So the plant finds good what we find poisonous. It takes in and keeps that which hurts us (the carbon), and sends out that which helps us (the oxygen).
So you see that our lives depend on the lives of plants in two ways:—
1. The plants give us the food we need for life.
2. The plants take from the air the gas that poisons us, and give to the air the gas which we need for life and health.
And in both cases it is Leaf Green and Sunbeam who are making life possible for us.
Remember the great services of these two fairies when next you pass a green tree which is bathing itself in sunshine.
HOW A PLANT BREATHES
Perhaps you have heard people say that it is not good to sleep in a room with plants.
They say this, because they have heard that at night the plant does not give out oxygen, but that it does give out the poisonous carbonic-acid gas.
Now, you children know that part of this statement is true.