*r* 



GERMINATION OF SEEDS. 



vantage of being perfectly portable, cannot easily be de* 

 ranged, and may be much reduced in size, if thought ne- 

 cessary, without affecting the extent of the scale. 



XI. 



On the Germination of Seeds. In a Letter from Mr* 

 J. Acton, of Ipswich, 



To Mr. NICHOLSON. 

 Dear Sir, 



Physiology dif- J[t is admitted by the most enlightened philosophers, that 

 tigation. ' * scarcely any subject can present itself more difficult of in- 

 vestigation than animal and vegetable physiology. The 

 functions depending on vitality must not be compared to the 

 common chemical processes, or to those changes constantly 

 taking place in nature by the action of inorganic bodies on 

 each other. Life itself is a phenomenon enveloped in mys- 

 tery, and probably will ever remain so. We can form no 

 judgment of it but from its effects; and those are of so 

 complex a nature, that it is only by the most attentive and 

 studious examination of them we can expect to withdraw 

 the veil of obscurity, under which they are hidden, or at 

 all approximate to the truth. Any suggestions presenting 

 themselves to the mind on so important a subject should be 

 encouraged ; and if we can hope to throw the least addi- 

 tional light upon it by our exertions, no obstacles should 

 stop us ; not even the (almost) certainty of ultimate failure 

 ought for a moment to lessen the energy of our pursuits. 

 Functions of Perhaps none of the functions of organic bodies deserve 

 organic bodies our attention more than those tending immediately to ex- 

 deserving no- istence, namely the respiration of* animals, the germination 

 tlce « of seeds, and the consequent vegetation of plants; as also 



the alterations taking place in the surrounding atmosphere 

 Object of the chiring their operation. The following humble attempts, 

 having for their object the farther illustration of these phe- 

 nomena by experiment, are with diffidence submitted 



through 



w-nter. 



