It was Elfving who, as early as 1882 ,
carried out the first experiments with roots growing in an
electric field. He observed that the roots of Lepidium,
Sinapis and Raphanus curved toward the anode, but the
roots of Brassica curved towards the cathode. The electric
current used in his experiments was so strong that it
usually caused injury to the roots; thus these reactions
were aberrant rather than typical.