6 Prof. H. Rose on the Inorganic Constituents 



metals of the basic oxides contained in the ash. Hence in 

 proportion as the deoxidizing process proceeds in the living 

 plant, the phosphates which are absorbed from the soil by the 

 roots become converted into non-oxidized compounds, consist- 

 ing of compound radicals containing phosphorus and the me- 

 tals of the alkalies and earth. These must exist in the largest 

 quantity in those parts of the plants which are composed of 

 substances exposed for the greatest length of time to the de- 

 oxidizing process ; and these are evidently the seeds of the 

 plants, which are formed latest, and upon the production of 

 which the life of many plants entirely ceases. 



Thus the phosphates are decomposed in plants by the de- 

 oxidizing process in the same manner as the sulphates are 

 converted into sulphurets by deoxidation. Probably the 

 more appropriate explanation is, that when substances con- 

 taining nitrogen and carbon are present, sulphocyanurets, or 

 compounds of a radical consisting of three elements, sulphur, 

 carbon and nitrogen, may be formed from the sulphates by a 

 deoxidizing process. 



If we admit the occurrence of these compounds of hypo- 

 thetical radicals with metals in the seeds of plants, the next 

 point, after the determination of their properties, would be the 

 investigation of their relation to the great mass of the organic 

 matter in those parts of the plants in which they exist. But 

 as even the existence of these compounds is problematical, it 

 would be useless to form further hypotheses on this point 

 before making ourselves somewhat more intimately acquainted 

 with these compounds themselves. 



The so-called proteine compounds appear to be formed 

 principally in plants by the process of deoxidation ; and it is 

 precisely these substances which appear to combine with the 

 radicals containing phosphorus, in combination with metals. 



Another question must be proposed here, although it cannot 

 be satisfactorily answered. Supposing that these compounds 

 really exist in certain parts of plants, what changes do they 

 undergo when the plant is carbonized with exclusion of air; 

 when consequently all the organic matter is destroyed, and the 

 connexion in which they probably stood to these compounds is 

 dissolved ? So long as we have no certain knowledge of the 

 existence of these compounds, we cannot judge with certainty 

 of the changes which they experience at an elevated tempera- 

 ture. It is however possible, at least not improbable, that 

 they may be acted upon at an elevated but not too high a 

 temperature in the same manner as the cyanurets, when 

 they are transformed by heat into paracyanurets. Be 

 this as it may, the experiments show that these compounds 



