THE SUGAR PRUNE 149 



Within the cellular structure of this fruit a 

 combination and metamorphosis of chemical 

 products is brought about that the most skillful 

 of human chemists is unable to duplicate. Every 

 chlorophyll-bearing plant, to be sure, possesses 

 in greater or less measure the capacity to manu- 

 facture sugar and starch and to transform these 

 substances in either direction. But the fact that 

 this attribute is characteristic of plants in general 

 does not make it the less mysterious for the 

 thoughtful observer. 



The chemist is able to analyze starch, and he 

 tells us that it is a compound each molecule of 

 which contains six atoms of carbon, ten atoms of 

 hydrogen, and five of oxygen. 



But, while he makes his analysis and determines 

 the proportions of the component elements, he is 

 careful to assure us that these elements are doubt- 

 less associated in very complex combinations of 

 which his analysis gives him only a vague inkling. 



If we glance at the formula by which the 

 chemist represents a molecule of starch C a H 10 

 O the thought at once suggests itself that this 

 seems to be a union of six atoms of carbon with 

 five molecules of water ; for of course we are all 

 familiar with the formula H 2 O as representing 

 water, however little we may know of the other 

 niceties of chemistry. 



