Cnar. XVIL SUMMARY ON ABSORPTION. 423 
any appearance making it probable that glands which 
have been strongly affected by absorbing matter of 
any kind are capable of recovering their pristine, 
colourless, and homogeneous condition, and of regain- 
ing the power of absorbing. 
From the nature of the solutions which were tried, 
I presume that nitrogen is absorbed by the glands; 
but the modified, brownish, more or less shrunk, and 
aggregated contents of the oblong glands were never 
seen by me or by my son to undergo those spon- 
taneous changes of form characteristic of protoplasm. 
On the other hand, the contents of the larger 
spherical glands often separated into small hyaline 
globules or irregularly shaped masses, which changed 
their forms very slowly and ultimately coalesced, 
forming a central shrunken mass. Whatever may be 
the nature of the contents of the several kinds of 
glands, after they have been acted on by foul water 
or by one of the nitrogenous solutions, it is probable 
that the matter thus generated is of service to the 
plant, and is ultimately transferred to other parts. 
The glands apparently absorb more quickly than do 
the quadrifid and bifid processes; and on the view 
above maintained, namely that they absorb matter 
from putrid water occasionally emitted from the 
bladderx, they ought to act more quickly than the 
processes; as these latter remain in permanent con- 
tact with captured and decaying animals. 
Finally, the conclusion to which we are ied by 
the foregoing experiments and observations is that 
the bladders have no power of digesting animal 
matter, though it appears that the quadrifids are 
somewhat affected by a fresh infusion of raw meat 
It is certain that the processes within the bladders 
and the glands outside, absorb matter from salts o/ 
28 
