142 FORMATION OF CHLOROPHYLL AND STARCH. 



being bruised and drank in a glass of wine. Indian agate refreshes 

 the sight by looking on it. Being held in the mouth, it quenches 

 thirst. It gives victory to him that wears it ; turns away storms, 

 and puts a stop to lightnings. 



Cretan agate renders the wearer of it gracious and eloquent. 

 Preserves and confirms strength, and produces good colour or 

 complexion." 



Thomas Nichols, author of The Lapidary, or The History of 

 Precious Stones, 1652, says: — " It is reported of the eagle that it 

 doth carry this gemme (agate) into her nest to secure her young 

 from the bitings of venomous creatures." 



Robert Lowell, 1661, says: — "Agates of one colour causeth 

 audacity. Being hung about the neck, it maketh prudent and 

 eloquent, and preserves from danger." 



Formation of Chlorophyll and Starch. — A very extended 

 series of observations on the mode of formation of starch grains 

 and chlorophyll bodies in plants has led M. E. Belzung to the 

 following general conclusions : — The first process which takes place 

 in the embryo is the formation of starch, the result of the activity 

 of the protoplasm of the young embryo. The substratum of the 

 future chlorophyll body — leucite or plastid — is always fully formed 

 by the time the seed arrives at maturity ; the protoplasm has 

 always a reticulate structure ; it is the protoplasm of the amylifer- 

 ous vacuoles which constitute the chromatophore or leucite. Those 

 starch-grains which are destined to constitute the reserve food 

 material in the ripe seed are an exception to the rule, and increase 

 as the embryo becomes green and the mass of green corpuscles 

 more abundant, the starch grains are resorbed ; they form a part 

 of the material for building up the green chlorophyll grains. In 

 adult green organs, especially leaves, the starch-grains, which are 

 formed in the light in the chlorophyll bodies, are the result of the 

 assimilating power of these latter, being one of the products of 

 the substance itself of the chlorophyll bodies, a kind of secretion 

 from the green substance. The resorption of the chlorophyll — 

 which in leaves takes place only at the period of the autumnal 

 fall — is, on fruits, effected almost entirely before they ripen. The 

 two essential phases in the life of a plant — the embryonal phase, 

 during which the green cell is built up at the expense of materials 

 which it has not elaborated ; and the adult phase, in which its 

 formative activity is manifested by new embryonal conditions — 

 constitute a remarkable example of organic reversibility. — Morot's 

 Journal de Botanique in the Pharni.Journ. 



