Starch is thus the first stable product of chlorophylian activity.  Is there, in fact, starch in leaves?  It is easy to reveal its presence by the blue coloration that it assumes in contact with iodine in a leaf bleached by boiling alcohol.

Mr. Deherain has devised a nice method of demonstrating that this formation of starch, and consequently the decomposition of carbonic acid, can occur only under the influence of sunlight.  He pointed it out to us in his course of lectures at the School of Grignon, and asked us to repeat the experiment.  We succeeded, and now make the modus operandi known to our readers.

The leaf that gave the best result was that of the Aristolochia Sipho.  The leaf, adherent to the plant, is entirely inclosed between two pieces of perfectly opaque black paper.  That which corresponds to the upper surface of the limb bears cut-out characters, which are here the initials of Mr. Deherain.  The two screens are fastened to the leaf by means of a mucilage of gum arabic that will easily cede to the action of warm water at the end of the experiment.

The exposure is made in the morning, before sunrise.  At this moment, the leaf contains no starch; that which was formed during the preceding day has emigrated during the night toward the interior of the plant.

After a few hours of a good insolation, the leaf is picked off.  Then the gum which holds the papers together is dissolved by immersion in warm water.  The decolorizing is easily effected through boiling alcohol, which dissolves the chlorophyl and leaves the leaf slightly yellowish and perfectly translucent.

There is nothing more to do then but dip the leaf in tincture of iodine.  If the insolation has been good, and if the screens have been well gummed so that no penumbra has been produced upon the edge of the letters, a perfectly sharp image will be instantly obtained.  The excess of iodine is removed by washing with alcohol and water, and the leaf is then dried and preserved between the leaves of a book.

It is well before decolorizing the leaf to immerse it in a solution of potassa; the chlorophylian starch then swells and success is rendered easier.—­Lartigue and Malpeaux, in La Nature.

* * * * *

STANDARDS AND METHODS FOR THE POLARIMETRIC ESTIMATION OF SUGARS.[1]

[Footnote 1:  Report to the United States Internal Revenue Department by C.A.  Crampton, Chemist of U.S.  Internal Revenue; H.W.  Wiley, Chief Chemist of U.S.  Department of Agriculture; and O.H.  Tittmann, Assistant in Charge of Weights and Measures, U.S.  Coast and Geodetic Survey.]

Section 1, paragraph 231, of the act entitled “An act to reduce revenue and equalize duties on imports and for other purposes,” approved October 1, 1890, provides: