INFLUENCE OF ELECTRICITY ON VEGETATION. 83 



seen in the dark : besides these, no further experiments appear 

 to have been made in Britain, but the Edinburgh experiments 

 of 1746 were repeated and extended in France, Switzerland, 

 Germany, and Italy. At the same time that the Abbe Nollet 

 Avas making the above-mentioned experiments, and even some 

 months previously. Professor Jallabert, of Geneva, was occupied 

 with the same subject, and had, independently of Dr. Maimbray, 

 arrived at very nearly the same conclusion as that naturalist. 

 In the months of April and May, 1747,* M. Jallabert regularly 

 electrified various plants two hours every day, exposing them to 

 the open air after the operation, and found that all of them, and 

 in particular a carnation, grew rapidly, and flourished remark- 

 ably ; he however did not feel quite sure tliat the difference 

 which he observed between these plants and others not electrified 

 was due to electricity. The successful experiments of Maimbray 

 and Nollet encouraged him to continue his investigations, and 

 led to curious results. In the autumn of 1747 M. Jallabert 

 electrified bulbs of hyacinth, jonquil, and narcissus, which 

 were beginning to grow in glasses of water ; they were placed on 

 cakes of resin, connected by wires with the conductor of the elec- 

 trical machine, and kept in an electrified state for eight or nine 

 hours a day ; those whicli were electrified grew more rapidly, 

 the leaves were larger, and the flowers opened sooner than others 

 not electrified. By weighing the bulbs and vessels of water in 

 which they grew, he ascertained that the electrified bulbs gave 

 off" more moisture in a given time than the other plants did. 

 He also repeated tlie experiments of Nollet on mustard and 

 cress, and obtained similar results ; and attributed all these ef- 

 fects to an augmentation in the movement of the sap, caused by 

 electricity, and analogous to that observed by Boze, as taking 

 place in capillary tubes. 



Professor Boze, of Wittemberg, also made experiments on 

 this subject in I747,t the results of which he communicated to 

 the Abbe Nollet ; he electrified several diflerent kinds of plants 

 and shrubs, the growth of which invariably appeared to be ac- 

 celerated. Similar results were obtained the following year by 

 the Abbe Menon, of Angers, who, in a letter to M. de Reaumur, 

 states that by the aid of electricity he had been 'enabled greatly to 

 facilitate the growth of oflfsets of ranunculus, even in the depth 

 of winter. M. Nuneberg, of Stvittgard, was also occupied with 

 experiments on the influence of electricity on vegetation : he 

 took two boxes, each containing five bulbs, in all respects alike, 



* Experiences sur I'Electricit^, 8vo. Geneve, 1 748. 

 t Comment, novus de Electric. 10, 



g2 



