A MISPLACED CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS RESEARCH - THE 2ND PUBLICATION (1796) ON PLANT PROCESSES BY DR INGENHOUSZ,JAN, MD, DISCOVERER OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS - A BICENTENNIAL RESURRECTION
H. Gest, A MISPLACED CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS RESEARCH - THE 2ND PUBLICATION (1796) ON PLANT PROCESSES BY DR INGENHOUSZ,JAN, MD, DISCOVERER OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS - A BICENTENNIAL RESURRECTION, Photosynthesis research, 53(1), 1997, pp. 65-72
In 1779, the Dutch physician Jan Ingen-Housz (1730-1799) obtained a le
ave-of-absence from his post as Court Physician to Empress Maria There
sa of Austria in order to do research (in England) on plants during th
e summer months. He performed more than 500 experiments, and described
the results in his exceptional book Experiments Upon Vegetables (1779
). In addition to proving the requirement for light in photosynthesis,
Ingen-Housz established that leaves were the primary sites of the pho
tosynthetic process. Later, Ingen-Housz published research papers on v
arious subjects but aside from his 1779 book, he published only one mo
re communication on photosynthesis and plant physiology. This was enti
tled 'An Essay on the Food of Plants and the Renovation of Soils'. The
essay was published in 1796 as an appendix to an obscure British gove
rnment report, which is rare and virtually unknown. The present paper
describes the 1796 essay, which is particularly interesting in that it
shows how Ingen-Housz's concepts were modified by new interpretations
of chemical phenomena described in Lavoisier's great and revolutionar
y book Traite Elementaire de Chimie (1789). Ingen-Housz not only disco
vered photosynthesis, but plant respiration as well, and the 1796 essa
y is testimony to his remarkable insights.