On Spontaneous Generation. 379 



the mountain plants ever grows in those morasses, and who 

 would venture to assert, that these seeds are kept for a future 

 period, to mislead the supporters of generatio spontanea t 



The society of Gorlitz, who take for granted "that millions 

 of seeds of all species of plants, lurk everywhere in the ground, 

 awaiting the favourable moment when their turn shall come 

 to shoot," have communicated a great many well-known ob- 

 servations, that are all much more in favour of generatio <e- 

 quivoca than of the " omne vivum ex ovo" among which is 

 one of their own, which I shall not withold from my readers. 



The town of Gorlitz is situated in the neighbourhood of 

 tracts covered with Scotch fir and heather. The plants which 

 grow there spontaneously in the glades opened by felling the 

 Scotch firs, are first, Spergula pentandra, secondly, Senecio 

 sylvaticus, and last of all appears Epilobium angustifolium. 



This spontaneous generation is quite as scanty as we ought 

 to expect to find, in the natural rotation of plants on a poor 

 sand, which has produced before only Scotch firs and heath. 

 In the glades of the red fir woods, [Pinus Abies, L.) which 

 grow on richer soil, and in those of the white deal fir, (Pinus 

 picea, L.) the natural soil of which is far more fertile, I have 

 universally found the spontaneous generation more varied and 

 luxuriant. In those of the former grow up tolerably good 

 grasses, such as Poce and Aires, besides Senecio sylvaticus, 

 Epilobium angustifolium, Hypericum quadrangulum and 

 dubium, &c. but their chief distingnishing feature appears to 

 be Digitalis purpurea, which covers large tracts of ground 

 with a luxuriant crop, and in the forest of Thuringia its leaves 

 are collected by the poor people, and sold to the tobacco- 

 manufacturers, who use them to adulterate the inferior sorts 

 of tobacco. The glades of the white deal fir offer a great 

 many more spontaneously-growing plants, among which Ver- 

 bascum Thapsus, Solanum Dulcamara, and Atropa Bella- 

 donna are the most striking. 



To the many well-known instances of the natural rotation 

 of vegetation, Dr. Poppig has lately added one in the account 

 of his journey in diflerent provinces of South America. It 

 refers to the Andes of Anturo, in the southern part of Chili. 

 He says, "In the lower part of the valley the wood had been 

 on fire ; all the trees had lost their bark ; some were even par- 

 tially charred. In the uninhabited parts of the Andes the 

 woods are often set on fire from unknown causes, and are con- 

 sumed up to the snow-line, where a dwarfish beech (called 

 'Nirrhe') takes the place of the stunted Scotch firs of most of 

 the European mountains. After the conflagration, the ground 

 does not again produce tall timber, but thick underwood, which 



