ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS OF THE 

 VEGETABLE KINGDOM 



A Study for the Younger Generation 



THE aphorism " There is nothing new under the sun," 

 may be trite but it is, nevertheless, particularly 

 striking when we are confronted with the work of Nature. 

 We are apt to plume ourselves upon our progress in Applied 

 Science, but ninety per cent, of the things we have learned 

 about in the last century or two have been in evidence 

 since the recorded beginning of time, so that if there is 

 cause for wonderment it is not at man's keenness of percep- 

 tion or fertility of invention but at the really extraordinary 

 manner in which he has neglected to sit up and take notice. 



Of this instances could be multiplied almost ad infinitum 

 and irrespective of limitation as to the scientific field. 

 Education consists, mainly, in looking at the things we are 

 told to look at and seeing what our teachers know to be 

 there. Beyond that there is nothing about which we need 

 give ourselves any concern whatsoever. And, as a rule, 

 we do not. 



Think of the millions of people who have cut an Apple 

 in section without taking any heed of its obvious electrical 

 structure. I did it myself, on and off, for thirty years 

 and should, no doubt, have continued to do it had not a 

 child opened my eyes. 



We were giving a juvenile party — at Christmas time — 

 and one of the youngsters asked me if there was any elec- 

 tricity in fruit. With an idea of affording amusement we 

 went into the laboratory, where I joined up an Orange, a 

 Lemon, an Apple in the circuit of the galvanometer by means 

 of steel needles, as electrodes, and some flexible wire. The 

 deflections obtained were of course attributed by me to 



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