Plants and the Atmosphere 



responsible for the purity of the air ? It is 

 the plant which, by feeding on carbonic gas, 

 prevents us from perishing, and with it 

 prepares the bread by which we live. This 

 fatal gas, which is produced by all decaying 

 matter, is the special food of the plant. 

 The blade of grass develops its life from the 

 spoils of death. 



The leaf is riddled by an infinite number of 

 very small holes, encircled by two lips that 

 give them the appearance of a half-open 

 mouth. These are called stomata. More 

 than a million of them may be counted on 

 one leaf of the lime, for they are so small that 

 they cannot be seen without a microscope. 

 It is by means of these openings that the 

 plant inhales, not the pure air that we inhale, 

 but the poisonous gas which is fatal to the 

 animal but wholesome for itself. By its 

 millions of stomata it breathes in the carbonic 

 acid gas contained in the atmosphere : it 

 draws it into the substance of its leaves, and 

 there, in the sunlight, a wonderful process 

 is effected. Stimulated by the light, the 

 leaves analyse the fatal gas and strip it of its 

 carbon. They restore the consumed carbon, 

 they undo the work of combustion and 

 separate the carbon from the air with which 



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