CHLOKOPHYLL- CORPUSCLES AND AMYLOID DEPOSITS. 233 



If we find in an organism physiological processes assor 

 ciated with the presence of a green pigment, which processes 

 are identical with those associated with the presence of the 

 green pigment occurring in the chlorophyll bodies of plants, 

 we have so hr a certain amount of evidence in favour of the 

 identity of the green pigment in the two cases. And, 

 again, if we find that the green pigment in an organism 

 occurs in corpuscles which are morj)hologicalIy similar to 

 the chlorophyll bodies of plants, we have so fiir evidence in 

 favour of the identity of the green pigment in the two cases. 



This evidence, both as regards the physiological and the 

 morphological phenomena, will acquire weight in proportion 

 as those phenomena are elaborate or of a peculiar nature. 



It has long been known that whatever may be the part 

 actually taken by the green pigment of the chlorophyll 

 bodies of plants in the process, the presence of this green 

 pigment is constantly associated with the decomposition of 

 CO., by the green parts of plants in sunlight, accompanied 

 by the liberation of oxygen gas, and frequently with the 

 formation in the green-coloured chlorophyll-corpuscles of 

 starch. And conversely, it is true that these chemical pro- 

 cesses are not known to occur except in the presence of the 

 peculiar complex of coloured substances which give to the 

 chlorophyll bodies their green colour. The recent discus- 

 sion by Pringsheim of the actual part played by the green 

 pigment in this physiological phenomenon is reported on at 

 some length in another part of this Journal. It is sufficient 

 for our present purpose that the process is constantly and 

 exclusively associated with the presence of the green- 

 coloured chlorophyll bodies. If this very remarkable and 

 peculiar physiological process can be shown to occur in the 

 green-coloured parts of other organisms, we have ground 

 for supposing the green-coloured parts to be of the same 

 nature as the chlorophyll bodies of plants. This line of 

 evidence we may therefore add to the four already estab- 

 lished by Sorby, and distinguish it as the p/iystoloffical 

 ecidetice. 



Similarly, the so-called chlorophyll of the chlorophyll 

 bodies of green plants has been shown to occur very usually 

 as a pigment impregnating certain definitely shaped cor- 

 puscles which are lodged in and form part of the proto- 

 plasm of the vegetable cell. With exceptions amongst the 

 lower Algae, these corpuscles are spherical bodies, which are 

 distinguished from the protoplasm in which they lie by 

 their differing density. They appear to consist of albu- 

 minoids and are not diminished in bulk when the green 



