The Vinita Daily Chieftain

NICOTIN IN TOBACCO.

The Alkaloid Plays an Important Part in the Nutrition of the Plant.

The significance of the presence of nicotin in tobacco has recently been investigated by an Italian botanist, G. Albo, of the Palermo botanical gardens. He finds that this alkaloid, instead of being a waste product, as has been supposed, is really a food, having an important part to play in the nutrition of the plant. Says a writer in the Revue Scientifique:

"M. Albo has already solved a similar question in relation to the presence of colchicin in the various species of colchicum. He has reached the conclusion that colchicin is by no means a waste substance, a product of disassimilation, but rather a nitrogenized substance that has, like other reserve food substances, a part to play in the phenomena of nutrition and formation of the plant. This alkaloid also is a food: nicotin serves, directly or indirectly, to nourish the plant, instead of being a residue or waste product. Nicotin is not found in the seeds of tobacco. But we find there a substance soluble in alcohol, which gives with sulphuric acid reactions similar to those of solanin (the poison of the deadly nightshade). Now we know, through an old observation of Kletznisky, that we may obtain nicotin by reducing solanin. This solanin of the seed disappears during germination and is employed to nourish the buds: it has quite disappeared in the fully developed plants and is not found at all, while nicotin is present. The total quantity of this varies according to the conditions of the plant and its treatment. If, for example, we cut off the tops of a stalk of tobacco to prevent flowering, we see that the proportion of nicotin increases considerably. It becomes almost thrice as great as in normal conditions during flowering. This is due, according to the Italian experimenter, to the fact that, normally, there is a migration of nicotin from the plant towards the seeds, which nicotin is there transformed into another substance, more complex perhaps, and more effective as a reserve—either solanin or some related substance. Thus we understand the influence exerted by the destruction of the flowers: the nicotin that would have been accumulated and transformed in the seeds is now obliged to remain in the plant and becomes there more abundant."