486 
ISHIZUKA. 
IV. Experiments with Seeds. 
Seeds of barley and radish, six in number were soaked in 
2 % solutions of the neutral sodium salts for 2 days, then placed 
on moistened blotting paper under a bell-jar for germination. 
After io days two barley grains had germinated of those that had 
been treated with the maleate, three of those with the fumarate 
and five of the control grains soaked in common water : of the 
radish seeds all had germinated within 8 days, but the control 
seeds already within 4 days. 
V. Experiments with Algae. 
Analogous experiments were made with filaments of Spiro- 
gyra which were placed in 1 °/o neutral solution of the sodium 
salts of both acids : the microscopical examination after 4 hours 
showed that about half the cells had been killed by the sodium 
maleate, while only very few in the fumarate : after 18 hours all 
cells in the former solution had been killed, their chlorophyll 
bodies had lost their normal shape, and the cytoplasm had been 
much contracted, while in the latter solution about half the cells 
were still alive ; it took here 40 hours to kill them all. 
VI. Experiments with Aquatic Animals. 
The organisms principally observed were infusoria, rotatoria, 
and copepoda. 
All these remained alive in 1 p. m. solutions for several days; 
but in 5 p. m. solutions they were killed in the sodium maleate after 
1 hour 20 min., while in the fumarate after 8 hours : most copepoda 
and rotatoria died in the former in 45 min., in the latter after 
2 hours 3 min. We observe, therefore, in all the cases described 
here, that maleic acid shozvs a more poisonous action than fumaric , 
another interesting instance demonstrating the sensibility of the 
protoplasm towards stereo-isomeric bodies. 
