CHAPTER V 



CHLOROPHYLL AND OURSELVES 



Everybody today has heard of chlorophyll. Forced on the 

 attention of the general pubUc, it has become the fashion and 

 has just made a sensational entry into commerce, being 

 widely advertised as a constituent of a number of products. 



The Utilization of Chlorophyll 



Two of its derivatives are used more than chlorophyll 

 itself. Among the characteristic constituents of its molecule 

 are the atom of magnesium and two acid radicals esterified 

 by two alcohols — phytol and methyl alcohol. If the mag- 

 nesium is replaced by copper, a much greener product than 

 chlorophyll is obtained, and if the two alcohols are replaced 

 by an alkali metal the product becomes soluble in water; 

 these substances are cuprichlorophyll and cuprichlorophyUine 

 of sodium or potassium, which take the place of authentic 

 chlorophyll whose colour is too dull and unstable. 



Soluble in oil, cuprichlorophyll is used to colour soaps a 

 uniform and attractive green which is relatively stable in the 

 Hght; its advantage is that it does not stain fabrics. 



CuprichlorophyUine of sodium is much more widely 

 used. Its most distinctive property is its excellent healing 

 power. Our ancestors used leaves as plasters to cover wounds. 

 In 1916, the Swiss doctor, Burgi, struck by the identity of 

 the tetrapyrrohc nucleus of chlorophyll with that of haemo- 

 globin, demonstrated its therapeutic value in certain cases of 

 anaemia but more especially its healing action. This action, 

 which seems to stimulate metaboHsm, is unsurpassed by any 

 of the remedies hitherto employed in the treatment of wounds. 



Chlorophyll has been found to have an excellent action 

 N 209 



