Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1855-01-27
AMERICAN ORGAN.
Smithsonian Lectures.
REPORTED FOR the AMERICAN ORGAN.


REPORTED FoR THE AMERICAN ORGAN
THE RELATIONS OF THE PLANT TO THESUN.
BIZ PRoF ASA GRAY, OF HARVARD UsIvERsIrY
The lecturer remarked that, having already con-
sidered the plant as to its organs its growth, and
its modes Of increase, he was now to take survey
of the vegetable creation from another point of
view to consider the kind Of life which the
plant lives, the conditions under which this life Is
enjoyed, and the general purposes which vegeta-
ton subserves in the world at large. Plants sus-
tain intimate relations on the one hand with the
SOIL the air, and the sun on the other, with am
mails, and with man. OF these, the most important
and fundamental, and from which may most readi-
" he oathered the answer to the question, what
does vegetation accomplish and how y the reia-
tlon Of plants to the sun which was taken as the
theme of the discourse
first illustrated In the fact that vegetation belongs
exclusively 10 the earths surface, and is most abun-
dant, other things being equal, just in proportion
to the SUMS light and heat received. The suns IN
auence over the plant when 1t terminates from
the seed was then adyerted to; the ascent Of the
Young STEM the descent Of the root, the bending
Of green shoots towards the light, and the constant
turning of the upper and deeper green surface Of
leaves to the sun, were described and the cause
shown TO be in a selfdrectng power inherent In
the plant, and only set in operation by the sun or
other exterior Influences.
These directions assumed by parts OF the plants
were shown to depend upon slow movements OF
the same nature as those which are seen in the
change Of position Of the leaves Of many plants at
night, and which has been fancifully called the
Sleep Of Plants n and Of the same nature as the
more obvious and rapid movements exhibited by
the Sensitive Plant, which closes its leaflets sud-
denly when touched, and the Dionaa or Fly Catch
or, which Is found around Wilmington, North Gar,
olna, In which a singular appendage OF the ieai,
something like an open rat-trap, closes when
t,uched on the upper face, as by ATTY alighting on
IT, 40 quickly as to capture the insect and TO grasp
the prisoner all the tighter for its struggles Sew
oral cases Of spontaneous motions In plants were
taen ndduced which are executed while the sun
shines or until the organs tire. All these mo-
tons were asserted, to be followed by exhaustion,
and to require period of repose, after which they
could be renewed. And weak solution OF OPT
Ii n enfeebles or suspends the action.
The immediate cause Of the movement was shown
by a variety of evidence to be contraction or
shortening of the cells Of the issue the concaye
or inner side, and therefore to be analogous to
movements by muscular contraction in animals In
animals the cells of the muscle contract through
stimulous impaired by nerve. In plants, which
have no nervous system, the stimulous OF the light
OF the sun appears to preside over the movement,
or to ncite IT,
The more extraordinary movements in certain
plants were declared TO be only an exaltaton OF a
faculty belonging to all plants, and shown in the
cases already mentioned, and also in the coiling OF
tendrils, in the opening and colorng OF blossoms,
each in its own way and time--some opening In
sunshine and closing at nightfall; others opening
at sunset and closing with the dawn OF day--such
different conduct under the same circumstances,
plainly depending upon forces or faculties belong
ing to the plant ITSELF and only set in operation by
the sun.
The free movements executed by various simple
and microscopic plants, or by what answers to the
seeds of the lower alg@, were fully illustrated /;
movements so free and vivid that these beings
lad, many Of them, long been mistaken for ami
mails, though the evidence of their vegetable ma
ture is perfect.
The reason why Psychologists have SO long hest
tated to acknowledge in plants power OF making
independent and seLEdetermined movements prob
ably is, that such faculty seems to imply consci-
business. This was declared to be an unfounded
assumption and reference was made, on the other
hand, to the various functions and movements that
are carried on in ourselves without our conscious
ness or will; the lower animals were asserted to
have no consciousness, and the lowest no definite
yoltion--while spontaneous motions, made in oil.
vegetable as wen as to animal life.
The vitality Of plants and animals was pro-
nounced to be, so far as we know, identical; but,
"a we rise in the scale Of being, something more
ia added at each step in animals with a brain,
consciousness; in the highest brute animals, the
power of simple reasoning; in man, the crown OF
animal creation, the power OF not only looking
"before and after" but inward upon the opera
tons of his own mind-of making his own thoughts
the object of thought
The true ground Of difference between vegeta-
bles and animals is not In the nature of their vital
ity but In the relations which the animal kingdom
sustains TO the vegetable and the latter TO the
same. Nt &
The rest of the discourse was devoted to show
ing that the sun supplies the motiye-power by
which circulation and the rise Of the sap from the
roots to the leaves Is effected that plants produce
all the organic matter, all the food in the world
that the great office Of vegetation Is 10 weave out
Of common earth and air, a fabric in which the
ethereal principles Of lfe whether In plants or an
imals may be embodied and manifested, TO pro-
duce the material which composes the corporal
frame Of not only all the vegetable but oil the an.
imal races and this through power derived
from the sun, az he would show in the next lee
ture.
He concluded by showing, by some original ar
grnents that the sun did not create the vegetation,
but only operates as to living machinery but that
plants and therefore animals, must have been spe-
officially created after their kinds" by Divine
power, and introduced upon the earth adapted to
their conditions and TO the Offices they were re-
spectively destined to perform-the vegetable to
create food the animal TO consume Il.
To TAKE RUsr OUT OF SrKrL.---Cover the steel
with sweet oil, well rubbed on II; in two days
use unsacked lime, finely powdered, TO rub until
the rust disappears. To take iron stains out Of q
marble chimney-piece. Mix in bottle an equal
quantity Of fresh spirit Of vitrol and lemon juice
shake this well wet the spots, and, In few min
utes, rub with soft linen until they disappear
A HISr ron HousEKEEPKRs.--A few drops o
carbonate Of ammonia, In a small quantity of warn
rain water, will prove safe and easy antiacid, &c.