, a layer of protoplasm which 
afterwards resolves itself into chlorophyll-granules. These are 
yellow in the dark, green in a dim light, pale green in full light. 
4. If a plant, germinated in darkness, be exposed to the light, 
the yellow granules become green; if the light suffice in intensity 
and duration, starch forms in the chlorophyll granules; if it be 
insufficient, the latter become green without forming starch, and 
at length the plant perishes as in the dark. 5. Erom the circum¬ 
stance that the first formation of starch takes place in chlorophyll, 
and that only chlorophyll-containing organs have the power of 
liberating oxygen, it follows that the starch is formed by assimi¬ 
lation from inorganic elements, while, on the other hand, the 
starch in uncoloured organs is developed from organic materials 
elaborated in the chlorophyll-containing cells, from which they 
are transmitted. 
•-* Ergebnisse einiger neueren TIntersuchung fiber die in 
Pflanzen enthaltene Kieselsaure. Elora. 1862. pp. 38, 49, 65. It 
is shown that V. Mohl’s observations establish the general rule 
that those portions of a plant which are most directly subject to 
2s2 
