Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-68945f75b7-4zrgc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-05T20:11:53.138Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

CHAPTER VII - THE EFFECTS OF SALTS OF AMMONIA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 August 2010

Get access

Summary

The chief object in this chapter is to show how powerfully the salts of ammonia act on the leaves of Drosera, and more especially to show what an extraordinarily small quantity suffices to excite inflection. I shall, therefore, be compelled to enter into full details. Doubly distilled water was always used; and for the more delicate experiments, water which had been prepared with the utmost possible care was given me by Professor Frankland. The graduated measures were tested, and found as accurate as such measures can be. The salts were carefully weighed, and in all the more delicate experiments, by Borda's double method. But extreme accuracy would have been superfluous, as the leaves differ greatly in irritability, according to age, condition, and constitution. Even the tentacles on the same leaf differ in irritability to a marked degree. My experiments were tried in the following several ways.

Firstly.—Drops which were ascertained by repeated trials to he on an average about half a minim, or the of a fluid ounce (·0296 ml.), were placed by the same pointed instrument on the discs of the leaves, and the inflection of the exterior rows of tentacles observed at successive intervals of time. It was first ascertained, from between thirty and forty trials, that distilled water dropped in this manner produces no effect, except that sometimes, though rarely, two or three tentacles become inflected. […]

Type
Chapter
Information
Insectivorous Plants , pp. 136 - 173
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009
First published in: 1875

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×