PHOTOSYNTHESIS 



increase its natural efficiency. As everybody knows, different plants 

 grow in different locations. The efficiency of the chloroplasts or of the 

 photochemical mechanism proper may be equal in all plants, yet 

 some plants may not have attained the optimum in utilizing their 

 own photosynthetic products. Here the knowledge of internal factors 

 influencing photosynthesis will show which plants to breed. Investi- 

 gations on the photosynthetic behavior responsible for the over-all 

 efficiency of plants in producing the coundess substances we need will 

 increase in practical importance. Much has been done and will be 

 done empirically by the gardener, agriculturist, and forester, but the 

 shortest way to success lies in systematic investigations of the correlation 

 between growth or fruition of plants and the rate of photosynthesis. 

 Such work is in progress, for instance, at the California Institute of 

 Technology (22). The intimate connection with studies concerning 

 such factors as soil, climate, and inheritance are obvious. 



In contrast, it appears doubtful at this moment whether the 

 analysis of the nature of the photosynthetic process can produce imme- 

 diate practical results surpassing those obtainable by the kind of studies 

 mentioned above. True, pure reseaixh remains the only source of 

 sudden technical advances. At the present time, however, the ques- 

 tion as to the nature of photosynthesis is a problem of science and not 

 of so-called "applied science," that is, technology. The reward in 

 joining the few who insist upon spending their time in tackling this 

 problem will be only the pleasure of knowing a little more and seeing 

 a little farther than those who worked on the same problem twenty 

 years ago. 



Partial Reactions in Photosynthesis 



" The enormous amount of research upon the process of 

 photosynthesis during the past half century has thrown 

 little or no additional light upon the subject. The 

 problem is evidently too complex for any specialists in any 

 one field of scierue to solve. ..." 



E. C. MILLER, Plant Physiology, 2nd ed., 1938 



During the past decade a new laboratory technique — that of 

 enzyme chemistry — has been developed and is at present taught to 

 every student in cell physiology. The isolation of an enzyme is an 

 advance that requires no mental effort to appreciate. Equally obvious 

 are the advantages of using traceable isotopes for elucidating the course 



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