340 
GLEANINGS FROM BRITISH AND 
oxide, and spirit of turpentine, all of which are known to act upon the nervous 
system of animals. Among these experiments there is one that appears to us of 
sufficient interest to deserve the attention of the Academy of Science; it relates 
to the action of the electric current on the Mimosa pudica (Sensitive Plant). 
We selected four plants perfectly developed, and so sensitive that the slightest 
contact, such as the friction of a fly’s wing, caused their leaves to shut up, and 
the petioles (leaf-stalks) to droop along their stems. Placing the pots contain¬ 
ing these plants on an insulating stand, we attached to the two ends of their 
stems a small copper wire, in order to pass through them the current from a 
single Bunsen’s cell. After a few seconds, when the plants reopened their 
leaves, and erected their petioles, we caused the current to traverse them ; hut 
the leaves did not fold up, the petioles did not fall, and the plants seemed in¬ 
sensible to the electric action. We then varied the experiment, and instead of 
employing the direct current of the battery, we used an induced current ob¬ 
tained by the aid of a very small Ruhmkorff’s coil. The results were then quite 
different. Scarcely had the current commenced when the leaflets began to fold 
together, and the leaf-stalks drooped down along the stems. These movements 
were quickly propagated from one end to the other of the plants. According 
to this experiment the plants are sensible to electric disturbances, and behave 
under such conditions like animals. We then wished to see whether the appli¬ 
cation of the electricity for a longer or shorter time would give rise to any 
special phenomena, and we exposed three of the plants to electric action for 
varying periods. The first plant received the current from the Ruhmkorff coil 
for live minutes, and was then left to itself. For more than a quarter of an 
hour it remained in a state of prostration, but gradually its leaflets re-opeued, 
the leaf-stems lifted themselves up, and in about an hour it reassumed its natural 
appearance and seemed none the worse for the shocks it had received. A 
second plant was similarly treated for ten minutes, and then left alone. The 
state of prostration in this case lasted for an hour, and it was»not till the ex¬ 
piration of that time that the leaflets began to open, and the leaf stalks to rise, 
and these movements seemed to be accomplished with greater difficulty than in 
the preceding case. The plant was evidently fatigued, and did not fully recover 
for two hours and a half. The third plant was electrified for 25 minutes and 
then left to itself. In this case we waited in vain for its restoration—the pro¬ 
longed electric action had destroyed its irritability, and even its life, for the 
next day we found it withered, and blackenpd, as if struck by lightning. The 
fourth plant was reserved for an experiment, which proves that electric dis¬ 
turbance acts upon plants as it does upon animals.. It is known that man, and 
other animals, exposed to the anaesthetic action of ether, become insensible to 
induction currents, even when strong. We desired to ascertain if it was the 
same with the Sensitive Plant. With this object in view we placed a plant 
under a bell-glass with two openings, through which two copper wires could 
convey the electric current to it. A few drops of ether were sprinkled in the 
glass, and in a short time the plant experienced the anaesthetic action of that 
substance, for when shaken it did not close its leaves, or manifest any sensibility. 
In this state we passed the induction current through it, but it gave no sign of 
sensitiveness. The petioles remained straight, and the leaflets continued open. 
These fresh experiments came in aid of others which have been made on the 
same subject, and supply an argument in favour of those who consider the 
movements observed in these plants to be produced by the operation of organs 
analogous to those which animals possess.— Gardeners' Chronicle, from 1 Comptes 
Rendus' 
Gases found in Plants. 
Messrs. Faivre and Dupre have recently examined the gases found in the 
Mulberry and Vine, the parts which contain them, and the changes produced 
