112 PLANT AND ORGANIC CHEMISTRY 
are more especially the compounds of the middle plane of 
plant development, and are found in the higher monocotyle¬ 
dons of this stage, in the lower and some of the higher dicoty¬ 
ledons, and less frequently in the highest of all plants.” Her 
work in tracing the process of development of glucosides was 
of the highest possible character, as well as of scientific in¬ 
terest. 
She discovered, among other things, that saponin is a gluco- 
side which serves to unite all of what are known as the “ saponin 
groups,” and these facts were brought out most strikingly 
in her paper on “The Chemical Basis of Plant Forms.” 
Even in the constituents of plants which are almost universal, 
it is found that they grow in greater or less quantities accord¬ 
ing to the evolutionary stage of the plant. For instance, she 
pointed out, I believe, the first of all chemists, that although 
alkaloids are very widely distributed, they are not found in 
the very lowest nor the very highest forms of life. They do, 
however, occur sometimes in fungi. 
She again pointed out the fact that one class of bodies was 
very apt to occur with another and to lead up in the develop¬ 
ment of one species of plants to another. Thus, the tannins 
and sugars are apt to be co-related, and coumarin, which is 
the odorous principle of the tonka-bean, is found only in plants 
containing oils. In her work in this direction Miss Abbott 
bound together more intimately than ever before the corre¬ 
lated sciences of chemistry and botany. In fact, as we view 
her work, we are forced to the conclusion that botany, even 
in its morphological aspects, is more nearly a chemical sci¬ 
ence than has ever been supposed. For instance, if we con¬ 
sider, as we must in such investigations, the physiology of plant 
growth or what is known as economic botany, we find it im¬ 
possible to separate the two sciences. No one can study plant 
physiology except from the chemical standpoint, and econo¬ 
mic botany involves the application of the principles of chem¬ 
ical technology at almost every step. 
The good of such investigations is apparent. It helps to 
bring together branches of science which sometimes, with¬ 
out such a bond, would tend to become antagonistic. 
