The Nervous Mechanism of Plants

ALL the recent work on cell respiration and nutrition leads to the conclusion that a real similarity exists between these processes in the plant and animal organisms. This being the case, it would seem possible that the mechanism of the transmission of stimuli may also be fundamentally the same in both. The problem of transmission in the plant has not received so much attention as that in the animal, on account of the comparative difficulty of dissecting plant tissues for experiment, but nevertheless a considerable number of theories have been put forward to explain the few known facts. Broadly speaking, the theories hitherto produced fall into two classes: those which attempt an explanation on a mechanical basis and those which incline to the idea of chemical stimulation. Sir Jagadis Bose introduces a new conception—that of ‘physiological excitation.’The Nervous Mechanism of Plants.By Sir Jagadis Chunder Bose. Pp. xix + 224. (London: Longmans, Green and Co., Ltd., 1926.) 16s. net.