Author Institution: Department of Botany, Ohio University, Athens, Ohi

Stout, Norman B.

The Ohio Journal of Science

The increasing use of the photoelectric cell method for measuring the area of botanical materials is evidenced by the many instruments developed since the pioneering work of Gerdel and Saulter in 1928. Although the value of using this principle was clearly demonstrated, the early designs (Gerdel and Saulter, 1928; Marshall, 1933; Withrow, 1935; Mitchell, 1936) were cumbersome, consequently none of these instruments were adopted extensively by plant scientists. Had the report of Bergman (1933) been published it might have influenced the design of later instruments as the collimated lens system offered certain advantages not found in other instruments. The following described instrument might appear to be one of Dr. Bergman&apos;s suggested modifications, however this instrument had been developed and used two years prior to the receipt of his report. The need for a rapid, accurate method of area determination was recognized in this laboratory during transpiration studies. The methods usually employed (Miller, 1931; Darrow, 1932) proved to be laborious and prohibitively time con-suming. Because few of the previously described instruments met the desire

A Portable Optical Planimeter for Measuring Leaf Area

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