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210
The Fairy-Land of Science
·
Arabella B. Buckley
143
But
meanwhile,
how
is
new
protoplasm
to
be
formed?
for
without
this
active
substance
none
of
the
work
can
go
on.
Here
comes
into
use
a
lazy
gas
we
spoke
of
in
Lecture
III.
There
we
thought
that
nitrogen
was
of
no
use
except
to
float
oxygen
in
the
air,
but
here
we
shall
find
it
very
useful.
So
far,
as
we
know,
plants
cannot
take
up
nitrogen
out
of
the
air,
but
they
can
get
it
out
of
the
ammonia
which
the
water
brings
in
at
their
roots.
Ammonia,
you
will
remember,
is
a
strong-smelling
gas,
made
of
hydrogen
and
nitrogen,
and
which
is
often
almost
stifling
near
a
manure-heap.
When
you
manure
a
plant
you
help
it
to
get
this
ammonia,
but
at
any
time
it
gets
some
from
the
soil
and
also
from
the
rain-drops
which
bring
it
down
in
the
air.
Out
of
this
ammonia
the
plant
takes
the
nitrogen
and
works
it
up
with
the
three
elements,
carbon,
oxygen,
and
hydrogen,
to
make
the
substances
called
albuminoids,
which
form
a
large
part
of
the
food
of
the
plant,
and
it
is
these
albuminoids
which
go
to
make
protoplasm.
You
will
notice
that
while
the
starch
and
other
substances
are
only
made
of
three
elements,
the
active
protoplasm
is
made
of
these
three
added
to
a
fourth,
nitrogen,
and
it
also
contains
phosphorus
and
sulphur.
And
so
hour
after
hour
and
day
after
day
our
primrose
goes
on
pumping
up
water
and
ammonia
from
its
roots
to
its
leaves,
drinking
in
carbonic
acid
from
the
air,
and
using
the
sun-waves
to
work
them
all
up
into
food
to
be
sent
to
all
parts
of
its
body.
In
this
way
these
leaves
act,
you
see,
as
the
stomach
of
the
plant,
and
digest
its
food.
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