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4 1887] Comparative Chemistry of Higher and Lower Plants. 807 
_ with which they change. He believes that we can trace to this 
_ cause the great number of organic forms, and for the first time 
unite the architecture of the cell to molecular physics. Only 
_ with age the cell-membrane becomes thick and offers a consider- 
_ able resistance. 
} It may be suggested that this fact is further exhibited when 
f applied to the conditions obtained when plants pass from their 
i -younger to older stages; again, it is seen on comparing the lower 
| Plastic protoplasmic plants with the rigidity and firmness of the 
} tissues of the higher plants, and in the change from the semi- 
] fluid to the formed and fixed states of chemical compounds. 
| The law of progression is one that regards the general good 
| l to the disregard of the individual; since in the death or fixation 
| and crystallization of individuals the vegetable kingdom, on the 
| Whole, has ascended to its highest present living form, and many 
| of its constituent chemical parts had long ago reached their 
_ Pinnacle in the cycle of evolution. This concerns equally the 
d changes in the vegetable-cell, and its complex molecule of pro- 
d teid is built from simple substances, which in turn break down 
a less complex bodies, and are again reconstructed into pro- 
_ teids, or as cellulose and other compounds remain as the compo- 
Pent parts of tissue in higher plants, thus serving the mechanical 
_ 4nd physiological needs of the organism. . 
i diet À € irom the practical application of plant products to. 
1 ea Pharmacy, and the industries, it is eminently for pur- 
_ Poses of scientific investigation that the field of plant chemistry 
ing. 
will be ~~ Suggested to me from botanical sources that time 
“nwisely expended over a detailed study of the chemical 
of oo in this, as in mineralogy, its use as a means 
tion will depend upon the convictions of the investi- 
Sor, although it seems to me that many of the vexed ques- 
ah Plant development can only be solved by a full compre- 
of vegetable chemistry. 
so... to be inferred that “botanists,” the knights of mor- 
logy and Systematic classification, will thereby be deprived, 
tag ists, from tilting over the floral tournament courts. 
i such pleasant pastimes of contest for disputed plant 
ups this vete 
cary, and willi 
VoL, XXL— yo, 
ran army of knights-errant may at least become 
ngly exchange the lance for the balance. 
e 
