254 PLANT AND ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 



discussed. Saponin likewise acts as a solvent upon barium l 

 sulphate and calcium 2 oxalate, and as a solvent of insoluble 

 or slightly soluble salts would assist the plant in obtaining 

 food otherwise difficult of access. 



Saponin is found in endogens and exogens. The line di- 

 viding these two groups is not always clearly denned. State- 

 ments pointing to this are found in the works of Heckel, 

 Bentham, and others. 



Smilax belongs to a transition class, partaking somewhat of 

 the nature of endogen and of exogen. It is worthy of note 

 that this intermediate group of the sarsaparillas should con- 

 tain saponin. 



It is a significant fact that all the groups above named con- 

 taining saponin belong to Heckel's middle division. 



It may be suggested that saponin is thus a constructive ele- 

 ment in developing the plant from the multiplicity of floral 

 elements to the cephalization of those organs. 



It has been observed that the composite occurs where the 

 materials for growth are supplied in greatest abundance, and 

 the more simple forms arise where sources of nutrition are re- 

 mote. We may gather from this fact that the simpler organs 

 of plants low in the evolutionary scale contain simpler non- 

 nitrogenous chemical compounds for their nutrition. 



The presence of saponin seems essential to the life of the 

 plant where it is found, and it is an indispensable principle in 

 the progression of certain lines of plants, passing from their 

 lower to their higher stages. 



Saponin is invariably absent where the floral elements are 

 simple; it is invariably absent where the floral elements are 

 condensed to their greatest extent. Its position is plainly that 

 of a factor in the great middle realm of vegetable life, where 

 the elements of the individual are striving to condense, and thus 

 increase their physiological action and the economy of parts. 



It may be suggested as a line of research to study what are 

 the conditions which control the synthesis and gradual forma- 



1 Bui. de la Soc. Chim. 



2 "Yucca Angustifolia," Trans. Am. Philos. Soc., December, 1885. See 

 p. 126. 



