Protoplasmic Nervous Currents Universal 43 



each little layer of the cell membranes of plants, the 

 formation of a membrane in an anuclear fragment of a 

 vegetable cell in consequence of a nuclear stimulus trans- 

 mitted from the nucleus of another cell along any proto- 

 plasmic conductor, all these facts speak together in favor 

 of the hypothesis that all living substance is traversed 

 by vital nervous energy in the form of currents. 



Claude Bernard has already remarked that anaesthe- 

 tics act not only upon the nervous system but also upon 

 the cells of every animal or vegetable tissue, in that 

 they destroy or suspend the vital activity of every cell 

 in the same way, and from that he concludes that all 

 vital processes in general are substantially identical. 20 



This substantial identity is demonstrated further by 

 the fact that phenomena of irrito-contractility present 

 themselves in the same way in both animal and vegetable 

 kingdoms and that there are all possible transition 

 stages between plants considered "especially sensitive" 

 and those considered not sensitive at all. The whole 

 group of "especially sensitive" plants present especially 

 well developed intercellular protoplasmic connections. 21 



We recall further the microscopic movements of the 

 protoplasm within the membranes of plant cells, which 

 led Huxley to make the well known definition that a 

 plant is only "an animal shut up in a wooden box." 



Everybody knows that in addition to these micro- 

 scopic movements there are now known in plants also 

 various movements visible to the naked eye, which cor- 



20 Claude Bernard : Legons sur les phenomenes de la vie communs 

 aux animaux et aux vegetaux. Paris, Bailliere, 1878. P. 289 290. 



21 Macfarlane : Irrito-contractility in plants. Biol. Lect. at the 

 Mar. Biol. Lab. of Wood's Holl. Summer Session 1893. Boston, 

 U. S. A., Ginn. 1894. P. 189, 204. 



