34 DAKWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF. 



closely inflected. After forty-eight hours I gently opened 

 one leaf, and the meat now consisted of a minute central 

 sphere, partially digested, and surrounded by a thick en- 

 velope of transparent viscid fluid. The whole, without 

 being much disturbed, was removed and placed under the 

 microscope. In the central part the transverse striae on 

 the muscular fibers were quite distinct ; and it was inter- 

 esting to observe how gradually they disappeared, when 

 the same fiber was traced into the surrounding fluid. 

 They disappeared by the strise being replaced by trans- 

 verse lines formed of excessively minute dark points, 

 which toward the exterior could be seen only under a 

 very high power ; and ultimately these points were lost. 



p Finally, the experiments recorded in this 



chapter show us that there is a remarkable 

 accordance in the power of digestion between the gastric 

 juice of animals, with its pepsin and hydrochloric acid, 

 and the secretion of Drosera with its ferment and acid be- 

 longing to the acetic series. We can, therefore, hardly 

 doubt that the ferment in both cases is closely similar. 



DIVEBSE MEAKS BY WHICH PLANTS GAIN THEIE SUB- 

 SISTENCE. 



Insectiror- Ordinary plants of the higher classes pro- 



P^e^lsl!'' ^^^® *^® requisite inorganic elements from the 

 soil by means of their roots, and absorb carbonic 

 acid from the atmosphere by means of their leaves and 

 stems. But we have seen in a previous part of this work 

 that there is a class of plants which digest and afterward 

 absorb animal matter, namely, all the Droseracew, Pingui- 

 cula, and, as discovered by Dr. Hooker, Nepenthes, and 

 to this class other species will almost certainly soon be 



