Three leaves were placed in water which was heated rather quickly, and
by the time the temperature rose to 115°-116° (46°.1 to 46°.06 Cent.),
all three were inflected. I then removed the lamp, and in a few minutes
every single tentacle was closely inflected. The protoplasm within the
cells was not killed, for it was seen to be in distinct movement; and
the leaves, having been left in cold water for 20 hrs., re-expanded.
Another leaf was immersed in water at 100o (37.7° Cent.), which was
raised to 120° (48°.8 Cent.); and all the tentacles, except the extreme
marginal ones, soon became closely inflected. The leaf was now placed
in cold water, and in 7 hrs. 30 m. it had partly, and in 10 hrs. fully,
re-expanded. On the following morning it was immersed in a weak
solution of carbonate of [page 69] ammonia, and the glands quickly
became black, with strongly marked aggregation in the tentacles,
showing that the protoplasm was alive, and that the glands had not lost
their power of absorption. Another leaf was placed in water at 110o
(43°.3 Cent.) which was raised to 120° (48°.8 Cent.); and every
tentacle, excepting one, was quickly and closely inflected. This leaf
was now immersed in a few drops of a strong solution of carbonate of
ammonia (one part to 109 of water); in 10 m. all the glands became
intensely black, and in 2 hrs. the protoplasm in the cells of the
pedicels was well aggregated. Another leaf was suddenly plunged, and as
usual waved about, in water at 120°, and the tentacles became inflected
in from 2 m. to 3 m., but only so as to stand at right angles to the
disc. The leaf was now placed in the same solution (viz. one part of
carbonate of ammonia to 109 of water, or 4 grs. to 1 oz., which I will
for the future designate as the strong solution), and when I looked at
it again after the interval of an hour, the glands were blackened, and
there was well-marked aggregation. After an additional interval of 4
hrs. the tentacles had become much more inflected. It deserves notice
that a solution as strong as this never causes inflection in ordinary
cases. Lastly a leaf was suddenly placed in water at 125° (51°.6
Cent.), and was left in it until the water cooled; the tentacles were
rendered of a bright red and soon became inflected. The contents of the
cells underwent some degree of aggregation, which in the course of
three hours increased; but the masses of protoplasm did not become
spherical, as almost always occurs with leaves immersed in a solution
of carbonate of ammonia.]
We learn from these cases that a temperature of from 120° to 125°
(48°.8 to 51°.6 Cent.) excites the tentacles into quick movement, but
does not kill the leaves, as shown either by their subsequent
re-expansion or by the aggregation of the protoplasm. We shall now see
that a temperature of 130° (54°.4 Cent.) is too high to cause immediate
inflection, yet does not kill the leaves.