AUTUMNAL FOLIAGE 



chemical changes. They die that the tree may 

 Hve, and their swan song appeals to the eye, 

 not to the ear. 



II. THE COLOR CHANGE 



It is interesting to know just what investi- 

 gators say about the color changes of autumn 

 leaves, and the following from an article, en- 

 titled "Autumnal Changes in Leaves," by 

 Justus W. Folsom, published in Garden and 

 Forest, vol. VIII, is most illuminating. 



"A green leaf or an alcoholic extract of one 

 viewed through the spectroscope, shows a band 

 of light or spectrum which is very characteristic; 

 its dark intervals or absorption bands resembling 

 those of no other substance. If now we mix 

 benzine with our green solution of chlorophyll, 

 which we have obtained by soaking say Elm 

 leaves in alcohol, the liquid separates into two 

 layers, the upper bluish green benzine, and the 

 lower of yellow alcohol. These two solutions 

 give different spectra, proving them to be differ- 



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