Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1852-11-09
AutumnalJ Foliage.
F,om the springfe "a lMa.,.l Republieen.

d, ,From the Springfe ID (Mass.) Repubiiean.Jis
| The beautiful appearance of the autumnal fol-
iage, which this year seems almost TO surPass IN
geousnessthat Of any previous season, oiten induc
ces an inquiry as to the of the change which
few frosty nights make in the green livery Of our
trees and forests. The question IS purely chemi-
cal one, and one, moreover, about which there IS
no very general agreement OF opinion. II lac1'
there is no subject among natural phenomena more
difficulty to explain than this change IN the consli
| tuition or arrangement of matter, whereby parc-
ular body caused to reflect absorb light in such
way that it assumes at one time q wholly differ
ent color. These changes are very far from being
confined to any one species of matter. The tout
which, on sandy bottom, has a yellow, speckled
hue, becomes dark, brown, or blue beneath shad-
ed bank; the yellow of the weasel and the rabbit
maintained during the summer months, is already
changing to white; and it is susceptible of rigid de-
monstration that the blue Of the October sky is not
the same either in tint or quality, with that which
welcomed the bursting OF the leaf IN the months OF
April or May. sg''@ zfss - 49, - " =
The general superstition in regard to the change
of the leaves thus: When the tree OF plant is IN
full activity IFS foliage, it is well known, absorbs
carbonic acid and dsenguges oxygen. When,now,
through the influence of sufficiently low tenper-
allure, or from any other cause, the functions OF
vegetable life suspended, and the fluids cease
to circulate, the leaves no longer disengage oxy-
gen, but in common with oil dead bodies, absorb
this gas, which, forming an acid, changes the coors
of leaves either to yellow. red, or some interme-
date shade, depending on the quality of the mat
ter present in the leaves 1t has also been assert
ed that this acid can be neutralized by an akaii'
and the green restored. This is not. however the
case. leaf does not become green by any re- agent
but when it has become red, solution OF potash
will change II to green, because the red coloring
matter forms green compounds with that akali. =
Berzelius, the great Swedish chemist, spent con
siderable time in investigating this subject. He
| found that when the yellow leaves were treated
with alcohol, they yielded granular substance,
which had tendency to crystalization, and also
yellow, soft, fatty substance, which appeared lden-
tical with the grains. These contained the yellow
colorirg matter Of the leaves, which is described
as a yellow, fatty, unctous substance easily melt
ed, and on cooling becoming concrete and trans
parent. When moistened with water, and long
exposed to the air and light, it loses its color en-
tirely. Berzelius OF the opinion that the trans
formation OF the green coloring matter OF the leai
into yellow is effected by change in the organi-
| cation of the leaf produced by the frost. Every
effort to reproduce the yellow proved fruitless
neither could he succeed in changing the green
coloring matter to yellow. The red coloring mat
ter of the leaves has been also extracted, and is
believed to be the same with that OF red fruits
The brown color which leaves assume when COM
pletely withered has nothing in common with either
of the other coorS. 1t is produced by all extractve
/ principle, originally colorless but which, when
the epdernis layer of the leaf structure has
decayed Off is acted upon by the oxygen OF the air
and communicates to the ftrous skeleton OF the
leaf the well-known brown color. This color is
one of the most fixed and Interchangeable with which
we are acquainted, and cannot be impaired or de-
stroyed by the most powerful chemical agents.
| This we believe, embodes all that is at present
known, scientifically speaking, respecting the
change of the leaves. The different appearance
presented by different trees must be referred to
difference in their nature and the different changes
observed in different countries and locations UNI
doubleday owing to different climatic conditions.