The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1902-05-21
VITALITY OF SEEDS.
IMPORTANT RESULTS or SCIENTIFIC
INVESTIGATION.

| Instances Of Seeds Holding susponded
Their terminating Powers For One Hun.
dred and Fifty Years and Then Springins
TO LILO Under Proper Treatment.
Not long ago It was generally believed
that grains Of wheat from Egyptian tombs
had been made TO germinate, and there
seemed therefore to be no limit to the
dormant life OF q seed. When these stories
were proved to ~ without foundation,
there was n general tendency TO disbelievs
NIL Of a similar kind. Now, however, IL
seems established that seeds mny live, un.
der prOper conditions, o greaS many years,
perhaps for centuries, and when we con-
sidsr that under these. circumstances the
protoplasm within the seed actually main
tains Its vitality, this fact Is very signih.
cant. On tho question OF how seeds no.
complish this. much light has been thrown
by recent experiments OF q. do Candolle,
tho French botanist, which he describes In
Ls Revue Scientiaque. Some parts OF
his article are as 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 1t Is only 70.
tarded, and the answers would not be the
same In oil cases.
"we owe to Messrs Van Tieghem and
Bounier the following experiment, which
proves that seeds can, In fact, live for
certain time this retarded life. Three lots
Of tho same number Of peas and beans
were placed, the FIRST In the open air, the
second In q sealed glass tube containing
ordinary air, the third In sealed tube
containing only pure carbonic acid gas.
At the end Of two years tho 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
eerm.nated In less number than the pre-
oeding. Moreover, the air contained In
the tube with them hnd changed In com-
position. It's proportion OF oxygen had
fallen to 1l.4 per cent, and there was
mixed with 1t 8.8per cent Of carbonic acid.
A to the seeds kept In the carbonio acid,
mono of them could germinate, and their
weight had not changed"
Experiments arc then described by n.
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 mny germinate
after having been exposed to tempera-
ture Of ZOOS 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 tho active life OF the
ssods In question must have been really
suspended, and nevertheless they were
able to germinate when planted. In d.
do Candolle's own experiments seeds wore
subjected once day for 11S days to tom.
perature Of 97S to 538 below zero, for to
90 hours ut time, and notwithstanding
this harsh treatmsAt, they sprouted when
planted. II the life Of the seeds, however,
were really suspended they must be able
to live out Of contact with air for certain
time In order to see whether they could
do this, N. do Candolle kept seeds under
mercury from one to three months with.
out killing them.
In this state Of suspended life o seed u
In Q chemical condition, according to n.
de Candolle, somewhat resembling that OF
an explosive mixture-that ID, IL II ready
for chemical action (growth), but that 90
ton will not begin until the surrounding
conditions are right. In the explosiv.
these are conditions Of dryness, tempera.
ture, etc.. Just az they are with the seed.
A seed, then, Is little bomb, only wait.
Ing to be touched of to release its store OF
energy and send out o discharge In the
shape OF q sprout. II. de Candolle re-
marks on this a. follows:
"This state Of chemical and vital inertia
may last long time, perhaps even indef.
nitely. 1t is at least, ms 1t seems to mo,
ths only way Of explaining the prsservs.
tIon Of seeds during great number Of
years. Cases are known where they have
germinated after period so long that II
Is impossible to believe that they have
continued In life, properly speaking. In
tho interval, no matter how slowly the
processes Of life may have gone on. Here
arc some remarkable examples:
"A. P. de Candolle mentions seeds that
sprouted very we'll after moro than 90
years.
"Glrardin has seen beans Prout that
had lain In tho storehousa Of Tournefort
moro than 100 years.
"In 1850 Robert Brown sowed, from
curiosity, some seeds from the collection
Of Sir Hans Sloane, where they bad 70
mained for moro than 150 yeara He suo-
oeeded In making several serminata, In
particular ono Of Nelumbium speciosum
In water lily) Of which the plan has been
preserved In the British museum, where ]
saw 1t few years sinca
"The alleged termination Of mummy
wheat Ia, as Is now generally known, but
@ baseless fable. II appears. besides, that
the wheat was always sterilizsd before be-
Ing put into the sarcophagi which pre-
oluded oil possibility Of its growth. But
to make up for the fnlsity Of this story
divers we'll authenticated facts show thai
seeds can preserve their power Of sprouting
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 Dc Heldreioh. dircotor OF the
Botanic garden at Athens. While botan-
lzing In the neigbborhood Of the mines OF
Laurium this savant discovered, In 1878,
a glaucium that he took at once to be . now
species, and he described It under the
name Of glsucium. This plant made its
appearance on piece Of land from which
had recently been removed thick layer OF
rubbish coming from the ancient working
the neighboring mines. This layer
must have been ut least ! 500 years old.
Unless We believe In spontaneous genera
tion, IL seems necessary to suppose that
this glnucium must be o species that ex-
isted long ago In the locality, whose seeds
had boon preserved In the earth and rub
bish that COVERED them. "-Literary Dt.
gest.