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Show I SCIENCE PLOTS I LIFE Of PLANTS Hi Harvard Biologists Make Notable Discovery in Botany e AM BRIDGE. Mass , l ob. 16, Tho Associated Press). Harvard bl-oloslst bl-oloslst ha succeeded In measuring for the first time with scientific pre-clslon pre-clslon the processes of life and death fl as they oppeor In plants the univer- slty announced Friday It v. us snlfl experiment already rn&de may throw light on certain phenomena of Injury and recovery In human beings hich up to this time ha9 not been entirely m, SEA PLANT l These experiments, made by Pro-fessor Pro-fessor W. J V. Ostarhout. of the ue-pnrtnient ue-pnrtnient of botany, show that it Is possible to study the behavior of llv-ins llv-ins organism with the same mathe-matlcal mathe-matlcal exactions with which chem- ir.ts nn.l physicists study that of ln-animate ln-animate matter, thus luklng two of the agu-st biological concept Ions, life and death and giving them quun-tltatlve quun-tltatlve significance which can be ex-pressed ex-pressed In figures H The experiments have been made upon lamina, one of the common brown kelps of the Atlantic coast. It has been found that the resistance of this plunt to a current of electricity is .in excellent Index to Its normal con-dition con-dition of vitality When the plant Is alive it resists the current When dead, it does not. If the plant is inlurcd. the electrical 1 resistance at once decreases. By measuring the exact amount of elec-trical elec-trical resistance under various clr-cumstances, clr-cumstances, the Harvard biologists are able to plot curves which show pre-. pre-. iselv the effects of artous kinds of Injuries, the extent of recovery and t"hc manner In which the plant dies. EXTENT OF INJURY. If. for example, the plant is tak-en tak-en from sea water and placed In a solution of pure sodium chloride it Is qulckh injured and if the cxpos-ure cxpos-ure bo sufficient prolonged It is killed. During the whole time of ex-posure ex-posure to the solution of sodium . hlorlde the electrical resistance falls steadily in a definite curve until the death point is reached, after which there is no further change A significant discovery is that If the injurv is only slight, the plunt ful-ly ful-ly recovers, its electrical resistance rc-turning rc-turning to normal afterwards when-us when-us If the Injury is sufficiently severe Ui- plant only partially recovers its vitality and for the rest of Its life has a diminished electrical resistance. An exposure of two hours in the solution of sodium chloride will kill the plant Kroni an exposure of five minutes there Is complete recovery. From one of an hour there Is only partial re-oovery. re-oovery. Professor Qsterhout has found It possible to predict exactly the extent of recovery from any giv- H en Injury. N I w paths OPENED This Investigation of fundamental life processes, it was said, at Harvard, shows that they appear to obey the laws of chemical dynamic s. and il-lustrates il-lustrates a method of attack which may throw some light upon the un-derlylng un-derlylng mechanism of these processes and assist materially In the analysis Hj ana control of life phenomena Ul- timately it ma be possible t" predict B certain aspects of the behavior of liv- ing matter Immensely complicated as it is. In some such exact way as it is B now possible to predict the courM' of tho tides, which arc also immensely B complicated because they depend up- B on many variables such as the move- Hl ment of the moon, the temper and the configuration f the shores. |