ELECTRIC CURRENTS IN FRUITS. 199 



During the various processes of decomposition 

 and recomposition, which take place in the assimi- 

 lation of the vegetable juices, we should expect 

 that electric equilibrium would be constantly dis- 

 turbed and restored. 



" Of this, the following facts, amongst others, 

 appear to be sufficient evidence. If a wire be 

 placed in apposition with the bark of a growing 

 plant, and another be passed into the pith, con- 

 trary electrical states are indicated when they are 

 applied to an electrometer. If platinum wires be 

 passed into the two extremities of a fruit, they 

 also will be found to present opposite conditions." 

 "In some fruits, as the apple and pear, the stalk 

 is negative, the eye positive ; while in such as the 

 peach and apricot a contrary state exists. If a 

 prune be divided equatorially, and the juice be 

 squeezed from its two halves into separate vessels, 

 its portions will in like manner indicate opposite 

 electrical states, although no difference can be 

 perceived in their chemical qualities." ] 



1 Annales de Chimie, torn. 57. Carpenter's Physiology, p. 462. 



