AmMay!ifoh7arm"}      The  Structure  of  the  Starch  Grain.  217 
centages  of  oxides  and  alkaloids  vary  from  2  to  25  per  cent.,  and  the 
name  Oleate  is  adopted  for  the  preparation. 
This  is  greatly  to  be  regretted ;  for,  as  stated  before,  these  prepara- 
tions are  not  definite  chemical  oleates,  but  mixtures  or  solutions  of 
oleates  in  oleic  acid  and  olive  oil.  On  the  other  hand,  a  stearic  acid 
soap,  viz.,  zinc  stearate,  is  described  as  a  definite  chemical  compound, 
forming  a  fine  white  powder,  but  no  method  for  its  manufacture 
given. 
It  is  not  unlikely  that  soaps  of  definite  composition  as  to  the 
various  fatty  acids  will  receive  more  attention  in  the  future ;  for  the 
use  of  soap  as  base  in  place  of  ointment  seems  to  gain  favor  from 
day  to  day,  so  that  in  the  next  edition  of  our  Pharmacopoeia  we 
may  expect  to  see  real  oleates,  and  possibly  solutions  of  oleates,  in 
various  fatty  acids  or  oils. 
THE  STRUCTURE  OF  THE  STARCH  GRAIN.1 
First  Paper.2 
By  Henry  Kraemer. 
There  have  been  a  number  of  hypotheses  advanced  to  explain 
the  origin,  nature,  and  structure  of  the  starch  grain.    (1)  It  was 
originally  considered  to  be  a  bubble  filled  with  a  liquid,  or,  as  stated 
by  Nageli,  "  eine  mit  Fliissigkeit  gefiillte  Blase."    According  to 
Von  Mohl,  Raspail  considered  that  the  starch  grain  consists  "  aus 
einer  in  Wasser  unlbslichen  blasenfbrmigen  Hlille  und  einem  lbsli- 
chen  gummiartigen  Inhalte."    (2)  Then  (1834)  it  was  considered 
that  to  a  central  or  excentral  point,  layer  after  layer  was  added,  the 
peripheral  layers  thus  being  the  last  formed,  this  view  having  been 
advanced  by  Fritsche  (1)  and  supported  in  a  more  or  less  modified 
form  by  Treviranus  (2),  Lindley  (3),  Schleiden  (4),  Braun  (5),Schacht 
(6),  Criiger  (7),  und  Unger  (8).    (3)  Payen  (9)  in  1838  conceived  the 
1  Reprinted  from  the  Botanical  Gazette,  Vol.  xxxiv,  November,  1902.  Since 
the  publication  of  the  author's  papers  on  the  starch  grain,  there  have  been  suf- 
ficient inquiries  on  the  subject  to  warrant  republishing  them  at  this  time,  par- 
ticularly a  these  inquiries  have  come  from  those  interested  in  the  practical  as 
well  as  the  scientific  side  of  the  subject. — Editor. 
2  An  abstract  of  a  preliminary  paper  on  this  subject  was  presented  to  the 
Society  for  Plant  Morphology  and  Physiology,  December,  1899. 
