Lessons from Common Things

Lessons from Common Things By Dr. Franklin S. Harris, President of the Brigham Young University 5. OSMOSIS WHILE the name at the head of this article is not a very common one, it is used to denote one of the most com- mon processes in the world of living things. No animal or plant could long survive without the action of osmosis. Just what is osmosis? If you should take a membrane, such as the bladder of a pig, and place in it a solution of salt and water, and then put the bladder in a bucket of water, you would find that the water from the bucket gradually penetrated to the inside of the membrane and expanded the bladder. If you should measure the pressure exerted by the water as it entered, you would find that it had really forced itself inside in spite of great opposition by the bag. So strong is this inclination of the water to dilute the salt solution that there is nothing you could do to prevent the water from pene- trating through this membrane. In denning osmosis it is usually stated that wherever there is a semi-permeable membrane separating solutions of unequal density there is a tendency for the water to pass from the diluted to the concentrated solution; or, in other words, there is the tendency for the strength of the solution on the two sides of the membrane to become equal. This principle comes into play in almost every ac- tivity of the animal or plant body. For example, if you take a drink of water, the water goes into the stomach, and there, because on the outside of the stomach the blood has a greater concentration than has the stomach, the water passes into the blood and tends to satisfy this inequality of the solutions. By this same process food stored in the body passes from cell to cell, from the place that it is in reserve to the place that it is needed. In the plant, the small roots go into the soil and because the plant juices are more concentrated than the moisture of the soil, water passes through the cell walls of the plant and then from cell to cell, up through the stems to the leaves, where it is evaporated. The leaves are the place where the actual food of the plant is manufac- tured from carbon dioxide which came from the air and the water, which we just traced from the soil. The soluble sugar manufactured in this process then moves from cell to cell throughout the plant where it either is used directly or stored. In the case of sugar beets, the sugar is manufactured in the leaves and then passes down to the

566 IMPROVEMENT ERA May, 1929 roots where it is held in reserve for later growth. In sugar cane, the sugar is stored in the center of the stalk. In the potato, the sugar goes into the tuber where it is stored in the form of starch. In grain, the material moves about until it is finally converted into starch in the kernel of the grain. There it is held in reserve either to furnish food to the new plant or to be used by man. Throughout all these processes osmosis plays an important part, aiding the transfer of food from cell to cell within the plant, and distributing water and food through the various organs. Take away this principle of osmosis so that there would be no transfer of water or food, and just what would happen? The whole world would instantly be deprived of life, for there could be no growth and scarcely any excretion of waste material. I wonder how it happens that in the world in which we live, all of these properties which scientists have discovered, function just as they do, when if there were ever so slight a change there would be no scientists or anyone else in the world. It is a question that the philosopher and the most ordinary person among us all might ask ourselves and all might ponder on it long before arriving at the right answer. Did it all happen just by chance or was it purposely de- signed by an infinitely wise Creator? I Am So Tired "I am so tired, Mama." Little Madge, So weary of her dolls and "playing house," Creeps softly into Mother's arms, and knows She finds a welcome there. "I am so tired, dear." Her toil-worn Dad, His burdens almost more than he can bear, Turns eager steps toward his loving wife, Sure of a welcome there. "I am so tired." Weary of the tasks, The endless toil of every mother's day, She longs to rest within her husband's arms, Sure of her welcome there. Dear Father, help me so to live this life. That, when I pass into the Great Beyond, My weary soul may creep into Thy arms, And find a welcome there. Lund. Nevada LEONA BAMMES GARDNER