. Elementary text-book of zoology. Zoology. 20 ANIMALS AND of complex compounds, and is essentially an oxidation process, by which potential energy is converted into kinetic (movement, produc- tion of heat, light). The vital activity of plants, on the contrary, is based, so far as it relates to assimilation, on synthesis, and is essentially a process of reduction; under the influence of which the energy of warmth and light is stored up, kinetic energy being converted into potential. Nevertheless, this difference also is not applicable as a test in all cases. Recently the attention of
. Elementary text-book of zoology. Zoology. 20 ANIMALS AND of complex compounds, and is essentially an oxidation process, by which potential energy is converted into kinetic (movement, produc- tion of heat, light). The vital activity of plants, on the contrary, is based, so far as it relates to assimilation, on synthesis, and is essentially a process of reduction; under the influence of which the energy of warmth and light is stored up, kinetic energy being converted into potential. Nevertheless, this difference also is not applicable as a test in all cases. Recently the attention of investigators has been turned, especially by Hooker and Darwin,* to the remarkable nutri- tive and digestive processes in a group of plants which were first observed a hundred years ago (Ellis). The plants in question catch, after the manner of animals, small organisms, especially in- Dmsera rotundif oiia, sects, and absorb from them^ through with partially contracted tentacles the glandular surface of their leaves the organic matter after a chemical process resembling animal digestion (leaves of the Sun-dew, Drosera rotundifolia, and the fly-catcher, Dioncea muscipula. Figs. 7 & 8). Many parasitic plants and almost all fungi have not, however, in general, the power of making organic substances from inorganic, but suck up organic juices; and in taking tip oxygen and giving out carbonic acid, they present a respi- ratory process resembling that found in animals. It was established by Saussure's observations that all plants require oxygen at certain intervals; that in those parts of plants which are not green, not possessing chlorophyll, and also in the green parts in the absence of sunlight, at night, a consumption of oxygen and exhalation * Compare "specially Ch. Darwin, " Insectivorous ; London. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appear
Size: 1265px × 1975px
Photo credit: © Paul Fearn / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectzoology, bookyear1884
