Page:Life Movements in Plants.djvu/74

44 of the day; at another equally definite period, the excitability was observed to have attained its climax. The observations on the periodic variation of excitability appeared at first to be extremely puzzling. It might be thought, for example, that light would prove to be favourable for moto-excitability; in actual experiment the results apparently contradicted such a supposition: for the excitability of the plant was found much higher in the evening than in the morning. Favourable temperature, again, might be regarded as an important factor for the enhancement of the moto-excitability; it was, nevertheless, found that though the excitatory response Was only moderate at that period of night when the temperature was at its minimum, yet the excitability was altogether abolished at another period when the temperature was several degrees higher. The obscurities which surrounded the subject were only removed as a result of protracted investigation and comparison of continuous automatic records made by the plant itself during several months, beginning with winter and ending in summer.

The question whether a plant like Mimosa exhibits diurnal variation of excitability can be experimentally investigated by subjecting the plant at every hour of the day and night to a test-stumulus of uniform intensity, and obtaining the corresponding mechanical responses. Under these circumstances the amplitude of response at any time will serve as a measure of the excitability of the plant at the particular time. Any periodic fluctuation of response will then demonstrate the periodic character of variation of excitability.

The investigation thus resolves itself into:—