ABSORPTION, DIFFUSION, OSMOSE. 21 



filled and the liquid extends part way in the neck of the tube. This is im- 

 mersed in water within a wide-mouth bottle, the neck of the tube being sup- 

 ported in a perforated cork in such a way that the sugar solution in the tube is 

 on a level with the water in the bottle or jar. In a short while the liquid 

 begins to rise in the thistle tube, in the course of several hours having risen 

 several centimeters. The diffusion current is thus stronger through the mem- 

 brane in the direction of the sugar solution, so that this gains more water than 

 it loses. 



We have here two liquids separated by an animal membrane, water on 

 the one hand which diffuses readily through the membrane, while on the other 

 is a solution of sugar which diffuses through the animal membrane with diffi- 

 culty. The water, therefore, not containing any solvent, according to a 

 general law which has been found to obtain in such cases, diffuses more 

 readily through the membrane into the sugar solution, which thus increases in 

 v6lume, and also becomes more dilute. The bladder membrane is what is 

 sometimes called a diffusion membrane, since the diffusion currents travel 

 through it. 



43. In this experiment then the bulk of the sugar solution is increased, and 

 the liquid rises in the tube by this pressure above the level of the water in the 

 jar outside of the thistle tube. The diffusion of liquids through a membrane 

 Is osmosis. 



44. Importance of these physical processes in plants. Now if we recur 

 to our experiment with spirogyra we find that exactly the same processes take 

 place. The protoplasmic membrane is the diffusion membrane, through which 

 the diffusion takes place. The salt solution which is first used to bathe the 

 threads of the plant is a stronger solution than that of the cell-sap within the 

 cell. Water therefore is drawn out of the cell-sap, but the substances in 

 solution in the cell-sap do not readily move out. As the bulk of the cell-sap 

 diminishes the pressure from the outside pushes the protoplasmic membrane 

 away from the wall. Now when we remove the salt solution and bathe 

 the thread with water again, the cell-sap, being a solution of certain sub- 

 stances, diffuses with more difficulty than the water, and the diffusion current 

 is inward, while the protoplasmic membrane moves out against the cell wall, 

 and turgidity again results. Also in the experiments with salt and sugar solu- 

 tions on the leaves of geranium, on the leaves and stems of the seedlings, on 

 the tissues and cells of the beet and carrot, and on the root hairs of the seed- 

 lings, the same processes take place. 



These experiments not only teach us that in the protoplasmic membrane, the 

 cell wall, and the cell-sap of plants do we have structures which are capable of 

 performing these physical processes, but they also show that these processes are 

 of the utmost importance to the plant ; not only in giving the plant the power 

 to take up solutions of nutriment from the soil, but they serve also other pur- 

 poses, as we shall see later. 



