Botany; Geotropism; Plants -- Irritability and movements
Various trials were made for ascertaining, as far as we could, the
nature and degree of irritation to which the apex must be subjected, in
order that the terminal growing part should bend away, as if to avoid
the cause of irritation. We have seen in the numbered experiments, that
a little square of rather thick letter-paper gummed to the apex
induced, though slowly, considerable deflection. Judging from several
cases in which various objects had been affixed with gum, and had soon
become separated from the apex by a layer of fluid, as well as from
some trials in which drops of thick gum-water alone had been applied,
this fluid never causes bending. We have also seen in the numbered
experiments that narrow splinters of quill and of very thin glass,
affixed with shellac, caused only a slight degree of deflection, and
this may perhaps have been due to the shellac itself. Little squares of
goldbeaters’ skin, which is excessively thin, were damped, and thus
made to adhere to one side of the tips of two radicles; one of these,
after 24 h., produced no effect; nor did the
other in 8 h., within which time squares of card usually act; but after
24 h. there was slight deflection.
An oval bead, or rather cake, of dried shellac, 1.01 mm. in length and
0.63 in breadth, caused a radicle to become deflected at nearly right
angles in the course of only 6 h.; but after 23 h. it had nearly
straightened itself. A very small quantity of dissolved shellac was
spread over a bit of card, and the tips of 9 radicles were touched
laterally with it; only two of them became slightly deflected to the
side opposite to that bearing the speck of dried shellac, and they
afterwards straightened themselves. These specks were removed, and both
together weighed less than 1/100th of a grain; so that a weight of
rather less than 1/200th of a grain (0.32 mg.) sufficed to excite
movement in two out of the nine radicles. Here then we have apparently
reached nearly the minimum weight which will act.
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