of this group of plant-products
it is pointed out that they are largely digested by animals, and
probably have an equal 'assimilation' value to starch. They resist
alcoholic fermentation, and must consequently be taken into account as
constituents of beers and wines.

UEBER DAS VERHALTEN DER PENTOSANE DER SAMEN BEIM KEIMEN.[9]

A. SCHOeNE and B. TOLLENS (Jour. f. Landwirthschaft, 1901, 349).

~BEHAVIOUR OF PENTOSANES OF SEEDS IN GERMINATION.~

The authors have investigated the germination of barley, wheat, and
peas, in absence of light, and generally with exclusion of assimilating
activity, to determine whether the oxidation with attendant loss of
weight, which is the main chemical feature of the germination proper,
affects the pentosanes of the seeds. The following are typical of the
quantitative results obtained, which are stated in absolute weights, and
not percentages.

_____________________________________________________________
| | | | |
| | Original seed | Malt or | Pentosane in |
| | | germinated product | |
| | | |_______________|
| | | | | |
| | A | B | A | B |
|________|_______________|____________________|_______|_______|
| | | | | |
| Barley | 500.00 | 434.88 | 39.58 | 40.38 |
| " | 500.00 | 442.26 | 40.52 | 41.17 |
| Peas | 300.00 | 286.60 | 15.25 | 15.97 |
|________|_______________|____________________|_______|_______|

The authors conclude generally that there is a slight absolute increase
in the pentosanes, and that the pentosanes do not belong to those
reserve materials which undergo destructive oxidation during
germination.

In this they confirm the previously published results of De Chalmot,
Cross and Bevan, and Gotze and Pfeiffer.

UEBER DEN GEHALT DER BAUMWOLLE AN PENTOSAN.

H. SURINGAR and B. TOLLENS (Ztschr. angew. Chem., 1897, I).

~PENTOSANE CONSTITUENTS OF COTTON.~

(p. 290) It has been stated by Link and Voswinkel (Pharm. Centralhalle,
1893, 253), that raw cotton yields 'wood gum' as a product of
hydrolysis. The authors were unable to obtain any pentoses as products
of acid hydrolysis of raw cotton, and traces only of