32 POPULAR EPiEOES. 



combs. "Under this new light the fact that one 

 grain grew out of the twelve which were planted 

 will hardly be considered as evidence that the seeds 

 which grew actually came from the tombs. Such 

 errors as these, together with the uniform failure 

 of more recent attempts to germinate this ancient 

 wheat, have convinced the scientific world that no 

 actual germination of such wheat ever took place. 



In regard to the supposed cases of the germina- 

 tion of seeds in earth thrown from the bottoms of 

 wells or other deep excavations, it is very difficult 

 to prove directly that seeds have not grown as 

 supposed from such soils, and few actual experi- 

 ments have been made upon the subject. In 1875, 

 Doctor Hoffman reported some experiments of this 

 kind in the Boianische Zeitung, in which he says: 

 " For the purposes of the experiments about three- 

 quarters of a hundred weight of the Loess soil was 

 taken out at a depth of twelve feet below the sur- 

 face when the earth was being leveled for the rail- 

 way station at Mousheim, near Worms. A newly 

 broken spot was selected and the tools previously 

 cleaned with well-water. In fact every conceivable 

 precaution was taken throughout the experiment to 

 prevent the introduction of foreign seeds or spores. 

 Notwithstanding all this care, various common 

 mosses, ferns and flowering plants sprang up in the 

 pots which were closely covered with bell-glasses. 



