Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1914-10-02
MAN AND HIS FOOD.

Inc united states department OF
agriculture recently issued a report
showing that climate is the principal
factor in determining the varying
characteristics of wheat grown in diff
ferent regions. The bureau of chem
istry had previously called attention
to the fact that environment had more
influence upon the crop than had the
composition of the seed. And now
these new tests show that in environ
ment climate plays a more important
part than soil
The source of all life-the sun-con-
tains within it practically everything
of which this earth is composed, and
it is on the products Of sunlight, there
fore, that we have to depend for the
source of all human energy. Con-
versely 1t is logical, then, to look for
any absence of human energy or har-
mony in some lack Of this universal
driving power.
Passing sunlight through a prism
splits it into bands of color which We
know as the spectrum. The spectrum
is made up Of six prominent hues,
supplemented by a multitude Of sub
ordinate ones, the total number which
the eye can recognize as distinct being
not less than 1000, each one Of which
corresponds to definite wave length
Of light and each probably producing
some definite physical reactions on
| similar orhstanoos
At the red end of the spectrum we
find the long waves and at the violet
end we find the short waves, and we
have demonstrated that 1t Is the short
rays at the violet end that act on the
delicate silver salts, while vegetation
responds most to the yellow and red
sections. The red end Is known as
the heat, or thermic, rays, and the
violet end as the chemical, or actinic,
rays.
The green color of the plant, chlor-
ophyl, bears some direct relation to
the plants ability to absorb the wave
length needed to break up the car
bonic acid Of the air and convert it
into sugar, starch and gums. Excluded
from light, plants lose their color by
reason of the fact that this chlorophyl
becomes submerged into the proto-
plasm from which 1t came and from
which it is again developed by exposure
to light and heat. This seems to in
dictate that vegetation normally grow
ing under sunlight might reasonably
be expected to show Variations if de-
prived of any part of the light, and
Flammarion and others have demon
strated this to be fact.
Lettuce grown under similar condi-r
tons of soil, position and humidity
showed considerable difference in the
matter of growth under different col
glass developed four times as quickly
as that grown under ordinary sun
light, shooting up like bean stalks.
Under green glass the result was not
so striking, yet the lettuce was taller
than that produced in sunlight, while
that grown under the blue light was
very insignificant. Other plants sub
jected to this process gave various re-
suits. Indian corn under white glass;
measured 25 inches, under red glass,
IS inches, under green glass, eight
inches and under blue glass, six inches
!, Beans flourished under white and red
glass, but persisted under green and
= blue glass.
All nitrogen compounds are noted
for their instability, some exploding on
> exposure to light or on very slight
shake. Nitrogen is the basis of all
modern explosives and the foundation
of photography. Nitrogen is the basis
Of protoplasm; hence, we might ex-
pect protoplasm to be seriously dis
, turbed and modified by vibrations
which cause it to move at rate faster
than that to which it is adjusted; and
: this is precisely what happens when
single cells are exposed to the action
T of the short rays, and this is why vio-
l let light, radium emanations and the
s tx" rays are fatal to bacteria. The
, protoplasm Of our nerve cells is SO
> very complex and unstable that it will
, not function except at the rate of
r vibration between SO and 100 degrees
: Fahrenheit, though a temperature of
r 1O5 degrees may require some days
I to break up the molecule. This Is
why fevers are SO dangerous to us.
: Animal life is possible only between
q the red and violet range of the spec
a trum because the tissues are developed
e and tuned" in this scale and exist be-
: cause they are links in the universal
l. chain. Just as plants excluded from
Q light lose their color, so man deprived
l. of free access to color in food and
Q surroundings will develop the well
S known Tprison pallor"
J. There is no room for chance in
n nature and all that is needed is care
fully to unravel the correspondence
k which must exist between all depart
f ments Of the universe in order to ex
d pose the source of our physical ills
), and make it very clear that natures
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