The influence of temperature on the absorption of water by seeds of hordeum vulgare in relation to the temperature coefficient of chemical change

Abstract

Attention has previously been directed by one of us to the existence of a differential septum enclosing the seeds of Hordeum (barley). When the seeds are immersed in aqueous solutions of most electrolytes, and of many non-electrolytes, this covering behaves as a very efficient differential septum, water alone entering the seeds under the attractive influence of the finely granulated contents. The rate at which the water enters is considerably affected if substances are dissolved in it, being increased by some and diminished by others; it is also markedly dependent on the temperature of the water or solution in which the seeds are immersed. Variations of the rate at which water enters with alterations of the experimental conditions are presumably due mainly to changes in the water, and the seeds of Hordeum would thus appear to be a very suitable medium for the investigation of the nature of the changes produced in water by the presence of dissolved substances or by alterations of temperature.