TENACITY  OF  LIFE  OF  SEEDS  &  SPORES  OF  SOME  PLANTS.  319 
pressed  temperature  possessed  by  the  seeds  of  various  legu- 
minous and  cereal  plants.  They  found  that  all  lost  their 
vitality  if  heated  in  water  at  167°  F.,  which  is  the  temperature 
at  which  starch  grains  burst.  The  most  of  the  seeds  had  their 
vitality  destroyed  when  heated  in  water  below  this,  but  would 
stand  a  temperature  of  122°  ;  while  in  steam  they  would  stand 
144°  F.  ;  and  in  dry  air  some  germinated  after  being  heated  a 
very  short  time  to  167°  F.  Above  this  all  lost  their  vitality. 
Some  would  stand  a  drv  cold  of  70°  F.  below  zero. 
Berkley  states  (Introduct.  to  Cryptogam.  Bot.  p.  68)  that  he 
has  "  recorded  an  instance  of  the  germination  of  thousands  of 
grape  seeds  after  three  emersions  in  boiling  water  ;  and  Dr. 
Lindley  mentions  the  fact  of  raspberry  seeds  growing  after 
being  boiled  for  jam,  in  which  case,  if  the  sugar  were  really 
boiling,  the  temperature  would  be  above  the  boiling  point  of 
water."  The  author  considers,  however,  that  the  observations 
were  not  sufficiently  exact  in  either  case. 
Balfour  states  (Class  Book  of  Botany,  p.  628)  "  the  seeds  of 
Phytolacca  decandra  and  of  the  Raspberry  have  been  known  to 
germinate  after  exposure  for  a  short  time  to  the  heat  of  boiling 
syrup,"  but  does  not  give  his  authority. 
Hemmingway  states  (Ann.  of  Nat.  Hist.,  [1],  viii,  317)  that 
the  seeds  of  Sambucus  nigra  germinated  after  being  twice 
boiled  in  making  wine,  being  present  during  the  vinous  fermen- 
tation, and  remaining  twenty  months  in  the  dregs  of  the  cask. 
In  regard  to  the  spores  of  Fungi,  Berkley  remarks  (Outlines 
of  British  Fungology,  32)  "  that  the  spores  of  certain  Fungi 
would  bear  a  moist  heat  equal  to  that  of  boiling  water  without 
losing  their  power  of  germination.  They  have  also  consider- 
able powers  of  resisting  frost,  but  the  exact  limits  in  either 
case  under  varying  circumstances  have  not  at  present  been 
ascertained." 
More  to  the  point  are  the  experiments  of  the  eminent  crypto- 
gamic  botanist,  Payen,  on  the  red  mould  in  the  interior  of  bread, 
which  created  such  a  stir  in  Paris  nearly  twenty  years  ago. 
This  mould,  the  O'idium  aurantiacum,  was  developed  in  the 
interior  of  the  bread  within  an  incredibly  short  space  of 
time  after  it  had  been  baked,  especially  in  the  Barrack-bread, 
("pain  de  munition,")  at  Paris.    He  found  (Ann.  de  Chem.  et 
