<^6 FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. 



was increased in quantity and became acid," ^ It is 

 well known how easy it is to test the presence of an 

 acid by the application of litmus paper, and this test 

 has been applied to the secretion of the glands of the 

 sundew in innumerable instances. The same author 

 says, — " I have tried, indeed, hundreds of times, the 

 state of the secretion on the discs of leaves which 

 were inflected over various objects, and never failed 

 to find it acid." And this observation has been 

 corroborated by others both in this plant and in the 

 Dionoea. When the leaves have not been excited the 

 viscid secretion is not acid, or but very slightly so, but, 

 after the tentacles have commenced bending over any 

 object, the secretion becomes more or less acidulated. 

 Another property which this secretion possesses has 

 also been alluded to — namely, its antiseptic quality. 

 It checks the appearance of mould and minute 

 animalcules, and for a time prevents the discoloura- 

 tion and decay of substances over which it has been 

 transfused. This, again, is analogous to the gastric 

 juice of animals, which is known to arrest the putre- 

 faction of substances under its influence. And here 

 we have another singular coincidence, even if nothing^ 

 more, which must have its weight in determining 

 whether the glands of the Sundew possess the power 

 of digestion. If it can be shown that, in addition to 



' Darwin, " Insectivorous Plants," p. it 



