POPULAR ERRORS AND SCIENTIFIC DOGMAS. 223 



if all the thirty specialties were mixed together and ap- 

 plied to the special crops, the result would be equally as 

 good as if the hair-splitting distinction of a separate fer- 

 tilizer for each crop was used. Some chemists tell us 

 that phosphorus enters largely into the human brain, and 

 that a fish diet is necessary for the best development of 

 brains. Broad results are the best test of the dogmas of 

 so-called science ; and it scarcely can be shown that 

 fish-eating nations or communities are specially noted 

 for extraordinary brain development. 



Charles Darwin has said, and he finds many believers, 

 that certain plants, such as the Drosera or Sundew, and 

 our own Carolina Fly-trap, (Dionoea muscipula,) are fed 

 by the insects that their wonderful structure enables 

 them to catch. In conjunction with a friend, a few 

 years ago, I made most extensive and careful experiments 

 in our green-houses, covering a p'eriod of six months, 

 with several hundred plants of the Carolina Fly-trap, and 

 the result showed that of two lots, treated exactly in the 

 same manner, those fed with insects in no way differed 

 from those that were not so fed, which satisfied me that, 

 if the plants digested the insects placed in the leaf trap, 

 the food was in no way beneficial. 



While these experiments were going on, they were 

 watched with great interest by hundreds, and nearly all 

 were convinced that the belief that any plants feed on 

 insects is a delusion, although Mr. Darwin has written a 

 book of 400 pages in the attempt to prove it a fact. Still, 

 it may be presumption to question such an authority ; 

 and, as I had no other object in my experiments but to 

 get at the facts, I will be pleased, at any time, to furnish 

 any member of our Society enough plants of the Fly-trap 

 to experiment with, free of cost, so that this question 

 may be more definitely settled. 



