From G. W. Morehouse   25 October 1875

Dear Sir:

I have only read notices in the Journals of your work on Insectivorous Plants, and therefore do not know whether the point to which I wish to call your attention is new to you or not.¹ With a good $\frac{1}{4}$th inch objective, I found a single spiral fiber in each tentacle of a prepared leaf of Drosera rotundifolia.² The leaf as prepared is transparent. The spiral fiber very closely resembles the spiral muscular fiber of animals, as now prepared for microscopic observation, but is probably a slight modification of the ordinary spiral fiber of plants. A bundle of the fiber may be seen passing into the body of the leaf, and branching here and there, until finally each tentacle is supplied with a single fiber, which may be traced through between the elongated cells into the gland.

Evidently the movement of the tentacle is caused by contraction of the “muscles”, induced by the motion of the protoplasmic cell contents, communicated from the centre of excitement. We have here sensitiveness of a very high order, and taken with the ability to change the direction of the contraction and clasp an object lying one side of the center of the leaf.— a seeming approach toward consciousness. Hoping you will pardon me for troubling you,

I am yours with great respect, | Geo. W. Morehouse.