We will now turn to the 106 experiments with immersed leaves. Having
ascertained by repeated trials that moderately strong solutions were
highly efficient, I commenced with sixteen leaves, each placed in
thirty minims of a solution of one part to 43,750 of water (1 gr. to
100 oz.); so that each received 1/1600 of a grain, or .04058 mg. Of
these leaves, eleven had nearly all or a great number of their
tentacles inflected in 1 hr., and the twelfth leaf in 3 hrs. One of the
eleven had every single tentacle closely inflected in 50 m. Two leaves
out of the sixteen were only moderately affected, yet more so than any
of those simultaneously immersed in water; and the remaining two, which
were pale leaves, were hardly at all affected. Of the sixteen
corresponding leaves in water, one had nine tentacles, another six, and
two others two tentacles inflected, in the course of 5 hrs. So that the
contrast in appearance between the two lots was extremely great.
Eighteen leaves were immersed, each in thirty minims of a solution of
one part to 87,500 of water (1 gr. to 200 oz.), so that each received
1/3200 of a grain (.0202 mg.). Fourteen of these were strongly
inflected within 2 hrs., and some of them within 15 m.; three out of
the eighteen were only slightly affected, having twenty-one, nineteen,
and twelve tentacles in- [page 157] flected; and one was not at all
acted on. By an accident only fifteen, instead of eighteen, leaves were
immersed at the same time in water; these were observed for 24 hrs.;
one had six, another four, and a third two, of their outer tentacles
inflected; the remainder being quite unaffected.
The next experiment was tried under very favourable circumstances, for
the day (July 8) was very warm, and I happened to have unusually fine
leaves. Five were immersed as before in a solution of one part to
131,250 of water (1 gr. to 300 oz.), so that each received 1/4800 of a
grain, or .0135 mg. After an immersion of 25 m. all five leaves were
much inflected. After 1 hr. 25 m. one leaf had all but eight tentacles
inflected; the second, all but three; the third, all but five; the
fourth; all but twenty-three; the fifth, on the other hand, never had
more than twenty-four inflected. Of the corresponding five leaves in
water, one had seven, a second two, a third ten, a fourth one, and a
fifth none inflected. Let it be observed what a contrast is presented
between these latter leaves and those in the solution. I counted the
glands on the second leaf in the solution, and the number was 217;
assuming that the three tentacles which did not become inflected
absorbed nothing, we find that each of the 214 remaining glands could
have absorbed only 1/l027200 of a grain, or .0000631 mg. The third leaf
bore 236 glands, and subtracting the five which did not become
inflected, each of the remaining 231 glands could have absorbed only
1/1108800 of a grain (or .0000584 mg.), and this amount sufficed to
cause the tentacles to bend.
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