218 GEOEGE JOHN EOMANES I88I- 



The business was so completely out of my line, that 

 I did not know what was required. It seemed to 

 me that if I got any evidence of bending towards the 

 sparks, the only question I wanted to answer would 

 be answered, and, therefore, that it did not matter 

 a straw about temperature, moisture, and the rest. 

 Moreover, the results did not seem to me to be of any 

 importance, as they were just what might have been 

 expected, and, therefore, I doubted whether it was 

 worth while pubHshing a paper about them. Had 

 they gone the other way, and proved that the plants 

 would not bend to flashing Hght, I should have thought 

 it much more interesting. Lastly, the research was 

 so expensive, costing £1 per day at the only place 

 where I could get the requisite apparatus, and there 

 they shut up at night. 



Of course, I will withdraw this paper, and, if you 

 think the thing is worth working out in all the details 

 you suggest, will do so. In that case, it would be 

 worth while to ascertain whether there would be any 

 electrical apparatus at Cambridge which I could get 

 the use of at a lower rate of profit to the owners. A 

 good-sized induction coil is really all that is required, 

 and they probably have this in the Cavendish. But 

 there is not one available in any of the London work- 

 shops, and so I had to go to Appes, in the Strand. It 

 is suggested that the debate in Section D at the 

 British Association this year should be opened by me 

 on the question of utility as universal. Before I agree, 

 I should hke to know what you think about the 

 ' Nature ' controversy which I have recently had with 

 Dyer, and out of which the present suggestion has 



