Digitaline.—Half-minims of a solution of one part to 437 of water were
placed on the discs of five leaves. In 3 hrs. 45 m. Some of them had
their tentacles, and one had its blade, moderately inflected. After 8
hrs. three of them were well inflected; the fourth had only a few
tentacles inflected, and the fifth (an old leaf) was not at all
affected. They remained in nearly the same state for two days, but the
glands on their discs became pale. On the third day the leaves appeared
much injured. Nevertheless, when bits of meat were placed on two of
them, the outer tentacles became inflected. A minute drop (about 1/20
of a minim) of the solution was applied to three glands, and after 6
hrs. all three tentacles were inflected, but next day had nearly
re-expanded; so that this very small dose of 1/28800 of a grain (.00225
mg.) acts on a tentacle, but is not poisonous. It appears from these
several facts that digitaline causes inflection, and poisons the glands
which absorb a moderately large amount.
Nicotine.—The secretion round several glands was touched with a minute
drop of the pure fluid, and the glands were instantly blackened; the
tentacles becoming inflected in a few minutes. Two leaves were immersed
in a weak solution of two drops to 1 oz., or 437 grains, of water. When
examined after 3 hrs. 20 m., only twenty-one tentacles on one leaf were
closely inflected, and six on the other slightly so; but all the glands
were blackened, or very dark-coloured, with the protoplasm in all the
cells of all the tentacles much aggregated and dark-coloured. The
leaves were not quite killed, for on being placed in a little solution
of carbonate of ammonia (2 grs. to 1 oz.) a few more tentacles became
inflected, the remainder not being acted on during the next 24 hrs.
Half-minims of a stronger solution (two drops to 1/2 oz. of water) were
placed on the discs of six leaves, and in 30 m. all those tentacles
became inflected; the glands of which had actually touched the
solution, as shown by their blackness; but hardly any motor influence
was transmitted to the outer tentacles. After 22 hrs. most of the
glands on the discs appeared dead; but this could not have been the
case, as when bits of meat were placed on three of them, some few of
the outer tentacles were inflected in 24 hrs. Hence nicotine has a
great tendency to blacken the glands and to induce aggregation [page
204] of the protoplasm, but, except when pure, has very moderate power
of inducing inflection, and still less power of causing a motor
influence to be transmitted from the discal glands to the outer
tentacles. It is moderately poisonous.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account