and the Existence of active Molectdes in Minerals. 5 



stantly from a cylindrical to a nearly globular form. Some 

 of the grains which lay beyond the edge of the water being 

 unchanged, gave me the opportunity of comparing them in 

 these two forms. Frequently a transparent globule of con- 

 siderable size, and sometimes two, are first protruded gra- 

 dually through the coats of the pollen. Sometimes the 

 granules rush out rapidly in a mass, as represented in j^g. 2. ; 

 at other times they flow out slowly in a winding train. The 

 coats of the pollen sometimes burst in two places. The figures 

 drawn by Mr. Needham very accurately represent the appear- 

 ance of the pollen in action. 



The year being far advanced when I began my observations, 

 I was unable to extend them to many species of plants. I, 

 however, carefully examined again and again the pollen of 

 those plants that were accessible. Though I could never per- 

 ceive any motion of the granules when they were clearly 

 separated from the pollen, after the first ejection, it is not 

 improbable that the particles within the pollen may possess 

 greater activity in the summer months. I find it stated in 

 p. 473. of your Magazine, that the Continental naturalists 

 remark that the granules from the pollen of the same plant 

 exhibit at one time a perceptible motion, and at another 

 perfect immobility, under circumstances to all appearance 

 alike. 



The accounts which have recently been published, of the 

 seeds of certain species of mosses possessing spontaneous 

 motion, and then sending forth roots, and becoming fixed 

 vegetables, appear at first truly surprising. Mr. Ellis, the 

 well known author of the work on Corallines, and a very accu- 

 rate observer, was not unacquainted with this circumstance 

 half a century ago, and has given a satisfactory solution of the 

 phenomenon. He says the "minute seeds which evolve under 

 water from fungi and mosses, and appear to have spontaneous 

 motion, derive that motion from more minute animalcules in 

 the water, which, by pecking at these seeds, moved them about 

 in various directions, while the little animals were scarcely 

 visible, till the food they had eaten discovered them." Other 

 early microscopic observers were acquainted with the appa- 

 rent metamorphosis of animalcules into vegetables. 



In what has been advanced,^ it is not intended to deny the 

 existence of active vegetable molecules, but to maintain that 

 their existence is still problematical. That the tissues of all 

 organic bodies may consist of molecules, and that these mole- 

 cules may possess a moving power, when detached from each 

 other, seems accordant with many observations on the effects 

 of macerating vegetable and animal substances in water, but 



B 3 



