5^ ON THE DIONjEA muscipula. 



*< may. suppose, that life would be completely cxliiig-i!ibht4 



" Oil the total ahstrartimi of ovicr»Mi.'! 

 Ih-^lbi"!^ "Ln ^^^^h' t'^'*^ eariiipt he roiisidered as supi'orting the opinion 

 cjcxceiiby of the iuipossibiiity of 0-xigen gas beiiiy ubaoibed by the 

 ijnc blood. blood. 



My lime has heen iio entirely taken up by other indispen- 

 sal>!e avovalioiis, l ha\e not \et had au opportunity oi eotn- 

 plcting Kiy exftersaiciits on ve^clation. Ah soon as they eau 

 he finished, 1 shad do myselT the pleasure oi' tiau&uiitting 

 theai. 



I remain, dear Sir, 



fours' Szc. 



J. ACTON. 



III. 



Oti (he Dhma'n Mnsdpula. Read at the Lilcrary avd Pfii- 

 tosophical Sociefy of Manchester, Oct. Olh, by Mr. Ro- 

 Bl'.RT Lyai-L. Communicated by the Author. 



I,pave'=K)f -^ ^'^^ diona?a mnscipula has no less nstonished-the eye of 



Yt-niLs's By- the philosopher or of the physiologist, than that of the coui- 



wi/erirri-tlTed ""^^ observer, by the singular contraction of its leaves when 



irritated by a stimulus. Most authors have ascribed the 



motion of the leaves of this pla-nt to an irritable principle; 



but Sennebier and a few others have endeavoured to show, 



that it is owing to a mechanical cause. 



Their media- At the apex of each lanceolate leaf of this plant there is. 



^'•'^"'- a pair of ovate toothed lobes, which when irritated approach 



each other, at the same time that the spines of both lobes 



crpsi«, 'fllke the teeth of a spring rat-trap." 



Brf,H'!«!o; ef as- Sennebier,wha\s always unwilliiig to arlmi tthat vegetables 



«rTin<^ the con- ;ire irritable, mentions the following ouiniou of Broussonet 



f-.iiyof a coTiceriong the cause of tins motion. " Broussonet, in the 



fitri(i. ' ]\TemoirsoflheAcadeinyorS<-ieucesorParisforl748,suspects, 



\hi\i the disengagement ot' some fluids influences these mor 



tioiis ; the little glands, which we discover on the leaves of 



the 



