The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-01-22
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THE INTELLIGENT LEAF.
Supplies To the Plant Nearly All Its
Food and Never Makes a Mistake.

est at the museum of the Carnegie Insti-
lute are the models that Illustrate animal
and plant anatomy. Perhaps the plant is
the more 1teresting machine than the an
lmal, for the animal mas brain power 10
direct ii, while the plant grows and car
ries on its affairs without even the excuse
of the faint spark of intelligence that is
the heritage of the higher creation. But
there is more or less of a similarity be
tween plant and animal in spite of the
line that brains make. The plant goes
ahead in its own way. pursuing its plans
making no more mistakes than the HUI
man family make, and living a life about
as eNenttul The seeding that lifts its
mead above The ground begins a long strug-
gle for food, and ii would be interesting
TO ma a human being who could be rooted
10 one spot aud carry on successfully the
task of finding food.
In one of the big glass cases in the mod
81 room Is seen the leaf of a plant enlarg-
ed many times by the aid of the micro
scope by the model the leaf is seen TO
De a complex creation instead of a thin
ana simple bit of green wen. That which
appears SO thin as to have no use except
perhaps, shade for the straggler who
chances to rest beneath it, is equipped
with one of the most interesting sets of
the leaf is the feeder of the plant From
the air is taken the carbonic acid gas upon
Wmch the plant lives When the gases are
taken into the interior of the leaf and in
that insignificant space a chemical process
is accomplished whereby carbon and some
OF the attendant gases that the plant
thrlNes on are converted into a form of
starch which in turn is fed to the tree
and from which it builds its foliage.
branches. flowers. fruits and its wood
Inc IDEA prevails in some quarters that
the tree feeds from the ma terial that The
roots md in the ground. But that Is a
mistake. The plant feeds upon the car
bon dioxide and nitrogen and other gases
OF the atmosphere, and they find in the
earth a limited amount of ma terial. among
which are salts of potash lime. the phos-
phates, and other things which. while trif-
ing in quality, are essential to the growth
and thrift OF the plant. Probably as much
as 10 per cent. of all that the plant feeds
upon, and perhaps even more, is taken
from the air by the curious openings In the
lear. which are shown in a rude way by
the models in the museum. By the intri-
cate organs inside the leaf II is made into
the living material which Is the growing
plant, and which in the course of develop
ment, through being again food for those
who live upon vegetab BILE substances, be-
comes the material of which animal life
Is made.
The plant leaf Is the origin of all life.
except the crude formation which is not
yet highly enough organized ~ feed upon
plants. or which is a primitive form of
plant life in itself. The plant leaf provides
food for the vegetable kingdom; and the
animal world, directly or indirectly lives
upon the vegetable world. With Vegeta-
ton wiped off the earth, creation would
be followed by universal death. All of
the other machines which the models in
the museum stand for have their begin
ming in the plant leaf, which is the Inter-
esting fountain of existence.
We do not study the common things
about us as We should. The plant feeds
the animal, but the animal sustains the
plant. In another part of the museum is
a splendid model of a bee. The bee makes
honey, and provides the human family
with a wholesome and appetizing food.
Honey Is largely sugar and sugar is
chiefly carbon. But the carbon has passed
through a peculiar chemistry, and it pos
sesses the properties of taking on the life
of the human being and becoming a part
of the living flesh and blood. The bee
gathers the honey, from which we get
sugar as it is eaten. Plants also gather
sugar and offer it in a different form. But
the bee is a necessary visitor to the plants.
She comes with her remarkable honey
making machinery and as she steals the
sweets from the flowers she carries away
with her the pollen of the flower, which
fertilizes another flower, and fruit is the
result. without fruit to perpetuate the
growth of the plant the variety becomes
extinct Without the bee TO distribute the
nollen the plant dies out. The bee, in
stead of being a robber is a valued agent,
and no wonder the flower pays him I'D
erallv in honey for his unintentionai task.
The bee is not as intelligent as the plant,
for the bee will gather some denominations
money.
miami never makes mistake. The lear
that grows upon an apple tree never brings
Ia the plant the materials from which TO
make a peach seed. 1t always ABSTRACTS
from the air the right quantityEnd the
right quality of gases whereby TO make
on annie and the variety of apples which
should grow upon the tree. If 1t is sweet
annie the materials are taken with which
10 make sweet apples ana the proportions
of sugar and starch and acids are always
correctly mixed No man ever knew tree
10 shift the quality. Year after year we
can feel assured that the same col
ors the same favors, the same surface
colors the same shapes will be found on
the tree Plums are of the same family
as the peach, and while they have many
family relatives, they never mistake them
selves The Damson plum never bears Nj
oparas The leaf always takes on the
right quantities of food and performs its
operations in the proper manner. But the
bee will make honey sometimes from flow
ers that are so obnoxious as 10 make the
whole colony sick. More brainy animals
man the bee will do as badly. Sheep oft
on come home with their tongues swelled
M from eating the poison laurel Dogs
which are looked upon as the most intel
lioent among the lower animal creation,
eat poison until the dog poisoner has a
place among the pets Of the country. The
FOX. the widest of the beasts Of the for
10
way. is caught with a bit of poison as
easily as a string of suckers. But the
plant leaf cannot be so readily fooled. fet
il has no brains, and no intelligence. II
Is no wonder the plant leaf IN the museum
is an interesting sight.
Nature Is an economical mother In q
case not far from the plant leaf are a
number of hands Cat least let us call them
thaO coming from the various animals.
While one Is from man. and one from fish,
and one from a bat, and others from other
creatures. the skeletons which are shown
are SO much alike that IL Is hard 10 mag