THE FLOWER AND THE BEE 



by a pigment called chlorophyll, or leaf -green. If a few leaves 

 of grass, or of any common plant, be placed in alcohol the 

 chlorophyll will dissolve out, forming a yellowish-green solution, 

 and the leaves will be left entirely white. Chemical examina- 

 tion shows that there are two kinds of chlorophyll in the solu- 

 tion, a blue-green, which is abundant, and a yellow-green pig- 

 ment which is less common. Place this solution in bright 

 sunhght and the green color will soon be destroyed. Green 

 seaweeds, when left on the beach by the waves, soon turn 

 yellowish owing to the destruction of the chlorophyll. In liv- 

 ing leaves and green flowers under the action of bright light the 

 green pigment is constantly being destroyed and renewed, so 

 that no two leaves are identical in hue, and no leaf long remains 

 the same shade. Four hundred years ago a German poet, 

 Freidank, observed this fact. 



"Many hundred flowers 

 Alike none ever grew; 

 Mark it well, no leaf of green 

 Is just another's hue." 



Leaf -green, or chlorophyll, is not only the most common, but 

 it is also the most useful of all pigments, for all life depends 

 upon it for existence. Leaves containing this pigment are 

 able to make use of the energy of the sunbeam, and to manu- 

 facture out of water and the carbonic dioxid in the air, starch, 

 one of the principal plant-foods. That is, out of mineral sub- 

 stances they build up an organic substance. As all animals 

 are dependent either directly or indirectly on vegetation for 

 support, the destruction of chlorophyU would mean the dis- 

 appearance of life from the earth. AU living beings are de- 

 pendent upon chlorophyll and the radiant energy of the sun. 

 "In this sense," says Tyndall, "we are all souls of fire and 



226 



