38 THE CHLOROPHYLL-BODY. 



These quotations -will serve to illustrate the confusion which existed 

 foi-merly, and which even now exists iu many minds as to the relation 

 which the two bodies bear to each other. 



In the paper to which I have aUuded, I endeavoured to show, 

 contrary to the then received view, that starch granules and chlorophyll 

 bodies were really the same bodies, chloropliyll granules being merely 

 and essentially starch granules pigmented, or coloured, on some part or 

 parts of their surface, of a green colour, by the action of light ; that it 

 was a chemical product rather than a vital secretion, or not in a fuller 

 sense than starch was ; and that, if the starch granule were not a living 

 entity, as is the protoplasm, whence and by which it is produced, neither 

 was the so-called chlorophyll granide, inasmuch as the colour could be 

 produced by light irillioiit i/roirtli, or without any indication whatever of 

 vital action. As proof of this I exhibited then, as [ have over and over 

 again subsequently, potato tubers in which cldorisation or pigmentation 

 had occuiTod, or a coating of green given to the surface of the peripheral 

 starch granules, wherever expos.d to liglit, and a certain temperature. 

 This light need not be the sun's direct rays, but it must be accompanied 

 with a certain temperature in order that the chemical process shall take 

 place. This may be easily proved. Clean 2)otato tubers may be placed 

 on a table, and be exposed to the direct rays of the sun, in a room the 

 temperature of which does not exceed 10° to 45" Fall., and, if examined 

 in a week or more, it will be found that no chemical, or no appreciable 

 chemical change has taken place, and no 2)igmentation or chlorisation 

 liTis been effected. Repeat this experiment in a room with a temperature 

 of 62° Fab., and in a week the surface exposed to light will have been 

 densely chlorized, and without direct sun-light. Extend the exposure 

 during a few more days, and the effect will be more intense. If, now, a 

 small portion of the substance of this green peripheral matter be scraped 

 off and mounted in water and examined by the mici'oscope, it will be seen 

 that in the short space of a few days the starch granules will have been 

 converted into what are termed chlorophyll bodies or granules; but in 

 reality showing, inferentially, that there is no such substance at aU as 

 ii chlorophyll-granule as distinct from the starch grain. It maybe added 

 that, if ex|)osed to light and a proper temperature, granules of starch 

 are pigmented or chloriijed more or less, so soon as they are secreted, or 

 take on substance, as seen in leaves and other organs primarily exposed 

 to light. Hence, uncoloured starches are known to inhabit the parts of 

 plants excluded frtmi light, as pith, rhizomes, subterranean stems, and 

 fruits protected by bracts impenetrable to light. 



I quote one short passage from the article alluded to, and must further 

 refer the reader to the report itself.* " During several years of close 

 examination of vegetable tissue, the author has found the attempt to 

 divide these two substances (starcli and chlorophyll) into two distinct 

 bodies a source of perplexity ; and, after a series of experiments and 

 investigations, he arrived at the conclusion that these two series of 

 granules must be considered fundamentally the same, one series being 

 merely coloured or chlorized." 



I shall now quote one or two short jiassages from the latest German 

 authorities, to show views more or less approximative to those expressed 

 by mo in IHCS, and that the tendencies of the most recent scientilic 

 opinion are certainly in this direction. 



Sachsf states that " with extremely few exceptions, grains of starch* 



* R'port of British Aflsociation, 186G, page 81, 

 + Julius Siiclis, 1875 translation, ))iige 4C. 

 ; The italifs are iny own. 



