Air and the origin of the experimental plant physiology.
It is well known that oxygen and carbon dioxide are two chemicals which enter the plant metabolism as nutrients. The bases of this nowadays obvious statement were placed in the 18th century by means of the works of ingenious naturalists such as Robert Boyle, Stephen Hales, Joseph Priestley, Jam Ingenhousz, Lazzaro Spallanzani and Theodore De Saussure. Till the end of the 17th century, the atmospheric air was considered as an ineffable spirit, the function of which was of physical nature. Boyle was the first naturalist to admit the possibility that respiration were an exchange of vapours occurring in the blood. Stephen Hales realised that air could be fixed by plants under the influence of solar light. Priestley showed that plants could regenerate the bad air making it breathable. Ingenhousz demonstrated that the green parts of plants performed the complete purification of air only under the influence of the light. Spallanzani discovered that plants respire and guessed that the good air (oxygen) originated from the fixed air (carbon dioxide). Finally, Theodore De Saussure showed that plants were able to adsorb carbon dioxide and to release oxygen in a proportional air. All these discoveries benefited of the results coming from investigations of scholars of the so-called "pneumatic chemistry" (Boyle himself, George Ernst Stahl, Joseph Black, Priestley himself, and many more others. But among all the eminent scientists above mentioned stands out the genius of Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, who revolutionised the chemistry of the 18th century ferrying it towards the modern chemistry.
Pennazio
Sergio
S
Istituto di Virologia Vegetale del C.N.R., Strada delle Cacce, 73, 10035 Turin, Italy.
D000388:Air; D001901:Botany / Q000266:history*; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000266:history / Q000378:metabolism; D049670:History, 17th Century; D049671:History, 18th Century; D010100:Oxygen / Q000266:history / Q000378:metabolism; D010788:Photosynthesis / Q000502:physiology; D018521:Plant Physiological Phenomena; D018526:Plant Transpiration
D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D010100:Oxygen