The micro-determination of copper and manganese in plant material and their distribution in some New Zealand flora

Abstract

As early as 1816 copper was detected in certain plants and during the succeeding hundred years it was gradually established that copper is one of the trace elements essential to animal and plant life. It was not until 1920 - 1930 that the solution of sufficiently sensitive and accurate methods of estimation enabled reliable postulations to be made as to the function of copper in life processes. Most of the earliest investigations were carried out on plant materials - Maquenne & Demoussy (1920) (1) indicated that copper accumulates in parts of plants with greatest vital activity: Bertrand 1920 (2) and Guerithault 1920 (3) suggested copper acts in plants as a catalyst; Bertrand & Rosenblott 1921 (4) showed universal presence of manganese as well as copper and concluded that these play an active part in intracellular metabolism. Then followed a period of acute interest in Copper and other metals in animal organs and tissues. This work added several important chapters to the story of copper in life processes.