[102(i)]

(161

for Ch XI IX

may, say, perhaps fancifully, that they are then attacked by convulsions. M. Paul Bert* in speaking of the action of anæsthetic & the Sensitive plant (Mimosa) insists that anæsthetics affect destroys the excitability & the power of movement in the little swellings at the bases of the leaves & petioles, & stops the power of transmission in the fibro-vascular bundles; whereas with animals he believes that anæsthetics act solely on the central nervous system, & if applied locally on the sensory nerves. On the other hand according to M. Bert the vibratile ciliæ of animals, are affected by anæsthetics in the same manner as is the sensitive plant. With respect to Drosera, I am unable to say whether it is acted on by anæsthetic like the sensitive plant or like animals; but if but there can be no doubt that the I am right in believing that the glands act like ganglia receiving sensory impression & thus in a reflex manner, transmitting a motor influence, they are probably affected like the great nerve centres of animals.

[102(ii)]

*p. 161.) Mém. de la Soc. des Sciences de Bordeaux Tom. IV. 1866 p. 11 & p. 54.

One of the most remarkable important results arrived at by M. Bert in this remarkable paper is that the nocturnal movements (or so-called sleep) of the Mimosa are not affected by anæsthetics, & are altoget altogether of a different nature from those which follow from a touch. I may state that in 1862 I made late in the evening a few trials on of the influence of sulphuric ether & chloroform on the sleep of Trifolium repens & Oxalis acetosella, & found to my surprise (though I did not see by no means saw the importance of the observation) that their nocturnal movements were (in some cases) not at all delayed, & in other cases were only slightly delayed, by previous long exposure during a cour for an hour or two to the above two vapours.

[in margin:] If nocturnal movements are due to growth, this wd be intelligible — How with [illeg] are the movement stopped by anæthesia