(3) After 1 hr. 40 m. thirty-five inflected; after 6 hrs. “a large
number” (to quote my own memorandum) inflected, but from want of time
they were not counted; after 24 hrs. re-expanded.
(4) After 1 hr. 40 m. about thirty inflected; after 6 hrs. “a large
number all round the leaf” inflected, but they were not counted; after
10 hrs. began to re-expand.
(5) to (12) These were not more inflected than leaves often are in
water, having respectively 16, 8, 10, 8, 4, 9, 14, and 0 tentacles
inflected. Two of these leaves, however, were remarkable from having
their blades slightly inflected after 6 hrs.
With respect to the twelve corresponding leaves in water, (1) had,
after 1 hr. 35 m., fifty tentacles inflected, but after 11 hrs. only
twenty-two remained so, and these formed a group, with the blade at
this point slightly inflected. It appeared as if this leaf had been in
some manner accidentally excited, for instance by a particle of animal
matter which was dissolved by the water. (2) After 1 hr. 45 m.
thirty-two tentacles inflected, but after 5 hrs. 30 m. only twenty-five
inflected, and these after 10 hrs. all re-expanded; (3) after 1 hr.
twenty-five inflected, which after 10 hrs. 20 m. were all re-expanded;
(4) and (5) after 1 hr. 35 m. six and seven tentacles inflected, which
re-expanded after 11 hrs.; (6), (7) and (8) from one to three
inflected, which [page 164] soon re-expanded; (9), (10), (11) and (12)
none inflected, though observed for twenty-four hours.
Comparing the states of the twelve leaves in water with those in the
solution, there could be no doubt that in the latter a larger number of
tentacles were inflected, and these to a greater degree; but the
evidence was by no means so clear as in the former experiments with
stronger solutions. It deserves attention that the inflection of four
of the leaves in the solution went on increasing during the first 6
hrs., and with some of them for a longer time; whereas in the water the
inflection of the three leaves which were the most affected, as well as
of all the others, began to decrease during this same interval. It is
also remarkable that the blades of three of the leaves in the solution
were slightly inflected, and this is a most rare event with leaves in
water, though it occurred to a slight extent in one (No. 1), which
seemed to have been in some manner accidentally excited. All this shows
that the solution produced some effect, though less and at a much
slower rate than in the previous cases. The small effect produced may,
however, be accounted for in large part by the majority of the leaves
having been in a poor condition.
Of the leaves in the solution, No. 1 bore 200 glands and received
1/48000 of a grain of the salt. Subtracting the seventeen tentacles
which were not inflected, each gland could have absorbed only the
1/8784000 of a grain (.00000738 mg.). This amount caused the tentacle
bearing each gland to be greatly inflected. The blade was also
inflected.
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