HALES, STEPHEN (FOREWORD BY DR. M. A. HOSKIN) — Vegetable Staticks

London, England: Scientific Book Guild, 1961. Book Club Edition. Hardcover. B&W Illustrations & Charts; This book is in Very Good+ condition and was possibly issued without a dust jacket. The spine ends and corners of the book covers have some light bumping and rubbing. A bit of the laminate has started to pull on the front cover by the spine joint. The text pages are clean and bright. "In Vegetable Staticks, Hales studied transpiration – the loss of water from the leaves of plants. He estimated the surface area of the leaves of the plant and the length and surface area of the roots. This allowed Hales to compare the calculated influx of water into the plant with the amount of water leaving the plant by transpiration through the leaves. He also measured 'the force of the sap' or root pressure. Hales commented that "plants very probably draw through their leaves some part of their nourishment from the air". In Vegetable Staticks Hales prefigured the cohesion theory of water movement in plants, although his ideas were not understood at the time, so he did not influence the debate on water transport in plants in the 19th century. He also speculated that plants might use light as a source of energy for growth (i. E. Photosynthesis) , based on Isaac Newton's suggestion that "gross bodies and light" might be interconvertible. " (from Wikipedia). Very Good+ .