1950 Volume 63 Issue 750 Pages 270-277
1. In the plant cell vacuoles, preliminarily stained in vivo with thiazine dyes (but excepting methylene blue), there appear numerous crystals of the dyestuffs, when they are treated with the solutions of thiocyanide, iodide, bromide, chloride or nitrate of alkali metals (Na, K, or Ca). These demixed crystals show various types of spiral shape.
2. This demixing reaction is accelerated with the increase of the concentration of the dye-solution used, but also related to the sort of the anion of the salt employed, giving the following anion-series, concerning the acceleration of the reaction:
SCN->I->Br->NO3->Cl-
3. The same demixing reaction is proved to take place in the mere water solutions of the dyestuffs, when they are treated with solutions of the same salts through a semipermeable membrane of collodion or pig bladder. The anion-series obtained from these model experiments perfectly coincide with the one obtained from the vital stainings of cell vacuoles.
4. It may be concluded, therefore, that the demixing of the spiral formed thiazine dyes in plant vacuoles has been aroused by a simple reaction of salting-out of dyecrystals in solutions. Although their shapes were various and often curious, no parts would be played by the constituents of cell saps or cytoplasms.