6 EXPERIMENTS ON THE HEAT OF LIVING PLANTS. 



trate our views, or to forward our wishes. A clearer view of these 

 phenomena enables us to trace the operations of general causes, affording 

 to the contemplative man inexhaustible springs of knowledge. Thus, 

 it seems that the solid bodies by which we are surrounded, although 

 to us they appear to possess a leaden dulness, a sluggish and inert 

 appearance, are never at rest. Constant motion influences their exte- 

 rior dimensions, and their interior and hidden particles are constantly 

 approaching and receding from each other. 

 Shouldham, Nov. 1833. 



EXPERIMENTS ON THE HEAT OF LIVING PLANTS. 



BY PROFESSOR GOEPPERT, OF VIENNA.* 



After making some remarks upon the development of heat in plants, 

 and indicating the authors who have maintained conflicting opinions 

 thereupon, M. Goeppert states, that he has been led, by recent experi- 

 ments, to conclude that plants, as living beings, can generate heat. 

 That, however, which is disengaged during the nutrition and respiration 

 of the insulated plant, cannot be brought under observation, as it is con- 

 tinually carried off by the surrounding air. 



A. Experiments made on seeds while germinating. No author 

 has yet made the observation, that caloric is emitted by plants when 

 germinating; they, however, generate a considerable quantity. 

 Modern authors had usually ranked germination as belonging to 

 the phenomena of chemistry or fermentation; they know only that 

 wheat generated at that time a greater degree of heat, but without hav- 

 ing made any distinct observations on the subject. After having soaked 

 some grains in water until they had absorbed the quantity necessarv to * 

 germination, the author withdrew them, and placed them in heaps. In 

 proportion as the quantity of corn was greater and more surrounded by 

 bodies that are non-conductors of heat to prevent deperdition, the 

 higher the temperature became. M. Goeppert usually made his obser- 

 vations in wooden vessels, which were deep, and surrounded with tow, 

 to the thickness of two or three inches. The length of time necessary 

 for the development of the shoots and radicles depends more or less on 



* Ueber Warme-Entwicklung in der lebenden Pflanze : pp. 32. 8vo. Gerald, 

 Wien, 1832. - 



