PROPERTIES OF CRYPTOGAMIC PLANTS. 15 



their fruit, and more generally on tlie insects wliicli tliey neces- 

 sarily harbor. Crypt, of England. 



The plants which, under the microscope, exhibit a true and 

 most remarkable circulation, are Valisneria spiralis, Cmdinia 

 fragilis of W. ; HydroGho/ris, &c. ; Bull, des Sc. Nat. Ferus., 

 xviii., 226 ; Merat & De Lens, ii. 207 ; Payer's Botanique 

 Cryptogamique, 1851. For a notice and review of the book, see 

 Charleston Med. Journal and Review, Jan. 1851, where the reader 

 will find a condensed account, by the Committee, of the researches 

 of the most recent inquirers. The vegetable animalcules, or 

 phytozoa, observed on these plants, according to the extended 

 examinations of Tliuret, move about in water, and suggest to us 

 the ciliary motions of epithelial scales, and that of spermatozoa 

 in man. 



Chara vulgaris, L. By a chemical analysis of Chevallier and 

 Lassaigne, an animal principle was demonstrated to exist in this 

 plant. Journal de Pharm. iv. 152, 379, 460. 



Teibe III. APIIILL^ {or leafless, flowe7iess plants). 



' Order 1. LICHEXES. 



Perennial plants, varying exceedingly in their form, appear- 

 ance, and texture. No Lichen is ever submerged ; and none are 

 developed in mines, caverns, and places deprived of light. They 

 have been remarked by DecandoUe to possess two distinct classes 

 of characters : the one rendering them fit for being employed as 

 dyes, after maceration in urine ; the other making them nutritive, 

 and medicinally useful to man. M. Braconnot has ascertained 

 that oxalate of lime, or oxalic acid, exists in great abundance in 

 Lichens, particularly in those which are granular and crustaceous. 

 The common variola, which is found upon almost every old beech 

 tree, contains rather more than 29 per cent. (Ed. P. J. 13, 194). 

 Lichens that grow on the summit of fir trees have been found by 

 Dr. John, of Berlin, to contain an uncommon proportion of oxide 

 of iron, which may be viewed as illustrative of the formation of 

 iron by the vegetable process (lb. 2, 394). Tlie nutritive property 

 depends upon the presence of an amylaceous substance analogous 

 to gelatine. Bind., Nat. Syst. 329 ; Decand., Essai Med. 318 ; 



