First book of Indian botany / Daniel Oliver.

  • Daniel Oliver
Date:
1869
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: First book of Indian botany / Daniel Oliver. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    36/464 page 20
    4. Now, not only is water absorbed by the root, but also various substances which are dissolved in the water. Hence we find, if we burn a plant carefully, that an ash remains, consisting of such of these substances as are not dissipated by heat, which were absorbed in this way, and which had been made use of by the plant, or stored away in its tissues. Of the simple elements known to chemists, about twenty occur in the ash of the plants ; many of these, however, in very minute quantities, and never all in the same plant. Sulphur, phosphorus, potash or soda, lime and silex, are those most generally found. 5. But if we analyse an entire plant, and not the ash only, we shall find constantly present, besides the above, the elements carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen. And these elements are present, there is reason to believe, in every organized being, whether plant or animal, in combi- nations peculiar to organized beings. Hence they may be palled the organic elements, in contradistinction to the (mineral) elements found in combinations which are not peculiar to organized beings, and several of which remain in the ash of plants when burnt. The latter may be called the inorganic elements. 6. These four organic elements do not exist separately in the plant, but, as we have said, in combination. Thus the carbon is united with oxygen and hydrogen (the two last the elements of water), forming the basis of a series of com- pounds, called ternary compounds because they are com- posed of three elements. The nitrogen occurs combined with the same three elements, forming a quaternary com- pound, or compound of four elements. And these two series of organic compounds stand in remarkable contrast to each other in the plant, both in respect of the structures in which they respectively take part, and of function, as we
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3