46 
performed upon him, and yet feel no pain. The object of the ex- 
periment was to ascertain whether the nerves of plants are 
similarly affected by the same conditions. The operator dipped 
a sponge in ether, and laid it by the side of the Sensitive Plant, 
and then covered it with a bell-glass to confine the fumes of the 
ether. The experiment was completely successful—the nerves of 
the plant were paralysed—no longer did it shrink and close when 
it was touched, and it was not till the ether was removed that the 
plant regained its original properties. Thus treated, the nettle 
would cease to sting, and insects might pry with impunity into the 
Venus’ Fly-trap. Among other experiments, it was found that the 
germination of seeds, and the fermentation of liquids (which is due 
to the production of myriads of organisms) was arrested by the 
operation of an aneesthetic. 
This, then, is the third point of coincidence between the 
animal and the vegetable world, that the nerve systems of both are 
—though to an extent perhaps yet not fully ascertained—subject to 
the same conditions. 
The last-named experiment, which proves that the production 
of animal life is suspended by an anesthetic, leads me to some- 
thing to which I refer rather in the way of suggestion or inquiry. 
We hear a good deal just now about chloral, which at first supposed 
to be perfectly harmless, is now known to be, in consequence of 
its cumulative action when taken continuously or frequently, 
highly injurious, and even fatal. I believe that it acts to a con- 
siderable extent as an anesthetic; and it is said that the way in 
which it acts injuriously is by impoverishing the blood, and 
depriving it of its nutritive property. I want to suggest a possible 
manner, suggested by the above experiment, in which this 
cumulative and injurious effect may be produced. If, as we have 
seen, the blood is full of living creatures like the Amada, they 
must, as is the case with all living creatures, reproduce themselves, 
and the old ones must die out. If, then, chloral acts as an 
anesthetic, and if the property of an anesthetic be, as we have 
seen, to suspend the propagation of animal life, the result of a con- 
tinued course of chloral would be, the old creatures gradually, in the 
