PRESENT STATE OF ORGANIC ELECTRICITY. 309 



unavoidable injury of texture, and consequent mixing of fluids, 

 by the insertion of the platina electrodes. The progress of 

 animal electricity had, previously to the labours of Du Bois 

 Keymond,* been impeded by similar circumstances ; and 

 until the electro-motor properties of the component parts of 

 vegetables are in some way separately investigated, as those of 

 muscle and nerve have been by the observer alluded to, no 

 solid progress can be looked for in vegetable electricity. 



The general arrangement of the parts of a plant, and the 

 functions they perform, indicate the probable direction of the 

 resulting electrical disturbances. The differences in the con- 

 stitution of the ascending and descending portions of the axis, 

 and of their different transverse segments, naturally indicate 

 the existence of longitudinal currents ; while the structural 

 and functional differences between the central and superficial 

 portions of the axis point to transverse or radiating lines of 

 force. Accordingly, all the observations of Donne, Becquerel, 

 and Wartmann, indicate currents, primary or derived, in the 

 longitudinal and transverse direction, in roots, tubers, stems, 

 leaves, flowers and fruits. 



The Electrical Reactions of the Plant, Soil, and Atmosphere. 

 The soil is in a constant negative, while the air, when calm 

 and free from clouds, is in a positive, electric condition. 



According to the experiments of Pouillet,t plants in the 

 later stages of germination, after they have protruded from 

 the soil, exhibit, by the condenser, an excess of negative elec- 

 tricity. The explanation he gives is, according to Becquerel,]: 

 probably correct ; that the action of the oxygen of the air on 

 the starch of the seed, during its conversion, gives an excess of 

 positive electricity to the air, and of negative electricity to the 



Poggendorff's Annalen, and Untersuchungen uber Thierische Electri- 

 titcit, 1848. 



t Ann. de Chim. et de Physique, loc. cit. 



% Mem. de I'Acad. des Sciences, torn, xxiii. p. GO. 



