CHAPTER XIV 



PLANT HORMONES 



The work of Professor Bottomley, of the Uni- 

 versity of London, has made it very probable that 

 vitamines play an important part in the plant, as 

 well as in the animal kingdom. He has even pre- 

 sented some very good evidence to show that the 

 vitamines found in the animal world can 'be traced 

 to vegetable sources; that though the animal needs 

 vitamine, yet it cannot synthesize it, but must rely 

 on this synthesis being accomplished by plant cells. 

 This work of Bottomley's has been amply confirmed 

 in many quarters. 



Similar problems present themselves when deal- 

 ing with hormones. In the first place, are there 

 plant hormones that are activators in the sense 

 that the animal hormones are? And is it possible 

 that the hormones in our body are synthesized in 

 the plant, rather than in the animal kingdom? 



The second question will be disposed of first. 

 We know that glands are factory centers of the 

 body. We know that the gland has the power of 

 taking various materials from the blood, and con- 



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