LIFE AND LIVING BEINGS 9 



same elements as the mineral world, and the organic com- 

 binations of these elements may be realized in our laboratories, 

 just as in the laboratory of the living organism. 



Not only so, but a living being only borrows for a short 

 time those mineral elements which, after having passed through 

 the living organism, are returned once again to the mineral 

 kingdom from which they came. 



All matter has life in itself — or, at any rate, all matter 

 susceptible of incorporation in a living cell. This life is 

 potential while the element is in the mineral state, and actual 

 while the element is passing through a living organism. 



Mineral matter is changed into organic matter in its passage 

 through a vegetable organism. The carbonic acid produced by 

 combustion and respiration is absorbed by the chlorophyll of 

 the leaves under the stimulus of light — the oxygen of the 

 carbonic acid being returned to the air, while the carbon is 

 utilized by the plant for the formation of sugar, starch, 

 cellulose, and fats. 



Thus plants are fed in great part by their leaves, taking 

 an important part of their nourishment from the air, while 

 by their roots they draw from the earth the water, the 

 phosphates, the mineral salts, and the nitrates required for 

 the formation of their albuminoid constituents. A vegetable 

 is a laboratory in which is carried out the process of organic 

 synthesis by which mineral materials are changed into organic 

 matter. The first synthetic reaction is the formation of a 

 molecule of formic aldehyde, CH 2 0, by the combination of a 

 molecule of water with an atom of carbon. 



From this formic aldehyde, or formol, we may obtain all 

 the various carbohydrates by simple polymerization, i.e. by: 

 the association of several molecules, with or without elimi- 

 nation of water. Thus two molecules of formol form one 

 molecule of acetic acid, 2CH 2 = C 2 H 4 2 . Three molecules 

 of formol form a molecule of lactic acid, 3CH 2 = C..H (i O,. 

 Six molecules of formol represent glucose and levulose, 

 6CH 2 = C 6 H 12 6 . Twelve molecules of formol minus one 

 molecule of water form saccharose, lactose, cane sugar, and 

 sugar of milk, iaCH 2 = C 12 H 22 11 + II 2 ; n times six mole- 



