"13a ABSOHPTIONT OF LEAVES. 



net, recorded in die beginning of his Recherches sur 

 VUsagedes FeuiUes. His aim was, by laying leaves of 

 various plants upon the top of a jar of water, some with 

 their upper, and others of the same species with their 

 under, surfaces applied to the water, to discover in 

 which situation leaves of each plant continued longest 

 in health and vigour, and also how far different species 

 differed from each other in this respect. The results 

 were in many instances highly curious. 



Of fourteen herbaceous plants tried by this philoso- 

 pher, six lived nearly as long with one surface applied to 

 the water as with the other ; these were the common 

 Arum maculatum^ the French Bean, the Sun-flower, 

 Cabbage, Spinach and the Small Mallow. By the last I 

 presume is meant Malva rotundifolia., Erigl. Bot. t. 

 1092. Six others, Plantain, White Mullein, the Great 

 Mallow (probably M. sylvestris., t. 671), the Nettle, 

 Cock's-comb, and Purple leaved Amaranth (probably 

 Amaranthus hypochondnacus\ lived longest with their 

 upper surface laid upon the water. The Nettle lived 

 but three weeks with its under surface on the water, and 

 about two months in a contrary position. The Mullein 

 scarcely survived five or six days, and the Amaranth 

 not a week, in the first-mentioned posture, while the 

 leaves of the former remained in vigour about five 

 weeks, and of the latter three months, when their upper 

 surfaces imbibed the water. Marvel of Peru and Balm, 

 the two remaining plants of the fourteen on which the 

 experiment was made, had also an evident advantage in 

 receiving that fluid by their upper surfaces. The leaves 

 of some of the above species were found to thrive bet* 



