ii2 PLANT AND ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 



are more especially the compounds of the middle plane of 

 plant development, and are found in the higher monocotyle- 

 dons of this stage, in the lower and some of the higher dicoty- 

 ledons, and less frequently in the highest of all plants." Her 

 work in tracing the process of development of glucosides was 

 of the highest possible character, as well as of scientific in- 

 terest. 



She discovered, among other things, that saponin is a gluco- 

 side which serves to unite all of what are known as the " saponin 

 groups," and these facts were brought out most strikingly 

 in her paper on "The Chemical Basis of Plant Forms." 

 Even in the constituents of plants which are almost universal, 

 it is found that they grow in greater or less quantities accord- 

 ing to the evolutionary stage of the plant. For instance, she 

 pointed out, I believe, the first of all chemists, that although 

 alkaloids are very widely distributed, they are not found in 

 the very lowest nor the very highest forms of life. They do, 

 however, occur sometimes in fungi. 



She again pointed out the fact that one class of bodies was 

 very apt to occur with another and to lead up in the develop- 

 ment of one species of plants to another. Thus, the tannins 

 and sugars are apt to be co-related, and coumarin, which is 

 the odorous principle of the tonka-bean, is found only in plants 

 containing oils. In her work in this direction Miss Abbott 

 bound together more intimately than ever before the corre- 

 lated sciences of chemistry and botany. In fact, as we view 

 her work, we are forced to the conclusion that botany, even 

 in its morphological aspects, is more nearly a chemical sci- 

 ence than has ever been supposed. For instance, if we con- 

 sider, as we must in such investigations, the physiology of plant 

 growth or what is known as economic botany, we find it im- 

 possible to separate the two sciences. No one can study plant 

 physiology except from the chemical standpoint, and econo- 

 mic botany involves the application of the principles of chem- 

 ical technology at almost every step. 



The good of such investigations is apparent. It helps to 

 bring together branches of science which sometimes, with- 

 out such a bond, would tend to become antagonistic. 



