CHEMICAL AND MICROSCOPICAL INVESTIGATIONS. 
17 
Ascending and Descending Sap. 
Table to show the Increase of Alkaloids in the Bark. 
The following Table presents in a concise form the result of the flow of the ascending and of the 
descending sap on the production of alkaloids : — 
Quinine. 
Cinchoni- 
dine. 
Quinidine. 
Oinchonine. 
Cincho- 
nicine and 
Sol. Cine. 
Total 
per cent. 
Ascending Sap. 
Root-wood (Chahuarpata-tree) 
0-410 
# # 
0-050 
, , 
0-460 
Stem-wood (do.) 
0-043 
0-030 
0-041 
0-033 
0-024 
0-171 
Leaves ...... 
* 
% 
* 
. . . 
# 
0-170 
Twigs . . . ... 
* 
* 
* 
• 
0-450 
Descending Sap. 
“ Canute ” of large branches . 
Bark of (4-inch diam.) branch of Chahuar- 
3-140 
2-060 
• 
0-800 
• 
6-000 
pata-tree 
2-940 
1-350 
, , 
0-860 
0-0250 
5-175 
Trunk (bark) : — (a) liber or inner bark* . 
2-380 
1-200 
0-560 
0-130 
4-270 
(5) cellular envelope .... 
6-400 
1-900 
. 
0-760 
0-200 
9-260 
(e) first harvest of renewed bark 
f 3-750 \ 
[0-900 ?j 
% 
. 
* 
1-80 
6-450 
( d ) second harvest of renewed bark 
6-340 
1-140 
. , 
* 
0-20 
10-60? 
{e) third harvest of renewed bark 
(4*610 ) 
(2-000?) 
1-140 
• 
• 
0-053 
11-20? 
Root-bark, from Mr. Broughton’s Report . 
2-150 
1 
3-850 
. . 
6-000 
Root-bark, Author’s analysis . 
(1-031 1 
(4*050?) 
trace 
trace 
3-000 
3-940? 
12-750? 
Do. De Vrij’s analysis . 
4-031? 
trace 
• 
7-440? 
11-750 
It will be seen that the twigs and the root-wood agree in their alkaloidal contents, and also the stem-wood 
and the leaves. The Quinine has diminished, and the Cinchonine increased as the sap draws towards the root. 
The Chahuarpata Red-bark-tree is the one previously described from Alausi. 
Influence of Respiration. 
The respiration of plants did not escape the acute observation and profound research of Nehemiah Grew, 
who says, in his epistle dedicatory to Charles II., that “ even a plant lives partly upon aer, for the reception 
whereof it hath those parts which are answerable to lungs.” The idea thus felicitously conceived has since 
been brought, by the researches of many observers, within the domain of actual science. In fact, the access 
of air to the internal portions of the plant, or in other words, its respiration, is so important to its welfare 
that it is found to be provided for in three distinct methods : — First, by the roots absorbing air, together 
with water, from the soil.f This has been compared by Bouchardat]; to the functions of the branchiae or 
gills in fishes, and is so needful that plants often perish from this supply being interfered with, as when, 
for example, a depth of earth is heaped over the roots of a tree. Secondly, by the curiously contrived 
stomata which constitute true respiratory organs of the leaves, analogous to the lungs in plants. Thirdly, by 
the vessels, reticulated or otherwise, which, having served the purpose of the conveyance of sap in the first 
spring of circulation, become gradually filled with air, and form channels of respiration, subjecting the fluids 
* See p. 23, and also tlie Appendix. The (?) indicates a deduction of uncertain amount to be made for water, etc. The 
weight of acid, etc., is elsewhere in this table deducted. 
f The experiments of Th. de Saussure prove that plants perish in a few days, if their roots are surrounded with hydrogen, 
with azote, or especially with carbonic acid, whilst they continue to live a long time if surrounded by common air. This botanist 
has also shown that oxygen, absorbed by the roots, forms carbonic acid in the interior of the vegetable, and at the expense of the 
latter ; also, that if a root isolated from the stem is placed under experiment, the quantity of oxygen absorbed by it from the air 
does not exceed the volume of this organ ; whilst, if a root attached to the plant is under examination, the absorption of gas 
becomes much more considerable .” — Duchartre , ‘ Elements de JBotanique / p. 234. 
J f Becherches sur la Vegetation/ Paris, 1846, p. 153. 
