The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-01-30
VITALITY OF SEEDS.
RESULTS OF SCIENTIFIC
INVESTIGATION.
INSTANCES of Seeds Holding Suspended
Their Terminating Powers For One Hun
dred and Fifty Years aud Then springinG
to Life Under Proper Treatment.

dred and Fifty Years aud 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 germinato, and there
seemed therefore to be no limit to tho
hormant life of u seed. When these stories
were proved to DO without foundation,
There was general tendency to disbelieye
all of similar kind. Now, however, it
Seems established that seeds may live, I'M
der proper conditions, o great many years,
perhaps for centuries, and whom we con-
slider That under these circumstances the
protoplasm within tho seed actually main
tains its vitality, this fact Is very signifl-
cant. On the question of how seeds ao-
oomplish this, much light has boon thrown
by recent experiments of g. do Candolle,
the French botanist, which he describes in
Le Revue Soientifque. Some parts of
his article are rs follows:
Seeds that have retained their germi-
mating power arc said to possess latent
life. This expression lacks precision, for
we may ask whether the life of the seeds
is completely arrested or If it is only re-
tarded, and the answers would not be the
Same in all cases.
We owe to Messrs. Van Tieghem and
fBounier the following experiment, which
proves that seeds can, in fact, live for q
certain time this retarded life. Three lots
of the samo number of peas and beans
were placed, tho first in the open DIR, tho
second In sealed glass tube containing
ordinary air, the third in q sealed tube
containing only pure carbonio aoid gas.
at the end of two years the seeds of the
first lot had sensibly Increased in weight,
and nearly all had retained their germinat-
ing power. Those preserved in the con-
fined air had increased less in weight and
terminated in less number than tho pro-
coding Moreover, tho mir contained in
the tnbo with thom had changed in COM
position. It's proportion of oxygen had
fallen to 11.4 per cent, and there was
mixed with it Q. per cent of carbonio acid
AS to tho seeds kept in the carbonio acid,
mono of them could germinate, and their
weight had not changed
Experiments are then described by M.
de Candolle that relate to the wonderful
power of resistance to cold displayed by
seeds. Experiments already made by 9th
ers show that these seeds may terminate
after having boon exposed to tempera-
ture of ,O08 kelow zero, oentigrade Now
tho researches of Pictet in his celebrated
low temperature laboratory in Berlin show
that Mt such point chemical action total
~ SoAoOo' 1iohCo ollo hCUlNO ZIG OIL Tho
seeds in question must have been really
suspended, and nevertheless they were
able to germinate when planted. In Nj.
dc Candolle's own experiments seeds were
subjected once day for 11S days to q tom
peraturo of 878 to 538 below zero, for to
20 hours at a time and Notwithstanding
this harsh treatment, they sprouted when
PLANTED. If tho life of the seeds, however.
were really suspended they must be able
ITO live out of contact with air for certain
time. In order to 500 whether they could
do this, M. do Candolle kept seeds undcr
mercury from one to three months with
out killing them.
In this state Of suspended life seed is
in o chemical condition, according to M.
de Candolle, somewhat resembling that of
an explosive mixture-thnt is, it Is ready
for chemical action (growth) but that nc
Ition will not begin until tho surrounding
conditions arc right. In tho explosive
these are conditions of drynoss, Temporal
lturc, etc.. just us they are with tho seed
"A seed, thon, is little bomb, only whit
ing to be touched off to release it's store of
,oncrgy and send out discharge in tho
shape of n sprout. NJ. do Cnndollo re-
Imarks on this as follows:
This state Of chemical and vital inertia
may last long time, perhaps even indof-
lA'toS'J' ~ 40 oo iOtiout siS IL SCCIllS 10 me-
the only way Of explaining tho preserva-
ltion of seeds during great number of
years. Cases arc known where they have
,gcrminated after n period SO long that il
lis impossible to believe that they have
continued in life, properly speaking, in
the interval no matter how slowly tho
processes of life may have gone on. Hero
lare some remarkable examples:
"a. p. do Candollo mentions seeds that
Isprouted very well after moro than go
years.
"Girardin has seen beans sprout that
had lain in tho storchouso of Tournefort
moro than 100 years.
Gin 1850 Robert Brown sowed, from
curiosity, some seeds from the collection
!of Sir Hans Sloane, where they had re-
manned for moro than $50 years He sue
Iceeded in making several germinate, in
particular ono Of Nclumbium speciosum
IA water lily), of which the plan has boon
preserved in the British museum, where
saw it q fow years since.
1.-The alleged termination OF mummy
wheat is, as is now generally known, but
i. basclcss fable. 1t appears, besides that
the wheat was always sterilized before be-
ling put into tho sarcophagi, which pro-
cluded all possibility of its growth. But
ito MAKEUP for the falsity of this story
divers well authenticated facts show that
seeds can preserved their power of sprouting
after an extremely prolonged sojourn be-
meath the earth-that is to say, in shelter
from atmospheric influences
1.-The most extraordinary case Of this
Kind is that observed several years since
by Professor Do Heldreich director of tho
Botanic garden at Athens. Whilo botan-
izing In tho noighborhood of the mines of
Laurlum this savant discovered, in 1873,
glaucium that Inc took at once to be now
species, and ho described it under tho
name of glaucium. This plant made its