HOETICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 203 



soluable grains of sand, excites the glands to secrete more slime, 

 bnt by no means forces them to secrete an acid fluid. But as 

 soon as organic substances containing nitrogenous matter come 

 in lasting contact, not alone slime, but also an acid fluid is 

 secreted, which is able to digest flesh, milk, the white of an egg, 

 «ven softer bones. Experiments have proven that small pieces 

 of this latter material have been almost entirely dissolved in 

 about forty-eight hours; after eighty-two hours they were in a 

 fluid condition; the whole secretion was then re-absorbed, and 

 the glands had become dry again. Small insects landing upon 

 such a leaf are glued to it, and are digested, leaving only their 

 hardest parts undissolved behind. The acid fluid is thick, and 

 •can be secreted in quantities large enough to fill the whole 

 groove. If an insect should be caught near the margin of the 

 leaf, the latter is able to bend and roll up, thus pushing the vic- 

 tim more towards the middle of the leaf, where it comes in con- 

 tact with more secretions. This rolling up is done very slowly, 

 and it takes several hours before the insect caught is pushed to 

 the middle of the groove. After dissolution and absorption of 

 the food the leaf gradually assumes its former position. Small 

 parts of plants, such as pollen carried by the air, are treated in 

 the same way as small animals. 



The effect of the acid fluid upon bodies containing albumen is 

 identical with that produced by the gastric juice of an animal, 

 and we can conclude that this vegetal secretion contains, also, be- 

 sides a free acid, a ferment like pepsine. Since everything sol- 

 uble is absorbed by the leaf of Ptnguicula, we need not hesitate 

 to state that this process is true digestion. "Whether the two 

 kinds of glands perform different work is difficalt to say, but 

 very likely a division of labor takes place. The similarity be- 

 tween this leaf and the stomach of an animal was long known, 

 •even before an explanation was offered by botanists. It was not 

 alone long known, but also practically employed, that these 

 leaves had — like the stomach of calves — the property of pro- 

 ducing certain changes in milk. If fresh milk, still warm, is 

 poured over such leaves, it is transformed into a treacle-like sub- 

 stance, the Tiitmiolk or Satmiolk of the Laplanders, a favorite 

 dish of the people in northern Skandiuavia, already mentioned 

 by LinufBus one hundred and fifty years ago. It is, moreover, 

 very peculiar that a small quantity of this Tatmiolk will again 

 <?hange large quantities of fresh milk into that substance, prov- 

 ing that the substance obtained from the leaves of Pinguicula acts 

 as other ferments. 



