ON THE PER3PIRATION OF PLANTS. |£Q 



tried a number of times. Yet I tun but too sensible how 

 open I am to deception, and it is with a real feeling of hu- 

 mility I offer these opinions. 



That the life of the plant is peculiarly resident in the 

 vessels that run in a circular collection between the pith and 

 wood, or medulla and liber, is most strongly proved by 

 the manner in which all fruit is killed, if examined the 

 morning after a sudden frost. It is not the corolla, the c«» 

 /yx, the males, or the seeds that are hurt ; but the female is 

 struck with death. And if the pistil is examined with care, 

 it will be found, that it is the line of life which is decayed, 

 and that this is the first part in which mortification com- 

 mences. The peculiar liquor of the pistil turns to a blood 

 red, and the vessels that run up to the pointal turn black, 

 I have marked one at fig. 7 just taken from the tree, and 

 killed in the last frost. The dark lines in fig. 7, whick 19 

 dead, show the black and red vessels mentioned above* 

 these being yellow in their natural state, which is delineated 

 at fig. 6. 



It is almost unnecessary to mention, that seeds must be 

 examined in their first formation, to show the line of life* 

 which, when once it has done its office, detaches itself. It' 

 the seed is boiled, the line of life and nourishing vessels will 

 mark themselves by turning a dark colour. In very small 

 seeds the mouth is often the best dissecter. 



II. 



On the Perspiration of Plants. By A. Ibbetson, Esq. 

 SIR, 



.S my first paper is short, I shall venture to join to it Perspiration of 

 an incident, that has surprised me not a little, and that P 1 ™ 1 *- 

 may perhaps from its novelty be acceptable to your readers. 

 I have long entertained great doubts respecting the evapo- 

 ration of plants; I mean not that insensible perspiration 

 that wiU show itself by throwing a mist on the glass that 

 covers it; but that which Bonnet insists on, and which Da 

 Hamel weighed (which iu 24 hours was double and treble 





