HEART-BEAT OF A LEAF.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3414, 19 February 1920, Page 6

HEART-BEAT OF A LEAF.

" In the reading room at the India I()fil'ce, VVhit.ehall, S.VV., before a. large audience, Sir Jagadis Challdr-.1 Bose, a s*avallt who, by nfézms of delicate I'll- - he has invented, has made» some remzll'kzlble ‘discoveries in the an:l.l()gy between.plants and aninlals, gave-a. dcnlollst,ratioll. of his work. “There is ‘st pulsation in certain plant tissues which, with animals, heart-beat,” he said. “Identical efforts are caused by s’rilmllunts and poisons in :ulillla]s‘aud \'(§get';ibles, Lmd in ‘sll9 deatll spasm which occ.ul's in both."

I-EOll-I‘»l‘ilxg ti: Ihc ditiiculzly in cording’ these “incessant tlll‘olb7bingS” in the appal'cn’rly_ perfectly still healthy plant, he stated that “the sluggish Inovemcnt of 11 snail is about 13000 times faster than the nlovomont of"g1'0atl1 in :1. plant, the average rate of \\'lll(‘l1 was one millizvmh part of an inch per Second.”

Tim Cl‘«";4L'O;___Vl‘:‘.‘l)ll (tl‘.-0 li‘.‘.‘;llg ul‘ liisz invention) would Show the snail moving with a speed of 200,000,000 feet per hour. . - Sir Jagadis, having grapliically dc? scribed his vast‘nlagnificatioll, flicked a leaf from {L pot plant of Cyclamen and placod it on the magnetic needle of "the cl'escogl'a,ph. From the rnlil‘l'or attaclml to the needle :1. spot of light appeared at once on the .scl=een, and moved backwards and forwards across the latter at :1 ratcfof 10ft in 12 sec- ‘ onds. -The actual rate of the plant’.< ipulsation Was..'loo,oooth p'a.l't. of an ; il_;ch peni-second. When the 'leaf- was stinitilatod with an electric eul'l'ent .I_';h{},. pulsation and the spot of light were <111iC1u)11c(I‘E:~"V>W“Thm'e is I:otllixl_g'.iTY‘-E?€l1;> animal \\‘l1l('ll lms not been ‘fol'c.<t:lllod in the p1*.1.11t.” said the l<?(3tul‘ol'.» “When :1 plant is [)IB.C(‘G in unliappy conklitions. as in a. bath of hot water, the time comes when it struggles and dies, and its struggles are the same as in the animal.” ‘j