Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 60, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 March 1899 — An Electric Flanc. [ARTICLE]

An Electric Flanc.

A plant which grows in the forests of India, called the Phllotacea electrics, has the power of emitting electric •parks. The hand which breaks a leaf from this plant immediately receives a shock equal to that produced by an induction coil. At a distance of six yards a magnetic needle is affected, and will be deranged if brought near. The energy of this singular influence varies with the hour of the day. Allpowerful about 2 o’clock in the afternoon, it is absolutely annulled during the night. Dn»*ng rain the plant seems to succumb, and bends its head during a thunder shower. It then remains without force or virtue, even if sheltered by an umbrella. No shock is felt in breaking the leaves at that time, and the needle is unaffected beside it. Birds or insects never by any chance alight on the electric plant, an instinct seeming to warn them that they will find certain death there. Where it grows none of the magnetic metals are found, neither iron, cobalt, nor nickel—an undeniable proof that the electric force belongs exclusively to the plant.