course in the most intimate contact with the soluble carbohydrates and products of photosynthesis. In the building up or reconstructive and other processes it is therefore available. We may properly conceive of certain of the simpler organic molecules as passing through a series of changes, gradually increasing in complexity. There will be formed substances containing nitrogen in addition to carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Others will contain also sulfur and phosphorus, and the various processes may be thought of as culminating in protoplasm. Protoplasm is the living matter in plants. It is in the cells, and is usually semifluid. Starch is not living matter. The complex process of building up the protoplasm is called assimilation.
Respiration.—Plants need oxygen for respiration, as animals do. We have seen that plants need the carbon dioxid of the air. To most plants the nitrogen of the air is inert, and serves only to dilute the other elements; but the oxygen is necessary for all life. We know that all animals need this oxygen in order to breathe or respire. In fact, they have become accustomed to it in just the proportions found in the air; and this is now best for them. When animals breathe the air once, they make it foul, because they use some of the oxygen and give off carbon dioxid. Likewise, all living parts of the plant must have a constant supply of oxygen. Roots also need it, for they respire. Air goes in and out of the soil by diffusion, and as the soil is heated and cooled, causing the air to expand and contract.
The oxygen passes into the air-spaces and is absorbed by the moist cell membranes. In the living cells it makes possible the formation of simpler compounds by which energy is released. This energy enables the plant to
