An introduction to physiological and systematical botany / by James Edward Smith.
- James Edward Smith
- Date:
- 1814
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: An introduction to physiological and systematical botany / by James Edward Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
78/454
![S3 ACID AND ALKALI NTL SECRETIONS. On the other hand, two kinds of Alkali are furnished by vegetables, of which the most general is the Vegeta- ble Alkali, properly so called, known by the name of Salt of Tartar, or Salt of Wormwood, or more correctly by the Arabic term Kali. The Fossil Alkali, or Soda, is most remarkable in certain succulent plants that grow near the sea, belonging to the genera Chenopodium, Sal- sola, &c. When these plants are cultivated in a com- mon soil, they secrete Soda as copiously, provided their health be good, as in their natural maritime places of growth. Sugar, more or less pure, is very generally found in plants. It is not only the seasoning of most eatable fruits, but abounds in various roots, as the Carrot, Beet and Parsnip, and in many plants of the grass or cane kind besides the famous Sugar Cane Saccharum offici- narum. There is great reason to suppose Sugar not so properly an original secretion, as the result of a chemical change in secretions already formed, either of an acid or mucilaginous nature, or possibly a mixture of both. In ripening fruits this change is most striking, and takes plaee very speedily, seeming to be greatly promoted by heat and light. By the action of frost, as Dr. Darwin observes, a different change is wrought in the mucilage of the vegetable body, and it becomes starch. A fine red liquor is afforded by some plants, as the Bloody Dock or Rumex sanguineus, Engl. Bot. t. 1533, the Red Cabbage and Red Beet, which appears only to deeply indebted to those two distinguished botanists, the elder and younger Michaux.]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21155082_0078.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
