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| ==== 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 85: | Line 85: | ||
| not moved, either toward the plant or toward the recording machine. | not moved, either toward the plant or toward the recording machine. | ||
| **Could the plant have been reading his mind**? | **Could the plant have been reading his mind**? | ||
| + | |||
| + | // | ||
| + | related libarynth topics:// | ||
| + | * [[plant perception]] | ||
| + | * [[groworld HPI ii]] | ||
| ------------------------------- | ------------------------------- | ||
| Line 156: | Line 161: | ||
| ==== Latest Soviet Discoveries ==== | ==== Latest Soviet Discoveries ==== | ||
| - | < | + | < |
| ---biologist Karamanov published "**The Application of Automation and Cybernetics to Plant Husbandry.**" | ---biologist Karamanov published "**The Application of Automation and Cybernetics to Plant Husbandry.**" | ||
| Line 256: | Line 261: | ||
| that in the next quarter century such photoelements could be manufac· | that in the next quarter century such photoelements could be manufac· | ||
| tured on an industrial scale and would be a hundred times cheaper than | tured on an industrial scale and would be a hundred times cheaper than | ||
| - | silicone solar batteries now being experimented with. Pg 76 related | + | silicone solar batteries now being experimented with. Pg 76 |
| + | |||
| + | // | ||
| + | related topic// | ||
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | ||
| Line 264: | Line 272: | ||
| - | < | + | < |
| of carrots and turnips, which, of all vegetables, appeared to him the most | of carrots and turnips, which, of all vegetables, appeared to him the most | ||
| stolidly nonsentient, | stolidly nonsentient, | ||
| Line 312: | Line 320: | ||
| - | ---Bose experimented with heat and cold to ascertain the optimal condi- | + | --- One day Bose found |
| - | tions under which plant movement was best elicited. | + | |
| that when all motion stopped in his plant, it suddenly shuddered in a | that when all motion stopped in his plant, it suddenly shuddered in a | ||
| way reminiscent of the death spasm in animals. To determine exactly | way reminiscent of the death spasm in animals. To determine exactly | ||
| the critical temperature at which death occurred, he invented a **moro- | the critical temperature at which death occurred, he invented a **moro- | ||
| graph, or death recorder.** While many plants met their end at sixty | graph, or death recorder.** While many plants met their end at sixty | ||
| - | degrees | + | degrees |
| their previous histories and ages. If their power of resistance was artificially depressed by fatigue, or poison, the death spasm would take place | 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, | with temperatures as low as twenty-three degrees Centigrade. At death, | ||
| Line 333: | Line 340: | ||
| volumes in 1906 and 1907. Pg 94 | volumes in 1906 and 1907. Pg 94 | ||
| - | Bose devise a brand-new instrument, | + | Boses invention |
| - | tion not only produced a ten-thousand-fold magnification of movement, | + | |
| far beyond the powers of the strongest microscope, but could automati- | 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 | cally record the rate of growth of plants and their changes in a period | ||
| as short as a minute. | as short as a minute. | ||
| - | With this instrument | + | Bose showed the remarkable fact that in countless |
| - | less plants, **growth proceeds in rhythmic pulses.** each pulse exhibiting' | + | |
| rapid uplift and then a slower partial recoil of about a fourth the distance | 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 | gained. The pulses in Calcutta averaged about three per minute. By | ||
| - | watching the progress of the movement on the chart of his new inven- | + | watching the progress of the movement on the chart Bose found that **growth in some plants could be retarded and even |
| - | tion, Bose found that growth in some plants could be retarded and to be five feet. | + | |
| halted by merely touching them, and that in others rough handling | halted by merely touching them, and that in others rough handling | ||
| - | stimulated growth, especially if they were sluggish and morose. Pg 99 | + | stimulated growth, especially if they were sluggish and morose.** Pg 99 |
| ---The roots of plants are called " | ---The roots of plants are called " | ||
| the soil. Leaves turn to light because they are " | the soil. Leaves turn to light because they are " | ||
| bending against the flow of a stream " | bending against the flow of a stream " | ||
| - | is known as its " | + | is known as its " |
| + | |||
| + | // | ||
| + | related libarynth topic: // [[plant movement]] | ||
| ---Bose now in retirement summud his scientific philosophy: | ---Bose now in retirement summud his scientific philosophy: | ||
| Line 358: | Line 365: | ||
| abandon all our preconceptions, | abandon all our preconceptions, | ||
| absolutely groundless and contrary to facts. The final appeal must be | 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 | + | made to the plant itself and no evidence should be accepted unless |
| - | the plant' | + | the plant' |
| + | --------------- | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==== The Metamorphosis of Plants ==== | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | and extinct, their uses, classification, | ||
| + | distribution, | ||
| + | taxonomy, an endless Latin dirge**, in which progress is measured more | ||
| + | by the number of corpses cataloged than by the number of blossoms | ||
| + | cherished, is perhaps the greatest mystery in the study of plant life. Pg 104 | ||
| + | |||
| + | **The pollen of most plants has a highly inflammable character**; | ||
| + | thrown on a red-hot surface it will ignite as quickly as gunpowder. | ||
| + | Artificial lightning was formerly produced on the theatrical stage by | ||
| + | throwing the pollen grains of the Lycopodium or club mosses onto a hot | ||
| + | shovel. In many plants the pollen diffuses an odor bearing the most | ||
| + | striking resemblance to the seminal emission of animals and man. | ||
| + | The spermatozoa of certain mosses carried in the morning dew in search of females, is guided by its taste for malic acid toward the delicate cups at the bottom of | ||
| + | which lie moss eggs to be fertilized. **The spermatozoa of ferns**, on the | ||
| + | other hand, liking sugar, **find their females in pools of sweetened water**. Pg 107 | ||
| + | |||
| + | ---For years Goethe had been distressed by the limitations involved in a merely analytical and | ||
| + | intellectual approach to the plant world, typified by **the cataloging mind | ||
| + | of the eighteenth century**, and of a theory of physics, then triumphant, | ||
| + | which submitted the world to blind laws of mechanics, to a "jeu de | ||
| + | rouages et de ressorts sans vie." | ||
| + | ------------------- | ||
| + | ==== Plants Will Grow to Please ==== | ||
| + | < | ||
| + | trees finally consume man and, by combining his remains together with raw earth, water, air, and sunlight, transform and transmute human bodies into the most glorious forms and | ||
| + | colors? | ||
| + | ---------- | ||
| + | |||
| + | ===== Tuned to the Music of the Spheres ===== | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==== The Harmonic Life of Plants ==== | ||
| + | |||
| + | <a href=" | ||
| + | began wondering whether sound, properly prescribed, could spur field crops to greater yields. From 1960 to 1963 he piped the " | ||
| + | speaker to paddy rice growing in | ||
| + | the fields** of seven villages on the Bay of Bengal, and got harvests ranging consistently from | ||
| + | 25 to 60 percent higher than the regional average. He also was able | ||
| + | musically to provoke peanuts and chewing tobacco into producing nearly | ||
| + | 50 percent more than normal. Singh further reported that merely by | ||
| + | dancing the " | ||
| + | out musical accompaniment and executed by **girls without trinkets on their ankles, the growth of Michaelmas daisies, marigolds, and petunias | ||
| + | was very much accelerated**, | ||
| + | night earlier than controls, presumably because of the rhythm of the | ||
| + | footwork transmitted through the earth. | ||
| + | |||
| + | --- | ||
| + | In the mid-1960s two researchers at Canada' | ||
| + | Measures and Pearl Weinberger were conversant that ultrasonic frequencies markedly affect the germination and growth of | ||
| + | barley, sunflower, spruce, Jack pine, Siberian pea tree, and other seeds | ||
| + | and seedlings However, the very | ||
| + | frequencies which stimulated some plant species inhibited others. They wondered whether specific audible frequencies in | ||
| + | the sonic range would be as effective as music in enhancing the growth | ||
| + | of wheat. | ||
| + | In a series of experiments lasting more than four years, the two | ||
| + | biologists exposed the grains and seedlings of spring Marquis and winter | ||
| + | Rideau wheat to high-frequency vibrations. They found that, depending | ||
| + | on how long the wheat seeds had been vernalized, **the plants responded | ||
| + | best to a frequency of 5,000 cycles a second**. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ---1973 Dr. Weinberger said **basic farm equipment of the future will include an oscillator** for production | ||
| + | of sound waves and a speaker." | ||
| + | they discovered that experimental " | ||
| + | away from a 727 jet plane** about to take off, caused turnips to sprout much faster than those left silently in the ground. Pg 152 | ||
| + | |||
| + | Allotting one chamber for a control group, Mrs. Dorothy Retallack, a Danish professional organist and mezzo soprano in 1968 used the | ||
| + | same plants, as in the first experiment, | ||
| + | setting them in identical soil and affording them equal amounts of water | ||
| + | on schedule. Trying to pinpoint the musical note most conducive to | ||
| + | survival, each day she tried an **F note, played unremittingly for eight | ||
| + | hours in one chamber** and three hours intermittently in another. In the | ||
| + | first chamber her plants were **stone dead within two weeks**. In the | ||
| + | second ·chamber, the plants were much healthier than controls left in | ||
| + | silence. | ||
| + | ---The cucurbits were hardly indifferent to the two musical forms: those | ||
| + | exposed to Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, and other eighteenth- | ||
| + | and nineteenth-century European scores g**rew toward the transistor | ||
| + | radio**, one of them even twining itself lovingly around it. The other | ||
| + | squashes grew away from the rock broadcasts and even tried to climb | ||
| + | the slippery walls of their glass cage. Pg 154 | ||
| + | The plants gave positive evidence of **liking Bach, since they leaned | ||
| + | an unprecedented thirty-five degrees toward the preludes**. But even this | ||
| + | affirmation was far exceeded by their reaction to Shankar: in their | ||
| + | straining to reach the source of the classical Indian music they bent | ||
| + | more than halfway to the horizontal, at angles in excess of sixty degrees, | ||
| + | **the nearest one almost embracing the speaker**. | ||
| + | --Jazz caused her a real surprise. When her plants heard recordings as | ||
| + | varied as Duke Ellington' | ||
| + | strong, 55 percent of the plants leaned fifteen to twenty degrees toward | ||
| + | the speaker, and growth was more abundant than in the silent chamber. Pg 156 | ||
| + | -------------------------- | ||
| + | ----------------------------- | ||
| === related libarynth topics === | === related libarynth topics === | ||
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