408 THE UNIVERSE. 



upward movement was as quick as that of the large hand 

 of a time-piece. 



But a still more extraordinary fact is noticed with respect 

 to certain Fungi, and it may be said of them, without hy- 

 perbole, that they grow visibly. This is the case with the 

 gigantic Lycoperdon (Lycojjerdon giganteitm), which, spring- 

 ing from a seed so small that it absolutely escapes our sight, 

 reaches the size of a gourd in one night ; so that it may be 

 said, without any exaggeration, that this plant, of a most 

 degraded order, acquires a bulk which our children require 

 ten years to attain. This fungus being only composed of 

 microscopic cells, an immense number are required to make 

 it up, and besides they must grow with prodigious rapidity. 

 Lindley calculates that a Lycoperdon like this contains more 

 than 47,000,000,000 cells, and that, taking the time of its 

 evolution at twelve hours, it produces about 4,000,000,000 

 cells every hour, and 96,000,000 every minute. 



But what a much more feverish activity must reign in 

 the vital laboratory of those monstrous lycoperdons, nine 

 feet in circumference, of which Bulliard speaks in his " His- 

 tory of Fungi " ! 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE SECRETIONS. 



In every part of the vegetable kingdom the most ex- 

 traordinary contrasts are seen. We find them as well in 

 the details as in the organism viewed as a whole ; in the 

 aspect of a plant as in the obscure functions of the cell. 



