therefore (p. 143) the swelling must be attributed "to some other cause than the stoppage of the sap in its return downwards," because the first gap in the bark should be sufficient to check the whole of the flowing sap[1]. He must in fact have seen that there is a redistribution of plastic material in each section of bark.
We now for the moment leave the subject of transpiration and pass on to that of root-pressure on which Hales is equally illuminating.
Figure from Vegetable Staticks showing a vine with mercury gauges in place to
demonstrate root-pressure.
His first experiment, Vegetable Staticks, p. 100, was with a vine to which he attached a vertical pipe made of three lengths of glass-tubing jointed together. His method is worth notice. He attached the stump to the manometer with a "stiff cement made of melted Beeswax and Turpentine, and bound it over with several folds of wet bladder and pack-thread." We cannot wonder that the making of water-tight connexions was a great difficulty, and we can sympathise with his belief that he could have got a column more than 21 feet high but for the leaking of the joints on several occasions. He notes the
- ↑ He notices that the swelling of the bark is connected with the presence of buds. The only ring of bark which had no bud showed no swelling.
