i. 46 ABSTRACTS OF CHEMICAL PAPE LtS. Chemistry of Vegetable Physiology and Agriculture. Nitroeo-Bacteria. H. S. FREMLIN (J. l l g g i s n e 19 14 14 149-162).-The nitroso-bacterium grows readily in or on ammonia agar especially if 5 or 10% of beef broth is added. Potassium phosphate agar containing bouillon gelatin but not ammonia also leads t o the formation first of ammonia and then of nitrite. Urine is also a good culture medium so also are peptone water peptone beef broth and milk or blood-serum. Thc nitroso-bacterium is a powerful nitrite-forming organism ; i t is not readily destroyed and a certain amount of organic niatt'er is essential to its better development. w. D. H. Purification of Silk Peptone for Bacteriological Purposes. I. WALKEK HALL (J. Path. Bact. 1914 19 286-304).-The tetra- peptide sold as silk-peptone has certain advantages for bacterio- logical purposes over complex mixtures like IVitte's peptone. Methods are described for purifying the crude product; the pig- ment may be removed by filtration through ,iI r!/i77u ctllrcc.The product has the same optical rotation and amino-acid content as that obtained by phosphotungstic acid precipitation. W. D. H. Organisation of the Cell with Respect to Permeability. the marine alga Grifithsia are placed in hypertonic sea water a withdrawal of water takes place and the protoplasmic sack con- tracts; on replacing the cells in sea water the sack expands to its original size. With hypertonic ammonium chloride the sack also contracts but the inner wall contracts much more than the outer wall; so t h a t there are two' surfaces the outer (plasma membrane) and the inner (vacuole wall) which do not actl in the same way with respect'to permeability.This may be dire t o the outer surface being more permeable to ammonium chloride and partly to a change in permeability produced by the) salt. With more dilute amnioniuni chloride there is x rriarkecl coiitrac- tion of the inner surface alone. As protoplasm is composed of a variety of structures i t seeins possible t h a t many kinds of semi-permeable surfaces exist within the cell. W. J. V. OSTERHOUT (Xcience 1913 38 408-409).-When cells Of N. H. J. M. Effect of Alkali on Permeability. W. J. V. OSTERIIOUT (J. Bio?. Chem. 1914 19 335-343) -The author bas determined the effect on the electrical resistance of the addition of small a,mounts of sodium hydroxide to solutions containing the living tissues of Larninnrio acrccZ),ccrirro.Concentrations of sodium hydroxide greater than l / l O O O l V lead to a diminution in the electrical resistance and the author draws the conclusion that concentra-VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY AND AGRICULTURE. i. 47 tions of sodium hydroxide below l j l O 0 O S do not have any effect on the permeability of the cell walls whilst above this limit the permeability is increased associated with injury of the cells if the exposure is sufficiently prolonged but not when the exposure is short. H. W. B. Chemical Dynamics OF Living Protoplasm. W. J. V. OSTERWOUT (Science 19 14 39 544-546).-An experiment in which living tissue of Lamiiinnk was placed in 0*52JT sodium chloride which has the same conductivity as sea water and the electrical resistance measured every ten minutes showed a rapid fall from 980 to 320 ohms in 200 minutes when the cells were killed.The results showed that the rate of the reaction was almost constant indicating that the sodium chloride reacted with one substaiice so little of it being used up that its concentration changed only slightly. The loss of resistance might also be due t o the spon- taneous change of some substlance in the protoplasm a process which goes on with extreme slowness until catalysed by the sodium chloride. This implies that even in a healthy and living cell the process of death is always going on. N. H. J. M. Vitality and Injury as Quantitative Conceptions.W. J. V. OSTEREIOUT (,Ycience 191 4 40 488-491).-The vitality of a tissue is so dependent on the maintenance of its normal permeability that the permeability of protoplasm may be employed as a sensitive and trustworthy indicator of its vitality and this may be done by estimating the electrical resistance. In this way a quantitative treatment of injury becomes possible. The degree of injury may be defined as the amount expressed as percentage of thO normal net resistance by which the resistance falls below the normal. The method of plasmolysis may be used not. only to distinguish between living and dead cells but between cells of normal vitality and those in which vitality is impaired. N. H. J. &I. Quantitative Criteria of Antagonism. W. J. V. OSTERIIOUT (/jot.Gaz. 1924 58 178-186).-'I'he hest criteria of antagonism are obhained by mixing equally toxic solutions as the effect' of each mixture if there is no antagonism is known at the outset. Mix- tures of two- equally tloxic solutions must have the same effect as the pure solutions themselves if the effects of the salts are additive. Where antagonism exists there is increased growth and the amount of the increase expressed as percentage of the growth in pure solutions is the most satisfactory measure of antagonism. It is desirable to employ uniform seeds; and only such portions of the plants as are in contact with the solution should be measured. N. H. J. M. Measurement of Antagonism. W. J. V. OSTERHOUT (Bot. Gax. 1914 58 272-276).-1t is shown that the measurement of antlagonism in solutions containing more than two components pre-i.48 ABSTRACTS OF CHEMICAL PAPERS. sents no difficulty when equally toxic pure solutions are mixed. Methods for the graphical expression of antagonism in mixtures of three or more components are suggested. N. IT. J. 31. Forms of Antagonism Curvts as Affected by Concentration. W. J. V. OSTERHOUT (But. Gax. 1914 58 367-371).-It was found with antagonism curves of different types that dilution of the solutions to half strengths results in very marked alterations in the form of the curve. An example given of four curves obtained with different dilutions shows that as the solution becomes more dilute the curve becomes flatter so tlhat finally a straight line would be obtained. The two1 ordinates a t the ends of each curve are equal in height showing that the pairs of pure solutions were in each case equally toxic.A solid model is describsed which gives a complete description of the changes in the antagonism curve as dilution increases. Strong solutions usually furnish a much more satisfactory criterion of antagonism than weak solutions. N. H. J. M. Creatinine in Leguminous Seeds. K. OSHIMA and M. ARIIZUMI (J. Coll. A9ric. Toliokzl Imp. Univ. 1914 6 17-25).-Creatinine was found in seeds of Adzuki beans kidney and soja beans and in smaller amounts in horse beans and green peas. N. H. J. M. Occurrence and Significance of Manganese in the Seed Coat of Various Seede. 3. S. MCHARGUE (J. Amw. Chenz. Soc. 1914 36 2532-2536).-During an investigation on the occur- rence of barium in plants (A.1913 i SOS) the author observed the presence of manganese in the ash of hazel-nut shells. S'everal nuts and seeds havel now been examined and i t has been found that manganese is of very general occurrence. The amount of manganese present varies considerably in different parts of the same seed and the seed coat surrounding the kernel contains a much larger proportion than the kernel or the outer coats. Ex- periments are recorded which show t'hat there' is a close connexion between the amount of manganese and the presence of oxydases in plant tissues and it is therefore considered probable that the accumulation of manganese in the seed coat bears an important relation t o the vital processes in seed formation and germination.E. G. Oxydaaes of Acid Tissues. G. B. REED (Bot. Gaz. 1914 57 528-530).-The acid tissues of Citrus fruits contain oxydases which are evidently protected in some way from the action of the acid. It is suggested that the protection may be afforded by a semipermeable tissue through which the acid cannot pass. It seems evident that the membranes are not normally permeable to acid because lemon seeds frequently germinate while in the carpels; in lemon juice even when several times diluted they fail to germinate. N. H. J. M.VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY AND AGRICULTURE. i. 49 Bitter Principle of Common Ragweed. BURT E. NELSON and GEORQE W. CRAWFORD (J. Amar. Chem. Soc. 1914 36 2536-2538). -An examination has been made of the common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisifoEia). Two substances have been isolated one m.p. 208* crystallising in white needles or prisms and the other m. p. 65-70° an amber-coloured amorphous substance. The former is tasteless and physiologically inactive whilst the latter has a bitter taste and is probably identical with absinthin from wormwood. It is considered that there are no reasonable grounds for administering ragweed preparations for hay-f ever. E. G. Oxidation by Catalysts of Organic and Inorganic Origin. Compare Moore and Whitley A. 1909 i 623).-The author has investigated the action of the oxydases of the apple potato carrot parsnip beetroot orange and lemon and of the inorganic salts of copper iron chromium manganwe lead etc. on guaiacuni pphenylenediamine quinol pyrogallol gallic acid tannic acid and tyrosine.The correspondence between the action of these organic and inorganic catalysts is found to be extremely close. Both classes of catalysts may be accelerated in the presence of sensitisers such as sodium or potassium chloride or phosphate or retarded or prevented by a variety of inhibitory substances (barium chloride sodium fluoride organic and inorganic acids). With increasing concentration an accelerating substance may become inhibitory whilst a substance which accelerates the action of one oxydase may antagonise the action of another. Strong metallic poisons will arrest the action of organic oxydases and destroy them if immediate contact or rapid penetration is assured. The pulp of apples turns brown when soaked in bulk in metallic poisons because the slowness of penetration allows the cell to be killed and browning to occur before the oxydase is destroyed.Any poison which destroys the oxydase also removes the power of turning brown. The browning is due to the action of the oxydase on a compound of tannic acid in the apple pulp. I n the potato the oxydase acts on a compound of tyrosine. The oxydases of the beetroot and potato appear to be related to one another and to be among the strongest plant oxydases the nearest analogies to them being ferric salts and ferricyanides. The apple carrot and parsnip contain oxydases of the same type but of a feebler grade. The author considers that oxydases and peroxydases do not constitute distinct classes of enzymes. A peroxydase is regarded as a weak or attenuated oxydase.Strong oxydases cause direct oxidation from the oxygen dissolved in a wakery solution; weak oxydases can only use the oxygen from labile oxygen compounds such as hydrogen peroxide or dissolved oxygen in the presence of sensitisers such as the chlorides or phosphates of sodium or potassium. Various intermediate grades of activity occur. An oxydase may be a ‘‘ peroxydase ” to certain oxidising agents or may ALFRED J. &WART (PTw. I / o ~ . 86C. 1914 [B] 88 284-320.i. 50 ABSTRACTS OF CHEMICAL PAPERS. become so when attenuated. The supposed separation of oxydase and " peroxydase " by fractional precipitation with alcohol may be merely the result of attenuation. Attention is drawn to the influence which sensitising substances may have on special oxidations and on respiration in general.It is suggested that they exertl a stimulatory o r controlling action on plant metabolism and thah the sodium chloride always present in the ash of plants may have1 special significance in this connexioa. This view also explains why small doses of salt stimulate the growth of many plants and why phosphates in addition to being food substances act as stimuli to growth. The stimulating action of many metallic salts on growth may be due to' their functioning as oxydases. Exposure of apple or potato pulp to the action of ether o r chloroform leads t o a gradual diminution in the activity of the oxydases present. Chloroform attenuates the oxydases more rapidly than ether does. This is not an oxydase reaction but is an admirable test f o r lignin especially valuable for demonstrating the wood elements in pulpy tissue.H. W. B. Ursol tartrate turns lignified walls red or reddish-brown. Effect of Salicylaldehyde on Plants. J. J. SKINNER (Biochtm. BuIZ. 1914 3. 390-402).-E'ull details are given of the harmful effect produced by various concentrations of salicylaldehyde when added tol soil or solution cultures; wheatl maize rice and other plants were employed. The action is not attributable t o acidity; calcium carbonate appeared to ameliorate the effects. W. D. H. The Phosphoric Oxide Content of Maize Flour. J. ATCCKAE (J. ZIygienP 19 1 4 14 395- 398).-Fmeer and Stantnn have suggested that the estimation of phosphoric oxide in rice may be usefully employed as a criterion of the amount of vitamine present the two substances running approximately parallel in amount.Analyses of maize are given here which show that in the conversion of the grain into flour a loss of phosphoric oxide occurs; concomitantly i t is assumed there is a loss of vitamine. The loss is not so great as in the process of rice polish- ing. Improved processes of milling in the1 Transvaal have still further reduced the loss. The miners certainly are in better health who use the ffour made this way. W. D. 13. Saccharogenesis in Beetroot. H. COLIN (Compt. rend:. 191 4 159 687-689. Compare Girard A 1884 476; 1885 75).-An endeavour to determine the form of sugar which passes from the leaves t o the roots of the beet and is there stored as sucrose. A t all stages in the growth of the plant the aut'hor finds a certain amount of reducing sugars in the roots the amount diminishing as the plant matures.The disappearance of the sucrose from tlie leaves during tlhe night is not necessarily due to migration t o theVEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY AND AGRICULTURE. i. 51 root since it similarly disappears from detached leaves kept in the dark with their stems in distilled water; the water does not con- tain a trace of sugar a t the end of the experiment. Further an examination of the petiole a t its base where it joins the neck of the root shows that the ratio of reducing sugar to sucrose is always much greater than unity. Contrary t o the views of Girard (Zoc. cit.) the author considers that the1 root receives from the leaf both sucrose which it stores and reducing sugars which it poly- merises the entrance of these two types of sugar being regulated by the osmotic pressure of each in the mixture.The amounts of the respective sugars formed in the leaves and taken up by the roots vary with different varieties of beetroot. W. G. Variation in the Nitrate Content of the Soils in Scania Sweden. M. WE~BULL (Bull. dgric. Irhtell. Plant Diseuses ; K. landtbr. Hmdl. Tidrtky. 1914,53,65-73).-Si t t t ates were estimated at intervals of seven to ten days from 1907 t o 1911 in the soil of a field on which different crops were'grown successively; from 1909 to 1911 estima- tions were also made in soil from fallow land. As regards the cropped plots those under beet contained up to 14 per million of nitrogen as nitrates; under wheat and peas 8-9; and under grass only 1.5 per million. On fallow land the amount rose to 33 per million.When the grass was ploughed up the nitrates increased up to November (N=21 per million). This was followed by a fall due to assimilation by the succeeding wheat crop and to loss in drainage. I n the spring the amount of nitrates was low and in the1 early summer there was an increase both in nitrifica- tion and assimilation. To ascertain the effect of vegetation and cultivation a grass plot was divided into three portions one of which remained under grass whilst the second was freed from vegetation and the third dug to a depth of 30 cm. On the grass soil the nitrogen as nitrates averaged 2.4 per million on the second portion 6.5 and on the third 11.3 per million.The amount of moisture in the second and third divisions was about equal being about 1*5-2% higher than in the grass soil. I n order to ascertain whether it is possible to detect the point a t which nitrogenous manuring becomes necessary nitrates were estimated during July and August in eight unmanured plots growing sugar beet. The yields were estimated both on the un- manured and on manured plots. Indications were obtained that where the nitrogen as nitrates fell to 2 per million by the end of July applications of nitrogenous manures resulted in a fairly large increased yie'ld. With a later fall in nitrates the effect of nitrogenous manures is less. Similar results were obtained with otjher crops. N. H. J. M. Nitric Nitrogen Content in the Country Rock. ROBERT STEWART And WILLIAM PETERSON f Utah.Agric. Coll Exper. Stut. Bull. 1914 134).-The results of analyses of numerous samples of Cretaceous and Tertiary soil-f orming materials and some ofi. 52 ABSTRACT8 OF CHEMlCAL PAPERS. Jurassic origin confirmed the view that the abnormally high aixounts of nitrates which sometimes occur in Utah and Colorado soils are derived from the brackish waters of tho old Cretaceous and Tertiary inland seas. Tho average amounts of sodium nitrate found in the different materials were as follows Sandstone. Shale. Clay. Ash. Alkali. Cretaceous. .. . . .. 0 *055% 0’104% 0’039% 0.870% 0.074% Tertiary .....,...... 0.074 0.147 0.053 0.236 0.021 Jurassic . .. . . . .. . . . . 0.008 0’005 - 0.175 0-017 Many of the shales and sandstones contained as much nitrate as the “ nitre spots ” in the cultivated soil ; and calculations based on the average amount of nitsates in fifty-eight shales show that the Cretaceous shale exposed from Palisades Colorado to Emery Utah contain 90 million tons of sodium nitrate.The conclusion is drawn that the nitrate deposits in Colorado Utah and Wyoming are far greater than those of Chile although so far as is known i t is nowhere in sufficient concentration to be worked. N. H. J. M. Comparison of Silicates and Carbonates as Sources of Lime and Magnesia for Plants. W. H. MACINTIHE and L. G. WILLIS (J. Ind. EThg. Chsrn. 1914 6 1005-1008).-The long-continued effects of liming in small or moderate amounts are to be attributed to the conservation of lime as silicates and not to the carbonate remaining unchanged. Untrustworthy methods for the estimation of carbonates will indicate their presence in soils where none exists. Calcium silicate hydrolyses in the soil and acts like calcium carbonate furnishing lime to the soil solution. With the exception of phosphates calcium exists in soils almost entirely in the form of silicates ; magnesium also exist’s as silicatel. Large quantities of magnesium carbonate have a toxic effect on plants whilst the equivalent amount of magnesia applied as finely-ground serpentine is beneficial. Calcium and magnesium silicates wollastonite and Serpentine applied separately or together are very beneficial to plants and calcium silicate is decidedly superior to calcium carbonate. w. P. s. Manuring Experiments with Manganese Sulphate and Carbonate. G. D’IPPOLITO (Alan. Chinz. App&icatc6 1914 2 342 ; from Staz. sperim. ugrcw. ital. 1914 67 621).-Experiments on the manuring of wheat and lucerne with (1) manganese sulphate; (2) a fertiliser containing 15% of manganese sulphate; (3) natural manganese carbonate containing 35% of the pure carbonate ; and (4) manganese carbonate as in (3) but containing 11% of phos- phoric oxide show that the addition of manganese gives increased yields. T. H. P.