Page:Life Movements in Plants.djvu/123

Rh creased gradually; this was secured by means of a potentiometer slide. In my experiment a current having an intensity of 1.4 micro-ampere was found to be effective. Responses at intervals of 10 min., as we have seen, exhibit marked fatigue. Two responses were recorded on a fast-moving plate, N before, and C after, the application of the current. It will be seen (Fig. 39) how the application of current has, by hastening the recovery, enhanced the amplitude of response and brought about a diminution of fatigue. In connection with this, I may state that the tonic condition is, in general, improved as an after-effect of the passage of current. This is seen in some cases by a slight increase in excitability; in others, where the responses had been irregular, the previous passage of a current tends to make the responses more uniform.

In taking continuous records of responses I was struck by the marked change of excitability exhibited by the intact plant under variation of light. Thus the appearance of a cloud was quickly followed by an induced depression, and its disappearance by an equally quick restoration of excitability. This may be explained on the theory that certain explosive chemical compounds are built up by the photo-synthetic processes in green leaves, and that the intensity of response depends on the presence of these compounds. But the building up of a chemical compound must necessarily be a slow process, and it is difficult on the above hypothesis to connect the rapid variation of excitability with the production of a chemical compound, or its cessation, concomitant with changes in the incident light.

Experiment 32.—In order to find out whether photo-synthesis had any effect on excitability, I placed an intact plant in a dark room and obtained from it a long series of responses under uniform test-stimulus. While this was