Chap. XIIL 



DIGESTION. 303 



opened spontaneously after eleven days ; a vestige of the meat 

 was left, and the surface of the leaf was here blackened ; the 

 gelatine had all disappeared. 



Experiment 8.— A bit of half roasted meat (not measured) 

 was placed on a leaf which was forcibly kept open by a clip, so 

 that it was moistened with the secretion (very acid) only on its 

 lower surface. Nevertheless, after only 22 1 hrs. it was sur- 

 prisingly softened, when compared with another bit of the 

 same meat which had been kept damp. 



Experiment 9.— A cube of Jq of an inch of very compact 

 roasted beef was placed on a leaf, which opened spontaneously 

 after twelve days ; so much feebly acid secretion was left on the 

 leaf that it trickled off. The meat was completely disintegrated, 

 but not all dissolved ; there was no mould. The little mass was 

 placed under the microscope ; some of the fibrillse in the middle 

 still exhibited transverse stri»; others showed not a vestige 

 of stria) ; and every gradation could be traced between these 

 two states. Globules, apparently of fat, and some undigested 

 fibro-elastic tissue remained. The meat was thus in the 

 same state as that formerly described, which was half di- 

 gested by Drosera. Here, again, as in the case of albumen, 

 the digestive process seems slower than in Drosera. At tho 

 opposite end of the same leaf, a firmly compressed pellet of 

 bread had been placed; this was completely disintegrated, I 

 suppose, owing to the digestion of the gluten, but seemed very 

 little reduced in bulk. 



Experiment 10. — A cube of -^ of an inch of cheese and 

 another of albumen were placed at opposite ends of the same 

 leaf. After nine days the lobes opened spontaneously a little 

 at the end enclosing the cheese, but hardly any or none was 

 dissolved, though it was softened and surrounded by secre- 

 tion. Two days subsequently the end with the albumen also 

 opened spontaneously (i.e. eleven days after it was put on), a 

 mere trace in a blackened and dry condition being left. 



Experiment 11. — The same experiment with cheese and albu- 

 men repeated on another and rather torpid leaf. The lobes at the 

 end with the cheese, after an interval, of six days, opened spon- 

 taneously a little ; the cube of cheese was much softened, but 

 not dissolved, and but little, if at all, reduced in size. Twelve 

 hours afterwards the end with the albumen opened, which 

 now consisted of a large droj) of transparent, not acid, viscid 

 fluid. 



Experiment 12. — Same experiment as the two last, and hero 

 again the leaf at the end enclosing the cheese opened before tho 

 14 



