at intervals of 10 seconds. Fig. 14 gives us a record of a response reduced to two-thirds taken in this Way. It will be seen that the recovery practically takes place in 16 minutes. Thus in the present case, while the pulvinus took only 3 seconds to complete the contraction, it required
Fig. 14.—Response of Mimosa. Successive dots are at intervals of 110 second in the contractile portion, and 10 seconds in the recovery portion of curve. Vertical marks below indicate intervals of 1 minute.
16 minutes to recover from it. It will be seen, further, that the rate of recovery is quicker at the beginning and slower at the end. The following is a tabular statement of the time-relations of the different phases of response and recovery:—
| Period of contraction.... „recovery.... Maximum rate of contractile movement „„movement of recovery Average rate of contractile movement.. „„movement of recovery.. |
3 seconds 16 minutes 24 mm. per second ·09„„ 15 „„ ·045„„ | ||||
We may now briefly recapitulate the sequence of events in a typical specimen of Mimosa subjected, during the summer season, to a moderate stimulus. Response does
