SAUSSURE, (NICHOLAS THEODORE DE). - FOUNDING PLANT NUTRITION AND PLANT PHYSIOLOGY. Essai sur cette question: La formation de l'acide carbonique est-elle essentielle à la végétation ? (+) Addition A l'essai sur la question de formation de l'acide carbonique est-elle essentielle à la végétation ? (+) Lettre Aux Redacteurs des Annales de Chimie. 1797. (Additions and errata). Paris, Guillaume et Fuchs, An VIe, ou 1797. Contemp. hcalf. Spine gilt. A few scratches to spine. In: "Annales de Chimie, ou Recueil de Mémoires concernant la Chemie" Tome 24. (Entire volume offered). 340 pp. and 2 folded engraved plates. Saussure's papers: pp. 135-149, pp. 227-228 a. pp. 336-337. First appearance of this milestone paper in plant physiology and nutrition in Saussure gives an account of his experimentss on carbon dioxide metabolism. The paper states the main facts concerning respiration and carbon assimilation and the importent relation between these two processes. He was the first to demonstrate the photosynthetic assimilation of carbon by green plants. The offered paper, describing the central processes, was issued several years before his famous work "Recherches Chimiques sur la vegetation" (1804). De Saussure studied gas and nutrient uptake in plants, using the scientific method of controlled experimentation. By enclosing plants in glass containers and weighing the plants and enclosed carbon dioxide before and after, de Saussure demonstrated that plants absorb carbon dioxide during photosynthesis. This showed that carbon in plants comes from the atmosphere (not the soil, as some believed). Extending the work of Jan Ingenhousz, who showed oxygen was released during photosynthesis, de Saussure proved that the volume of carbon dioxide absorbed is approximately equal to the volume of oxygen consumed. Because the weight of carbon absorbed was less than the total weight increase of the plant, de Saussure reasoned that water is absorbed, and in so doing correctly outlined the major chemical transformations in photosynthesis. Order-nr. 43455 USD 436.93 (excl. VAT)     DKK  EUR If you are interested in this, please have a look at the following related items: Recherches chimiques sur la Végétation; See our catalogues: Biology Botany Chemistry return to previous page add to shopping cart print this page