Photosynthesis
literally a combining by means of light, the process by which carbohydrates (starch, sugar, etc.) are manufactured by green plants in the presence of sunlight from the carbon dioxide and water of the air and soil. Since this manufacture is the basis of the whole food supply of the human race, its importance is evident and in 1922 the Council of the American Association for the Advancement of Science authorized the appointment of a special committee to coordinate the efforts being made by scientists to penetrate the mystery, with a possible view to the future artificial manufacture of foods from the same exhaustless sources in nature. (See CHLOROPHYLL.)