Phosphorus
(from the Greek words phos, light, and phoreo, I bear; in allusion to its being luminous in the dark). One of the chemical elements found in all living beings. It always occurs, in nature, combined with several other elements, and cannot remain in its usual form exposed to the air without undergoing change, since it unites with one of the gases (oxygen) that make up the air. A well-know, nearly inert modification of Phosphorus in the air is that made use of to tip the ends of lucifer matches. There is still much uncertainty regarding the use or uses of Phosphorus in plants, but it is believed that it aids in building up the protoplasm, or actual living substance, of the bodies of both plants and animals, as well as in the transference of the protoplasmic substances from the cells in which they are formed to the parts in which they are to be employed, in supplying food to old tissues, or in forming new cells. The combinations in which plants obtain the supply of Phosphorus necessary for them are almost wholly the phosphates of lime; of which several exist, differing among themselves in the percentage they contain of the aliment calcium (which is the base in lime), and in their solubility in water. See Phosphates of Lime.
