Chlorophyl. 177 



substances, in the practice of photography. As has been mentioned 

 elsewhere, the peculiar function of chlorophyl is to extract the carbon 

 from the carbonic acid of the air, retaining a portion for its own growth 

 and renewal, and forming the rest into starch which is composed of 

 carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, but is destitute of nitrogen. Starch is 

 to be regarded as the surplus store of carbon, above the immediate 

 needs of the chlorophyl organism, and is something akin to surplus fat 



Colorless Blood Corpuscles of Young Stag increasing by 

 self-divison. 



a Original cells with kernel or nucleus. 



The kernel first separates into two pieces and after- 

 wards the protoplasm divides into two, each one taking 

 one of the kernels with it, &, c, d, e being progressive 

 stages in the process. (After Frey.) 



/Division complete. 



The Colorless Corpuscles are formed in the colorless 

 blood or lymph, and carried thence into the red blood, 

 where their cell walls are broken up and their nuclei 

 liberated to become the red corpuscles of the blood. 



FIG. 91. 



in an animal body. Exposed to the action of the juices of the plants, 

 this starch is subjected to fermentation, converted into sugar and 

 carried into the various tissues. Letourneau (Biology, p. 97) draws a 

 parallel between the chlorophyl organisms and the hsematoglobuline, or 

 red globules, of the blood. These red globules are the active zoospores 

 of the blood. They incessantly imbibe oxygen from the air, and con- 

 stantly give it up to the other tissues of the body, receiving in exchange 



FIG. 92. 



Eigl\t Colorless Blood Corpuscles of the Naked Sea Snail Thetis much magnified 

 (Hsec/cel). They move, absorb matter, both fluid and solid; eat in fact just like 

 Amrebae. 



carbonic acid which is readily given up to the air in exchange for pure 

 oxygen. 



There is, indeed, a parallel between the chlorophyl zoospore and the 

 red blood corpuscle, but it appears to me to be an inverted parallel, 

 since the one is constantly undoing what the other does. The chloro- 

 phyl body conveys the carbon from the air to the cell of the plant and 

 leaves it there. The red corpuscle loads up with oxygen from the air 



