Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  j 
February,  19 19.  -* 
Hyoscyamus  Niger. 
7i 
three  to  four  times  as  many  seeds  germinated  as  where  the  soil  was 
not  sterilized.  On  comparing  the  results  as  shown  in  Table  I  with 
those  in  Table  II,  we  find  a  great  difference  in  the  relative  number 
of  seeds  germinated  by  the  two  methods.  In  the  case  of  sample 
no.  9,  48  per  cent,  germinated  by  the  blotter  method  while  only  5.7 
per  cent,  germinated  in  the  unsterile  soil,  and  20.1  per  cent,  in  the 
sterile  soil.  While  in  the  case  of  sample  no.  10,  77  per  cent,  germi- 
nated in  seven  days  by  the  blotter  method,  and  14  and  30.9  per  cent., 
respectively,  germinated  in  the  soil.  It  is  true  that  when  germina- 
tion is  determinated  by  the  soil  method,  the  sprouts  must  appear 
through  the  thin  layer  of  sand  that  covers  the  seeds,  hence,  it  would 
probably  take  a  longer  period  of  time  to  see  the  sprouts  than  when 
the  seeds  are  tested  between  blotters  or  filter  paper.  The  destruc- 
tive effects  produced  by  "  damping  off  "  fungi  are  very  apparent  in 
the  unsterihzed  soil  by  noting  the  results  of  the  germination  of 
samples  nos.  9  and  10  on  the  twenty-first  day. 
To  hasten  and  increase  the  germination  of  seeds  of  various 
kinds,  usually  those  with  hard  coats,  treatments  with  sulphuric  acid 
and  freezing  are  sometimes  recommended.  Newcomb  and  Haynes 
(8)  found  that  by  treating  the  seeds  of  the  biennial  variety  of 
Hyoscyamus  niger -with  concentrated  sulphuric  acid  proved  bene- 
ficial to  germination,  in  that  the  results  were  much  more  uniform. 
To  determine  to  what  extent  physical  and  chemical  treatments  were 
effective  in  hastening  and  producing  more  uniform  germination  of 
hyoscyamus  seed,  an  experiment  entailing  these  particular  factors 
was  made.  One  sample  of  hyoscyamus  seed  was  moistened  and  then 
frozen  at  — 120  C.  for  four  hours.  Another  sample  was  treated 
with  concentrated  sulphuric  acid  for  2^2  minutes,  the  acid  was 
quickly  washed  off,  and  the  seed,  about  5  Gm.,  was  quickly  washed 
with  a  liter  of  water.  Flats  of  soil  were  sterilized  as  before.  One 
flat  was  planted  with  one  thousand  of  the  original  untreated  seed ; 
a  second,  with  one  thousand  frozen  seeds  and  a  third,  with  a  like 
number  of  the  acid  treated  seeds.  The  flats  were  covered  with  glass 
plates  and  kept  moist.  After  21  days,  the  seedlings  resulting  from 
the  germination  of  the  seeds  were  counted.  The  results  are  pre- 
sented below. 
