504 
HA N AI ; 
E. Schulze found further that during the germination of seeds 
the quantity of cliolin increases, (1) 2 and that in wheat cholin and 
betain which are closely related to each other, are localised in 
the germ of the grain but not in the endosperm. This is certain¬ 
ly of physiological interest because the young developing germ 
must carry on an energetie respiration and therefore be capable 
of easily forming lecithin, in which process the presence of cholin 
is required. It may further be mentioned in this connection that, 
* > 
according to Muntz , the amount of free fatty acids increases 
during germination. 
For my investigation I selected the leaves of Thea chinènsis, 
an evergreen plant, and the bark of Prunus Cerasus , which ob¬ 
jects contain during winter time much reserve material ; especial¬ 
ly the tea leaf is rich in fatty matter. Kellner, Makino , and 
Ogasazvara {?) observed that while in May and June young tea 
leaves contain 6.32-6.82 % of fat, in November they contain as 
much as 22 % in the dry matter. I determined the lecithin after 
the method of E. Schulze by which after the extraction with ether, 
a second extraction is made with absolute alcohol. (3) In these 
united liquids the phosphoric acid is determined in the usual way, 
after heating the evaporation-residue with a mixture of sodium 
carbonate and some potassium nitrate. 
I made four determinations, one with the old leaves in 
November (1895), the second with the old leaves in May 1896, 
the third with the young leaves at the beginning of April 1896 
and the fourth with the y ou ng leaves at the end of May (1896), 
with the following result : 
o 
(1) Landvv. Vcrs.-Stat.. Vol. 46 , 23. 
(2) Landw. Vers.-Stat. 1886. p, 370. 
(3) The mixture of these two extracts contains, of course, besides fat and lecithin 
a certain amount of other compounds. 
