Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-02-28
VITALITY OF SEEDS.
IMPORTANT RESULTS OF SCIENTIFIC
INVESTIGATION.
Instances Of Seeds Holding Suspended
Their terminating Powers For One Hun
bred and Fifty Years and Then springing
to Life Under Proper Treatment.

bred and Fifty Years and Then Springing
to Life Under Proper Treatment.
Not long ago it WAS generally believed
that grains of wheat from Egyptian tombs
had been made to terminate, and there
seemed therefore to be no limit to the
dormant life of seed. When these stories
were proved to be without foundation,
there was general tendency to disbelievc
all Of "a similar kind Now, however, it
seems established that seeds may live, I'M
der proper conditions, great many years
perhaps for centuries, and when we CON
slider that under these circumstances the
protoplasm within the seed actually main
tains its vitality, this fact Is very sigDifi-
cant. On the question of how seeds ac-
complsh this, much light has been thrown
by recent experiments Of G.. de Candollc.
The French botanist, which he describes in
lie Revue Scientifique. Some parts OF
his article are rs follows:
"Seeds that have retained their germi-
mating power are said to possess latent
life This expression lacks precision, for
we may ask whether the life of the seeds
is completely arrested or II it is only re
tarded. and the answers would not be the
same in all cases.
"We owe to Messrs Van Tieghem and
Bounier the following experiment, which
proves that seeds can, in fact, live for "A
certain time this retarded life Three lots
of the same number OF peas and beans
were placed the FIRST in the open air, the
second in n sealed glass tube containing
ordinary air. the third in "a sealed tube
containing only pure carboniG acid gas.
Al the end OF two years the seeds OF the
first lot had sensibly increased in weight,
and nearly all had retained their gorminat-
ing power. Those preserved in the con-
fined air had increased less in weight and
terminated in less number than the pre-
ecding. Moreover, the air contained In
the tube with them had changed in com
position. Its proportion of oxygen had
fallen to ii.4 per cent, and there was
mixed with il s. $ per cent Of carbonic acid
As to the seeds kept in the carbonic acid,
none Of them could terminate, and their
weight had not changed. ~
Experiments are then described by II
de CandOlle that relate To the wonderful
power of resistance TO cold displayed hy
seeds. Experiments already made by 9th
ers show that these seeds may germinate
after having been exposed to teinpera-
ture of ! COS kelow zero, centigrade. Now
the researches OF Pictet In his celebrated
low temperature laboratory in Berlin show
that at such point chemical action total.
~ ceases Hence the active life of the
seeds in question must have been really
suspended, and nevertheless they were
able to terminate when planted. In VI
de Candolie's OWN experiments seeds were
subjected once "A day for ! Is days 10 TEN
perature of 31s To 53s below zero. for : 10
go hours AZ n time, and notwithstanding
this harsh treatment, they sprnuted .ghen
planted. Ii the life of the seeds however
were really suspended they must be able
to live out of contact with air for a certain
time. In order To see whether they could
do this, NJ de Candolle kept seeds undel
mercury from one to three months with.
out killing them.
In this state of suspended life n seed Is
In chemical condition, according to NJ
de CandollN, somewhat resembling that Of
an explosive miXture-that is, il is ready
for chemical action (growth), hut that &c
ton Will not begin until the surrounding
conditions are right. In the explosive
these are conditions Of dryness, tempera
ture. etc. just rs they are with the seed
seed, then, Is % little bomb. only wait.
ing TO be touched off 10 release its store OF
energy and send out discharge in the
shape Of sprout. NJ. de landolle re.
marks on this as follows:
This state of chemical and vital inertia
may last long time, perhaps even inden.
nitely. 1t is at least, as it seems to me,
the only way Of explaining the prcserva
ton of seeds during great number of
wears. Cases are known where they have
terminated after a period so long that IL
is impossible to believe that they have
continued in life, properly speaking, in
the interval, no matter how slowly the
processes of life may have gone on. Here
are some remarkable examples:
A. p de Candolle mentions seeds that
sprouted very well after more than 90
years.
'Girardin has seen beans sprout that
had lain III the storehouse of Tournefori
more than 100 years.
I'm 1850 Robert Brown sowed. from
curiosity, some seeds from the collection
OF Sir Hans Sloane, where they had re
manned for more than $50 years He sue
ceeded i'll making several terminate. in
particular one of Nelumbium speciosum
Ga water lily), of which the plan has been
preserved in the British museum. where
saw it u few years since
The alleged termination Of mummy
wheat is, AS is now generally known bus
baseless fable. 1t appears, besides, that
the wheat was always ster;lized before be-
ing put into the sarcophagi, which pre-
Guided all possibility of its growth. But
to make up for the falsity of this story
divers well authenticated facts show that
seeds can preserve their power of sproutinu |
after an extremely prolonged sojourn be
meath the earth-that is to say, in shelter
from atmospheric influences.
The most extraordinary case of this |
Kind is that observed several years since |
by Professor De Heldreich, director of the |
Botanic garden at Athens While botan- |
lzing in the neighborhood of the mines of |
Laurium this savant discovered in 1873 |
a glaucium that he took at once to be a new |
species, and he described it under the |
name OF glaucium This plant made its
appearance on piece of land from which |
mad recently been removed thick laver of |
rubbish coming from the ancient working
OF the neighboring mines. This layer
must have been at least l, 500 years old |
Unless we believe in spontaneous genera
tioh, IL seems necessary to suppose that
TINS glaucium must be species that ex
listed long ago in the locality, whose seeds
nad been preserved in the earth and rub