We have seen under the same circumstances that the absorption by a gland of 1/19200 of a grain of the carbonate, and of 1/57600 of a grain of the nitrate, did not cause the tentacle bearing the gland in question to be inflected; so that here again the phosphate is much more powerful than the other two salts.
We will now turn to the 106 experiments with immersed leaves. Having ascertained by repeated trials that moderately strong solutions were highly efficient, I commenced with sixteen leaves, each placed in thirty minims of a solution of one part to 43,750 of water (1 gr. to 100 oz.); so that each received 1/1600 of a grain, or .04058 mg. Of these leaves, eleven had nearly all or a great number of their tentacles inflected in 1 hr., and the twelfth leaf in 3 hrs. One of the eleven had every single tentacle closely inflected in 50 m. Two leaves out of the sixteen were only moderately affected, yet more so than any of those simultaneously immersed in water; and the remaining two, which were pale leaves, were hardly at all affected. Of the sixteen corresponding leaves in water, one had nine tentacles, another six, and two others two tentacles inflected, in the course of 5 hrs. So that the contrast in appearance between the two lots was extremely great.
Eighteen leaves were immersed, each in thirty minims of a solution of one part to 87,500 of water (1 gr. to 200 oz.), so that each received 1/3200 of a grain (.0202 mg.). Fourteen of these were strongly inflected within 2 hrs., and some of them within 15 m.; three out of the eighteen were only slightly affected, having twenty-one, nineteen, and twelve tentacles in- [page 157] flected; and one was not at all acted on. By an accident only fifteen, instead of eighteen, leaves were immersed at the same time in water; these were observed for 24 hrs.; one had six, another four, and a third two, of their outer tentacles inflected; the remainder being quite unaffected.
The next experiment was tried under very favourable circumstances, for the day (July 8) was very warm, and I happened to have unusually fine leaves. Five were immersed as before in a solution of one part to 131,250 of water (1 gr. to 300 oz.), so that each received 1/4800 of a grain, or .0135 mg. After an immersion of 25 m. all five leaves were much inflected. After 1 hr. 25 m. one leaf had all but eight tentacles inflected; the second, all but three; the third, all but five; the fourth; all but twenty-three; the fifth, on the other hand, never had more than twenty-four inflected. Of the corresponding five leaves in water, one had seven, a second two, a third ten, a fourth one, and a fifth none inflected. Let it be observed what a contrast is presented between these latter leaves and those in the solution. I counted the glands on the second leaf in the solution, and the number was 217; assuming that the three tentacles which did not become inflected absorbed nothing, we find that each of the 214 remaining glands could have absorbed only 1/l027200 of a grain, or .0000631 mg. The third leaf bore 236 glands, and subtracting the five which did not become inflected, each of the remaining 231 glands could have absorbed only 1/1108800 of a grain (or .0000584 mg.), and this amount sufficed to cause the tentacles to bend.
Twelve leaves were tried as before in a solution of one part to 175,000 of water (1 gr. to 400 oz.), so that each leaf received 1/6400 of a grain (.0101 mg.). My plants were not at the time in a good state, and many of the leaves were young and pale. Nevertheless, two of them had all their tentacles, except three or four, closely inflected in under 1 hr. Seven were considerably affected, some within 1 hr., and others not until 3 hrs., 4 hrs. 30 m., and 8 hrs. had elapsed; and this slow action may be attributed to the leaves being young and pale. Of these nine leaves, four had their blades well inflected, and a fifth slightly so. The three remaining leaves were not affected. With respect to the twelve corresponding leaves in water, not one had its blade inflected; after from 1 to 2 hrs.