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- | ====== The Secret | + | ====== The Secret |
**The Secret Life of Plants: by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird, 1973** | **The Secret Life of Plants: by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird, 1973** | ||
- | [[reading_notes]] by [[Cocky_Eek]] | + | [[reading_notes]] by [[Cocky_Eek]] |
- | === Introduction === | + | ==== Introduction ==== |
- | < | + | |
+ | < | ||
Raoul Francé put forth the idea, shocking to contemporary natural philosophers, | Raoul Francé put forth the idea, shocking to contemporary natural philosophers, | ||
that the only reason we don't appreciate the fact is that plants do so at | that the only reason we don't appreciate the fact is that plants do so at | ||
Line 25: | Line 25: | ||
creations of romance. | creations of romance. | ||
- | ---Far from existing inertly, | + | ---the inhabitants of the pasture -or botane- appear to be **able to perceive and to |
react to what is happening in their environment at a level of sophistication** | react to what is happening in their environment at a level of sophistication** | ||
far surpassing that of humans. | far surpassing that of humans. | ||
Line 54: | Line 54: | ||
to insects, but remain relatively unattractive. | to insects, but remain relatively unattractive. | ||
- | ------Plants are even sentient to orientation and to the future. | + | ------the leaves |
of the sunflower plant, **Silphium laciniatum, accurately indicate | of the sunflower plant, **Silphium laciniatum, accurately indicate | ||
the points of the compass**. Indian licorice, or Arbrus precatorius, | the points of the compass**. Indian licorice, or Arbrus precatorius, | ||
Line 68: | Line 68: | ||
the world, subjectively revealed to him through his five senses-knows | the world, subjectively revealed to him through his five senses-knows | ||
nothing. | nothing. | ||
- | Whereas plants | + | Plants |
- | automata, they have now been found to be able to distinguish between | + | |
sounds inaudible to the human ear and color wavelengths such as infra- | sounds inaudible to the human ear and color wavelengths such as infra- | ||
red and ultraviolet invisible to the human eye; they are specially sensitive | red and ultraviolet invisible to the human eye; they are specially sensitive | ||
Line 87: | Line 86: | ||
**Could the plant have been reading his mind**? | **Could the plant have been reading his mind**? | ||
+ | // | ||
+ | related libarynth topics:// | ||
+ | * [[plant perception]] | ||
+ | * [[groworld HPI ii]] | ||
+ | ------------------------------- | ||
- | === ESP, or extrasensory perception === | + | |
+ | |||
+ | ==== ESP, or extrasensory perception | ||
- | < | + | |
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | a variety of new products: the red color seen on television screens; | ||
+ | fluorescent crayons; tags for insecticides; | ||
+ | to determine, from their urine, the secret trackways of rodents in cellars, | ||
+ | sewers, and slums. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---Vogel found that some of the philodendrons he worked with | ||
+ | responded faster, others more slowly, some very distinctly, others less | ||
+ | distinctly, and that not only plants but their **individual leaves had their | ||
+ | own unique personality and individuality**. Leaves with a large electrical | ||
+ | resistance were especially difficult to work with; **fleshy leaves with a high | ||
+ | water content were the best**. Plants appeared to go through phases of | ||
+ | activity and inactivity, full of response at certain times of the day or days | ||
+ | of the month, " | ||
+ | To make sure that none of these recording effects was the result of | ||
+ | faulty electroding, | ||
+ | of a **solution of agar, with a thickener of karri gum, and salt**. This paste | ||
+ | he brushed onto the leaves before gently applying carefully polished | ||
+ | one-by-one-and-a-half-inch stainless-steel electrodes. When the agar | ||
+ | jelly hardened around the edges of the electronic pickups, it sealed their | ||
+ | faces into a moist interior, virtually eliminating all the variability in | ||
+ | signal output caused by pressure on leaves when clamped between ordi- | ||
+ | nary electrodes. This system produced for Vogel a base line on the chart | ||
+ | that Was perfectly straight, without oscillations. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---" | ||
+ | oscillating wildly on the chart. This led to speculation that talking of sex | ||
+ | could stir up in the atmosphere some sort of sexual energy such as the | ||
+ | " | ||
+ | ancient fertility rites in which humans had **sexual intercourse in freshly | ||
+ | seeded fields might indeed have stimulated plants to grow**. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---electronics engineer L. George Lawrence believed that biological radiations transmitted by living things are best received | ||
+ | by a biological medium. biological-type sensors | ||
+ | are needed in order to intercept biological signals, applies particularly to | ||
+ | communications from outer space. As he puts it: " | ||
+ | are next to worthless here, since ' | ||
+ | of the known electromagnetic spectrum." | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---1920s the Russian histologist Alexander Gurwitsch and his | ||
+ | wife, proclaimed that all living cells produce an invisible radiation. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ---1969. Lawrence; Four main questions, were starting to attract serious | ||
+ | attention: **Could plants be integrated with electronic readouts to form | ||
+ | major data sensors and transducers? | ||
+ | to the presence of selected objects and images? Were their alleged | ||
+ | supersensory perceptions verifiable? Of the 350,000 plant species known | ||
+ | to science, which were the most promising from the electronic point of | ||
+ | view**? | ||
+ | |||
+ | "There are certain qualities here," he wrote, | ||
+ | "which do not enter into normal experimental situations. According to | ||
+ | those experimenting in this area, it is necessary to have a 'green thumb' | ||
+ | and, most important, a genuine love for plants." | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---------------------- | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== Latest Soviet Discoveries ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---biologist Karamanov published "**The Application of Automation and Cybernetics to Plant Husbandry.**" | ||
+ | and leaves, the intensity of their transpiration, | ||
+ | characteristics of their radiation. He picked up detailed information on when and how much a plant wants to drink, whether it craves | ||
+ | more nourishment or is too hot or cold. | ||
+ | |||
+ | --He showed that an ordinary bean plant had acquired the equivalent of " | ||
+ | afforded the capability of independently establishing the optimal length | ||
+ | of its ' | ||
+ | the equivalent of " | ||
+ | wanted water.** " | ||
+ | continued, "it did not guzzle the water indiscriminately but limited | ||
+ | itself to a two-minute drink each hour, thus regulating its water need | ||
+ | with the help of an artificial mechanism. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---Beans, potatoes, wheat, and crowfoot | ||
+ | after proper " | ||
+ | repeated the pulsations with " | ||
+ | The scientists next went on, to condition a | ||
+ | philodendron to recognize when a piece of mineralized rock was put | ||
+ | beside it. Using the system developed by Pavlov with dogs, whereby he | ||
+ | discovered the " | ||
+ | mineralized ore was placed next to it. They reported that, after condi- | ||
+ | tioning, the same plant, anticipating the hurtful shock, would get "emo- | ||
+ | tionally upset" whenever the block of ore was put beside it. Further- | ||
+ | more, said the Kazakh scientists, the plant could distinguish between | ||
+ | mineralized ore and a similar piece of barren rock containing no miner- | ||
+ | als, a feat which might indicate that plants will one day be used in | ||
+ | **geological prospecting.** | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---V.n. Pushkin, psychological scientist surmised that **a hypnotized person should be able | ||
+ | to send emotions to a plant more directly** and spontaneously than a | ||
+ | person in a normal state. Hypnotizing a young girl by the name of | ||
+ | Tanya, who was described by Pushkin as of " | ||
+ | spontaneous emotionality," | ||
+ | she was one of the most beautiful women in the world, then the notion | ||
+ | that she was freezing in harsh raw weather. At each change in the girl' | ||
+ | mood the plant, which was attached to an encephalograph, | ||
+ | with an appropriate pattern on the graph. "We were able," says Pushkin "to get an electrical reaction as many times as we worked, even to | ||
+ | the most arbitrary commands.” | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---Pushkin and Fetisov decided to see whether **the plant could detect | ||
+ | a lie**, as Backster had claimed. It was suggested to Tanya that she thinks of a number from 1 to 10. At the same time she was told she would never | ||
+ | reveal the number, even if pressed to do so. When the researchers | ||
+ | counted slowly from I to 10, pausing after each digit to inquire whether | ||
+ | it was the one she had thought of, each time Tanya responded with a | ||
+ | decisive " | ||
+ | in her answers, the plant gave a specific and clear reaction to her internal | ||
+ | state when the number 5 was counted. It was the number which Tanya | ||
+ | had selected and promised not to reveal. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---plants have memory. They are able | ||
+ | to gather impressions and retain them over long periods. We had a man | ||
+ | molest, even torture, a geranium for several days in a row. He pinched | ||
+ | it, tore it, pricked its leaves with a needle, dripped acid on its living tissues, | ||
+ | burned it with a lighted match, and cut its roots. Another man took | ||
+ | tender care of the same geranium, watered it, worked its soil, sprayed it | ||
+ | with fresh water, supported its heavy branches, and treated its burns and | ||
+ | wounds. When we e1ectroded our instruments to the plant, what do you | ||
+ | think? No sooner did **the torturer come near the plant than the recorder | ||
+ | of the instrument began to go wild**. **The plant didn't just get " | ||
+ | it was afraid, it was horrified.** If it could have, it would have either thrown | ||
+ | itself out the window or attacked its torturer. Hardly had this inquisitor | ||
+ | left and the good man taken his place near the plant than the geranium | ||
+ | was appeased, its impulses died down, the recorder traced out smooth- | ||
+ | one might almost say tender-lines on the graph. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---In addition to a plant' | ||
+ | researchers also noted that one plant supplied with water can somehow | ||
+ | share it with a deprived neighbor. In one institute of research a cornstalk | ||
+ | planted in a glass container was denied water for several weeks. Yet it | ||
+ | did not die; it remained as healthy as other cornstalks planted in normal | ||
+ | conditions nearby. In some way, **water was transferred from healthy plants to the " | ||
+ | no idea how this was accomplished. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---As fantastic as this may seem, a kind of plant-to-plant transfer has | ||
+ | been taking place in England in experiments begun in 1972 by Dr. | ||
+ | A. R. Bailey. Two plants in an artificially lit greenhouse in which temper- | ||
+ | ature, humidity, and light were carefully controlled were suffering from | ||
+ | lack of water. Bailey and his collaborator measured the voltages gene- | ||
+ | rated between two parts of both plants. When one plant was watered | ||
+ | from the outside through plastic tubes, the other plant reacted. As Bailey | ||
+ | told the British Society of Dowsers: "There was no electrical connection | ||
+ | between them, no physical connection whatsoever, but **somehow one | ||
+ | plant picked up what was going on with the other." | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---research of the American Nobel Prize winner Melvin Calvin in photo· | ||
+ | synthesis, wherein he discovered that **plant chlorophyll under the influence of the sun's rays can give up electrons to a semiconductor such as | ||
+ | zincoxide**. Melvin and his co-workers created a "green photoelement," | ||
+ | which produced a current of approximately 0.1 microamperes per square | ||
+ | centimeter. After several minutes, the plant | ||
+ | chlorophyll becomes desensitized or " | ||
+ | extended by the addition of** hydroquinone to the salt solution which acts | ||
+ | as an electrolyte**. The chlorophyll seems to act as a kind of electron | ||
+ | pump passing electrons from the hydroquinone to the semiconductor. | ||
+ | Calvin has calculated that a chlorophyll photoelement with an area | ||
+ | of ten square meters could yield a kilowatt of power. He has theorized | ||
+ | that in the next quarter century such photoelements could be manufac· | ||
+ | tured on an industrial scale and would be a hundred times cheaper than | ||
+ | silicone solar batteries now being experimented with. Pg 76 | ||
+ | |||
+ | // | ||
+ | related topic// | ||
+ | |||
+ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ==== Pioneers of Plant Mysteries ==== | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | < | ||
+ | of carrots and turnips, which, of all vegetables, appeared to him the most | ||
+ | stolidly nonsentient, | ||
+ | chloroformed plants, Bose discovered that they were as successfully | ||
+ | anesthetized as animals, and that when the narcotic vapor was blown | ||
+ | away by fresh air like animals they revived. **Using chloroform to tranquilize a huge pine tree,** Bose was able to uproot it and transplant it without | ||
+ | the usually fatal shock of such operations. Pg 87 | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---Since Bose knew that in plants there was respiration without gills or lungs, | ||
+ | digestion without a stomach, and movements without muscles, it | ||
+ | seemed plausible to him that there could be the same kind of excitation | ||
+ | as in higher animals but without a complicated nervous system. | ||
+ | Bose concluded that the only way to find out about the unseen | ||
+ | changes which take place in plants and **tell if they were excited or | ||
+ | depressed** would be to measure visually their responses to what he | ||
+ | called " | ||
+ | the plant give an answering signal. Secondly, we have to supply the | ||
+ | means for an automatic conversion of these signals into an intelligent | ||
+ | script. And, last of all, we have ourselves to learn the nature of these | ||
+ | hieroglyphics." | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---Bose was able to show how the skins | ||
+ | of lizards, tortoises, and frogs as well as those of grapes, tomatoes behaved similarly. He found that the vegetal | ||
+ | digestive organs in insectivorous plants, from the tentacle of a sundew | ||
+ | to the hair-lined flap of a pitcher plant, were analogous to animal stom- | ||
+ | achs. He discovered close parallels between the response to light in | ||
+ | leaves and in the retinas of animal eyes. With his magnifier he proved | ||
+ | that plants become as fatigued by continuous stimulation as animal | ||
+ | muscles, whether they were **hypersensitive mimosas or undemonstrative | ||
+ | radishes**. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---Working with the **Desmodium gyrans, a species whose continuously | ||
+ | oscillating leaves recall the motion of semaphore flags** and led to its | ||
+ | common appellation, | ||
+ | could stop its automatic ceaseless pulsation would also stop an animal | ||
+ | heart and that the antidote for this poison could bring both organisms | ||
+ | back to life. Pg 92 | ||
+ | |||
+ | In Desmodium gyrans, or the telegraph plant, Bose found that if the | ||
+ | cut end of a detached leaflet was dipped in water in a bent glass tube | ||
+ | it r**ecovered from the shock of its amputation and began to pulsate anew**. | ||
+ | Was this not like an excised animal heart which can be kept beating in | ||
+ | Ringer' | ||
+ | is lowered and starts again when pressure is raised, Bose found the same | ||
+ | was true for the pulsation of the Desmodium when the sap pressure was | ||
+ | increased or decreased. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | --- One day Bose found | ||
+ | that when all motion stopped in his plant, it suddenly shuddered in a | ||
+ | way reminiscent of the death spasm in animals. To determine exactly | ||
+ | the critical temperature at which death occurred, he invented a **moro- | ||
+ | graph, or death recorder.** While many plants met their end at sixty | ||
+ | degrees centigrade, individual plants exhibited variations depending on | ||
+ | their previous histories and ages. If their power of resistance was artificially depressed by fatigue, or poison, the death spasm would take place | ||
+ | with temperatures as low as twenty-three degrees Centigrade. At death, | ||
+ | the plant threw off a huge electrical force. **Five hundred green peas | ||
+ | could develop five hundred volts,** said Bose, **enough to fulminate a cook | ||
+ | but for the fact that peas are seldom connected in series.** | ||
+ | Though it had been thought that plants liked unlimited quantities of | ||
+ | carbon dioxide, Bose found that too much of this gas could suffocate | ||
+ | them, but that they could then be revived, just like animals, with oxygen. | ||
+ | Like human beings, **plants became intoxicated when given shots of | ||
+ | whiskey or gin,** swayed like any barroom drunkard, passed out, and | ||
+ | eventually revived, with definite signs of a hangover. These findings | ||
+ | together with hundreds of other data were published in two massive | ||
+ | volumes in 1906 and 1907. Pg 94 | ||
+ | |||
+ | Boses invention the crescograph not only produced a ten-thousand-fold magnification of movement, | ||
+ | far beyond the powers of the strongest microscope, but could automati- | ||
+ | cally record the rate of growth of plants and their changes in a period | ||
+ | as short as a minute. | ||
+ | Bose showed the remarkable fact that in countless plants, **growth proceeds in rhythmic pulses.** each pulse exhibiting' | ||
+ | rapid uplift and then a slower partial recoil of about a fourth the distance | ||
+ | gained. The pulses in Calcutta averaged about three per minute. By | ||
+ | watching the progress of the movement on the chart Bose found that **growth in some plants could be retarded and even | ||
+ | halted by merely touching them, and that in others rough handling | ||
+ | stimulated growth, especially if they were sluggish and morose.** Pg 99 | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---The roots of plants are called " | ||
+ | the soil. Leaves turn to light because they are " | ||
+ | bending against the flow of a stream " | ||
+ | is known as its " | ||
+ | |||
+ | // | ||
+ | related libarynth topic: // [[plant movement]] | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---Bose now in retirement summud his scientific philosophy: | ||
+ | “Is there any possible relation between our own life and that of the plant | ||
+ | world? The question is not one of speculation but of actual demonstration | ||
+ | by some method that is unimpeachable. This means that we should | ||
+ | abandon all our preconceptions, | ||
+ | absolutely groundless and contrary to facts. The final appeal must be | ||
+ | made to the plant itself and no evidence should be accepted unless **it bears | ||
+ | the plant' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==== The Metamorphosis of Plants ==== | ||
+ | < | ||
+ | ----------------------------- | ||
+ | |||
+ | === related libarynth topics === | ||
+ | * [[plant perception]] | ||
+ | * [[plant movement]] | ||
+ | * [[HPI]] | ||