The Bio-Electric Potentials of Plants and Their Functional Significance: I. An Electrokinetic Theory of Transport

The background of bio-potentials in relation to transport is briefly reviewed and the chief difficulties lying in the way of an electrical theory of transport are pointed out. A re-examination of electro-osmosis and streaming potentials in xylem and phloem vessels suggests that the bio-electrical forces are sufficiently large in magnitude to cause transport and that they certainly operate in a direction to assist it. The productions of the potentials through metabolic activity and membrane diffusion is discussed.