CARBON. 



101 



ticularly described under the head of digestion, consists in the 

 decomposition of carbonic acid by the green tissues of the leaves, 

 under the stimulus of the light, the fixation of the solid carbon, 

 qaid the evolution of pure oxygen. 



282. Carbon is one of the principal ingredients in the vegetable structure. The 

 chief source from which plants obtain it is the atmosphere, which always contains 

 it in the form of carbonic acid, evolved by combustion, by the respiration of ani- 

 mals, from the earth, &c. 



o. ' Now if we place some fresh leaves in an inverted bell-glass, containing air 

 charged with 7 or 8 per cent, of carbonic acid, and expose them to the direct light 

 of the sun for a few hours, it will be found that a large proportion of tlie carbonic 

 acid will have disappeared, and will be replaced by pure oxygen.' But this 

 change will not be effected in the dark, or by any degree of artificial light. Ac- 

 cordingly we find that plants which grow in the dark become blanched from the 

 want of the proper supply of carbon, on which their green color depends. 



283. We have before stated that this fixation of carbon in the substance of the 

 plant, contravenes the process of respiration, in which carbon is given off. The 

 former occurs only in the light of day, the latter by night as well as by day. But 

 as to the relative amount of carbon thus absorbed by the former process, and 

 evolved by the latter, there can be no rejisonablc doubt; for when we consider 

 how large a portion of the tissues of every plant is solid carbon, and that too, 

 derived chiefly from the atmosphere, it is evident that much more carbonic acid 

 is, on the whole, consumed by vegetation than is evolved. In accordance with 

 this arc the results of the experiments of Dr. Daubeny, who has recently sho^vn, 

 that ' in fine weather, a plant, consisting chiefly of leaves and stems, if confined 

 in a capacious vessel, and duly supplied with carbonic acid during sunshine, as 

 fast as it removes it, will go on adding to the proportion of oxygen present, as long 

 as it continues healthy.' 



284. Thus are the tivo great kingdoms of nature rendered mutually subser- 

 vient, each to the well-being, and even the existence, of the other. Animal3 

 require an atmosphere comparatively jjure, although, by their respiration and 

 decay, they are continually adding to the proportion of its deleterious gases. 

 Plants, on the other hand, thrive by the decomposition of these gases and the res- 

 toration of pure oxygen to the air in their stead. It is impossible not to admire 

 this beautiful arrangement of Providence, by which, as in a thousand other cases, 

 the means and ends are rendered reciprocal, affording the highest proof of wis- 

 dom and design. 



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