The process by which water passes through a membrane from a solution on the one side to another solution on the other side has been known, since the classic work of Dutrochet, as “endosmosis” or “exosmosis”; the pressure due to this passage of water has naturally been called “osmotic”.

Dutrochet asserted that respiration follows the same pattern in both animals and plants, showing that the minute openings on the surface of leaves (the stomata) communicate with lacunae in deeper tissue. He also demonstrated that only the green parts of the plant can absorb carbon dioxide, thereby transforming light energy into chemical energy. The Mémoires are a collection of all his more important biological papers.