Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Scientific Memoirs, Selected From the Transactions of Foreign Academies of Science, and From Foreign Journals, 1853: Natural History
Where is the crude nutrient sap elaborated? How does it arrive there P By what path is it carried back to the other parts of the plant to furnish the material for development? In what anatomical and physiological relation do the air-vessels stand to the system in which the saps circulate? Injections cannot be applied in the endeavour to trace the paths by which fluids penetrate the vegetable tissues, on account of the minute size of the vessels, nor, indeed, without destruc tion of the substance. But the Spontaneous absorption of easily detected fluids accomplishes in plants what is done by injection in human anatomy. Coloured fluids, however, are rarely taken up by uninjured roots; I have therefore made use of a very dilute solution of ferrocyanide of potassium, which may be readily detected in any spot to which it has penetrated, by the blue colour it assumes when chloride of iron is applied. And as the Prussian blue thus formed is insoluble in aqueous fluids, a little care in slicing and preparing the objects enables us to avoid the spreading of the colour to unaffected parts, which would deceive the observer as to the boundaries within which the natural mo tion of the sap takes place. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
