Milk.—Drops were placed on sixteen leaves, and the tentacles of all, as
well as the blades of several, soon became greatly inflected. The
periods were recorded in only three cases, namely, with leaves on which
unusually small drops had been placed. Their tentacles were somewhat
inflected in 45 m.; and after 7 hrs. 45 m. the blades of two were so
much curved inwards that they formed little cups enclosing the drops.
These leaves re-expanded on the third day. On another occasion the
blade of a leaf was much inflected in 5 hrs. after a drop of milk had
been placed on it.
Human Urine.—Drops were placed on twelve leaves, and the tentacles of
all, with a single exception, became greatly inflected. Owing, I
presume, to differences in the chemical nature of the urine on
different occasions, the time required for the movements of the
tentacles varied much, but was always effected in under 24 hrs. In two
instances I recorded that all the exterior tentacles were completely
inflected in 17 hrs., but not the blade of the leaf. In another case
the edges of a leaf, after 25 hrs. 30 m., became so strongly inflected
that it was converted into a cup. The power of urine does not lie in
the urea, which, as we shall hereafter see, is inoperative.
Albumen (fresh from a hen’s egg), placed on seven leaves, caused the
tentacles of six of them to be well inflected. In one case the edge of
the leaf itself became much curled in after 20 hrs. The one leaf which
was unaffected remained so for 26 hrs., and was then treated with a
drop of milk, and this caused the tentacles to bend inwards in 12 hrs.
Cold Filtered Infusion of Raw Meat.—This was tried only on a single
leaf, which had most of its outer tentacles and the blade inflected in
19 hrs. During subsequent years, I repeatedly used this infusion to
test leaves which had been experimented [page 80] on with other
substances, and it was found to act most energetically, but as no exact
account of these trials was kept, they are not here introduced.
Mucus.—Thick and thin mucus from the bronchial tubes, placed on three
leaves, caused inflection. A leaf with thin mucus had its marginal
tentacles and blade somewhat curved inward in 5 hrs. 30 m., and greatly
so in 20 hrs. The action of this fluid no doubt is due either to the
saliva or to some albuminous matter* mingled with it, and not, as we
shall see in the next chapter, to mucin or the chemical principle of
mucus.