Fixation of Nitrogen by Plants

Abstract

IN NATURE of January 20, p. 95, reference is made to an announcement in Science by Lipman and Taylor that they have proved conclusively the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen by the wheat plant. Should the detailed evidence, when available, show that their claim is well founded, it should not be forgotten that similar results on other plants were obtained in this country some little time ago by the late Prof. Benjamin Moore and his co-workers. In two communications to the Royal Society (Proc. Roy. Soc., B, vols. 91 and 92, 1920), he argues strongly in favour of such fixation, supporting his views by convincing experimental proof on both fresh-water and marine algae. The work was incorporated in his book “Biochemistry” (1921), and in the Hugo Muller memorial lecture delivered before the Chemical Society in June of that year—one of his last public utterances—he reiterates in the strongest language his belief, founded upon no inconsiderable amount of experimental work, “that both the lower and higher plants do build up nitrites and nitrates and form organic nitrogenous compounds from the free nitrogen of the atmosphere.”