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Page 40
The discovery[49] of h�matoxylin in the _Saraca indica_ illustrates
very well how this plant in its chemical, as well as botanical,
character is related to the _H�matoxylon campechianum_; also, I found
a substance like catechin in the _Saraca_. This compound is found in
the _acacias_, to which class _Saraca_ is related by its chemical
position, as well as botanically. Saponin is found in both of these
plants, as well as in many other plants of the leguminos�. The
leguminos� come under the middle plane or multiplicity of floral
elements, and the presence of saponin in these plants was to be
expected.
From many of the facts above stated, it may be inferred that the
chemical compounds of plants do not occur at random. Each stage of
growth and development has its own particular chemistry.
It is said that many of the constituents found in plants are the
result of destructive metabolism, and are of no further use in the
plant's economy. This subject is by no means settled, and even should
we be forced to accept that ground, it is a significant fact that
certain cells, tissues, or organs peculiar to a plant secrete or
excrete chemical compounds peculiar to them, which are to be found in
one family, or in species closely allied to it.
It is a fact that the chemical compounds are there, no matter why or
whence they came. They will serve our purposes of study and
classification.
The result of experiment shows that the presence of certain compounds
is essential to the vigor and development of all plants and particular
compounds to the development of certain plants. Plant chemistry and
morphology are related. Future investigations will demonstrate this
relation.
In general terms, we may say that amides and carbohydrates are
utilized in the manufacture of proteids. Organic acids cause a
turgescence of cells. Glucosides may be a form of reserve food
material.
Resins and waxes may serve only as protection to the surfaces of
plants; coloring matters, as screens to shut off or admit certain of
the sun's rays; but we are still far from penetrating the mystery of
life.
A simple plant does what animals more highly endowed cannot do. From
simplest substances they manufacture the most complex. We owe our
existence to plants, as they do theirs to the air and soil.
The elements carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen pass through a
cycle of changes from simple inorganic substances to the complex
compounds of the living cell. Upon the decomposition of these bodies
the elements return to their original state. During this transition
those properties of protoplasm which were mentioned at the beginning,
in turn, follow their path. From germination to death this course
appears like a crescent, the other half of the circle closed from
view. Where chemistry begins and ends it is difficult to say.--_Jour.
Fr. Inst._
[Footnote 1: A lecture delivered before the Franklin Institute,
January 24, 1887.]
[Footnote 2: Studien uber das Protoplasm, 1881.]
[Footnote 3: Vines, p. 1. Rostafinski: Mem. de la Soc. des Sc.
Nat. de Cherbourg, 1875. Strasburger: Zeitschr., xii, 1878.]
[Footnote 4: Botany: Prantl and Vines. London, 1886, p. 110.]
[Footnote 5: For the literature of starch, see p. 115, Die
Pflanzenstoffe, von Hilger and Husemann.]
[Footnote 6: Kutzing: Arch. Pharm., xli, 38. Kraus and Millardet:
Bul. Soc. Sciences Nat., Strasbourg, 1868, 22. Sorby: Jour. Lin.
Soc., xv, 34. J. Reinke: Jahrb. Wissenscht. Botan., x, B. 399.
Phipson: Phar. Jour. Trans., clxii, 479.]
[Footnote 7: Prantl and Vines, p. 111.]
[Footnote 8: L. Crie: Compt. Rend., lxxxviii, 759 and 985. J. De
Seynes, 820, 1043.]
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