connection with a course in
"Phyto-chemistry" which was offered for several years to the students of
the Plant Science Group of the University of Minnesota. In the preparation
of these notes, extensive use was made of the material presented in such
general reference works as Abderhalden's "Biochemische Handlexicon" and
"Handbuch der Biochemischen Arbeitsmethoden," Oppenheimer's "Handbuch der
Biochemie des Menschen und der Tiere," Czapek's "Biochemie der Pflanzen,"
Rohmann's "Biochemie," Frankel's "Descriptive Biochemie," and "Dynamische
Biochemie," Euler's "Pflanzenchemie," and Haas and Hill's "Chemistry of
Plant Products"; as well as of the most excellent series of "Monographs on
Biochemistry," edited by Plimmer, several numbers of which appeared in
print prior to and during the period covered by the preparation of these
lectures. Frequent use was made also of the many special treatises on
individual groups of compounds which are mentioned in the lists of
references appended to each chapter, as well as of articles which appeared
from time to time in various scientific journals.

Hence, no claim is made of originality for the statements presented herein,
except in an insignificant number of studies of enzyme action, and of the
possible physiological functions of certain specific compounds. The only
contributions which the writer has felt qualified to make to this general
subject are those of an intense personal interest in the chemistry of plant
processes and a viewpoint with reference to the relation of chemical
processes to vital phenomena which will be apparent as the various subjects
are presented.

The text has been prepared upon the assumption that the students who will
use it will have had some previous training in elementary inorganic and
organic chemistry. A systematic laboratory course in organic preparations,
such as is required of students who are preparing to become professional
chemists, is not at all a necessary requisite to the understanding of the
chemistry of the different groups of plant compounds as here presented; but
it is assumed that the student will have had such previous training as is
now commonly given in a one-year collegiate course in "General Chemistry,"
or a year's work in general inorganic chemistry followed by a brief course
in "Types of Carbon Compounds" or "Elements of Organic Chemistry," such as
is usually required of students who are preparing for advanced work in
agricultural scie