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from the complicated compounds found in the soil, or take it from the
air only by aid of certain Bacteria.
Certain plants manufacture lime and metallic oxides with which to
harden the protective armour they wear. Many others generate nitric
acid, carbonic acid and ammonia for use in their interior laboratories.
Roots nearly always secrete a fluid which aids in the absorption of
minerals from the earth. It is so powerful that quartz, flint and
limestone are often scratched and corroded by its action. Above and
below ground, plants are active chemical laboratories.
The differences of taste, smell and colour which characterize
leaves, blossoms and fruits are due to the presence of various
organic compounds. These are largely volatile oils which are more
complex than the substances involved in the simpler life processes.
The slow or rapid evaporation of these oils influences the strength
and character of an odour. When a flower or fruit passes through
infinite gradations of colour, we can give no adequate account of the
chemical changes involved. All we can do is to observe and to note.
Sometimes infusions of iron sulphate or other chemicals in the soil
darken the hues of flowers. Gardeners profit by this fact in the
cultivation of certain varieties of Hortensia.
The chemical activities of plants are of incalculable value to man.
They change air, water and mineral salts into forms easily
assimilable by the human system. Eliminate all the vegetable life
from this planet, and the animals, including man, would perish in a
few months. Man has also learned to make abundant use of plant
substances for innumerable purposes. Potash is an example of how
the plants come to our aid in furnishing us a valuable chemical. It is
extracted from wood, Seaweed and Banana stalks. These plants
have discovered a way of getting it out of its well-nigh insoluble earth
combinations with silica. If it had not been for certain industrious sea
plants, man would probably never have been aware of the important
chemical twins, bromine and iodine, so important in photography.
These plants patiently filter them out of sea water where they exist in
microscopic quantities, and build them into their bodies. Beer is
possible because germinating grains transform amylum or plant
starch into sugar. We find ripe fruits palatable because their acids
change into sugar under the influence of sunlight.
Man seems to have outstripped the plants in the use of light, heat,
electricity, and other physical forces, but the plants have more
engineers among them than we imagine. In the fact that man has
just learned to extract nitrogen from the air by the agency of
electrical discharges, lies the probable explanation of how the plants
have been doing the same thing for years. It is believed that the
minute electrical discharges continually going on between the
different air strata make small quantities of nitrogen assimilable for
the plants. The micro-organisms which also furnish nitrogenous
material to the plants may get nitrogen from the air in the same way.
It is quite certain that the plants are affected by the chemical state of
the atmosphere.
Everyone knows what an important part light plays in plant
physiology, but the fact that certain plants produce their own lights,
while generally known, is not universally understood. The Austrian
naturalist, Heller, was the first to demonstrate that the glowing of
decayed wood at night is caused by emanations of light from Fungus
growing in the cavities. A similiar organism called Luminous
Peridineas (sometimes classed as an animal) is responsible for the
phosphorescence of the ocean and the night lights of many flowers.
About three hundred species of Bacteria and fifteen species of
Fungus are recognized to be luminous. The dead leaves of the
tropical Banibusa, Nephelium and Aglaia often glow at night with the
light of these tiny creatures. Ordinary dead Oak and Beech leaves
are luminous, sometimes shining in spots, but frequently glowing
throughout with a soft, white, steady light. These miniature
incandescent lights often shine for days, weeks and months, and
with abundant nutriment at hand, sometimes for years. The light is
slight in intensity, but uniformly steady and white, green or blue-
green in colour. It is strong enough to enable the plants on which the
Fungus grows to photograph themselves by long exposure to
sensitized plates. The fungus light has also been used to influence
the heliotropic movements of plant seedlings. In fact, a colony of
Fungus has sometimes been placed in an electric light bulb and
made thus to serve as an illuminant.
No matter from what angle we study the plants, we find that they
are extremely scientific. They conduct themselves and all their
activities in a way to always get the best results. They show
knowledge and acquaintance with all of Nature’s laws, and they have
learned to apply many of them with startling success.
MODERN NATURE WORSHIPPERS
CHAPTER X
Religion in the Plant World