m 



^ 



deiice 10 be iicciiU'iil;il \;>riatiunä of oiic coiiiinon form, 

 broiiglil iiboiil IUI oiie knuws liosv, but before our 

 eyes, and reiidcied periiiHneiil by ei[iiiilly niysterions 

 ageiicy." nTbcii," says Reason, »if lliese incoiiieivable 

 ehaiiges liave been proved to occur amoiig Oriliida- 

 ceae why sboiild lliey not also occiir aiiiong corn- 

 plants? für it is not likely ihat such vagaries will be 

 confined to one utile group in Üie vegetabie kingdom; 

 it is far more rational to believe them to be a part of 

 the general System of tlie crcation." (1844 p. 555.) 

 And again, in reply to a oorre.spondenl, it was added, 

 »as we have repcaledly slated, we tliink that no man 

 shonid underlake to al'firm ex catliedrA wliat is possi- 

 ble or inipossilile in naiiire." (1845 p. 410.) 



Some liave tlioiight these views objeclionablc, be- 

 lieving that we already possess that aniount of know- 

 ledge of natural phenoniena which justifies our deci- 

 ding dogmaticaliy upon such general questions as the 

 change of one plant iulo another. It has been even 

 held that scepticisni in such niatters tends to unsellle 

 men's minds, and to induce disbelief in all by which 

 scicnce holds fast. We do not concur in that opinion; 

 we se no harni in reviving even Lord Monboddo's he- 

 lief in human tails; the more knowledge advances the 

 more easily false theory and idle hypothesis are dis- 

 posed of; rational discussion can do no härm among 

 men of intelligence, on Ihe contrary, it is Ihus only 

 that truth is lo finally elicited. 



A most curiüus and ahle dissertatioii upon ihe 

 Origin of Wheat, which we have just read, completily 

 justifies Ihe ^iews we have held, for altough it does 

 not show that Oats change into Rye, as many believe, 

 and offers no support to some other speculalions of 

 the same kind, nevertheless demonstrales, beyond all 

 further queslion, that Wheat is itself a transmulalion 

 of a species of wild Grass. 



Jlons. Esprit Fahre, of Agde, well known lo bo- 

 lanists as an acule observer and patient experimenla- 

 list, has inade the discovery, which has been iiitro- 

 duced to public notice by Professor Uunal of Mont- 

 pellier, in a phamphlet, from which we condence the 

 following statenienl. 



The ancients imagined that the nali\e coiaitry of 

 \\ heat was the Valley of Eniia Sicily, where it is said 

 that the fahles of Ceres and Triptolenius originaled. 

 In fact there grows in Sicily, in great abundance, a 

 wild Grass, called by bolanists Aegilops ovala, the 

 graiii of which is niuch like that of starved Wheat, 

 but whose floral organs are of a very different cha- 

 racler, and whose ears naturally fall lo pieces by a 

 Separation of the joinis when ripe. This kind of grain 

 is Said lo iiave borne ihe name of Ble du diable; Ihe 

 plant which produced it was even called by Cacsalpi- 

 nus Trilicuni sylveslre. l\e\ertheless naturalisis appear, 

 with one accord, to have trealed the notion of Wlieal 

 Coming from Aegilops ovata as au absurdity, wilh the 

 e.vceptiou of Iwo French observers, whose experinienis 

 arrived at no kuown resull. 



About Ihe year 1S"24 the lale Mr. Requien, a zea- 

 lous French holanist, residing at Avignon, observed 

 in Ihe ni'ighbourhood of Ihal cily a. to him, new species 

 of Aegilops, which he called trilicoides, becausc of ils 



re.scnihlance lo Wheat; and Signor Berloloni , who 

 inlroduced it into his Italian Flora, states that it has 

 also been found in Sicily by Professors Gussone and 

 Tenore. There is also in ihe South of France another 

 Aegilops called triarislata. suppused to be a dilferenl 

 species. Thus according to bulanisls, there are ihree 

 dillerent species of ihis genns in the Soulh of Knrope, 

 and these have been each ihc snbject of M. Esprit 

 Fabre's experimenis. 



The first point eslablislied by this observer was 

 that both Aegilops ovata and Iriarislala would prodnce 

 whal Requien called Ae. Irilicoides. It svould iherelore 

 secni llial the Ihree supposed species were all liirnis 

 of Ihe same species. In lad, the very same ear 

 which yields eilher Ae. ovala or Ae. triarislata also 

 yields Ae. Iriticoides. .\evertheless, M. Fahre calls 

 them perfectiy dislincl from each olher, and is of 

 opinion that when Ae. ovala runs lo .\e. trilicoides, 

 it gives rise to Ihe small grained smoolh Wheals 

 which Ihe French call Seisselle and Touzelle: while. 

 or the other band, when Ae. triarislata runs into Ae. 

 Irilicoides, it gives birth lo the coarser Wheals with 

 downy ears, known in Lower Langnedoc under the 

 name Fourmen and Petanielle. among which Egyptian 

 Wheat is included. Be Ihal as it niay, and M. Fahre 

 offers the statenienl merely as au hypothesis. it is 

 cerlain lliat Aegilops trilicoides. «heu once produced, 

 if raised from seed year afler year. goes on chan- 

 ging tili al last it beconies niere Wheat. This is clearly 

 shown by the following concise narralive of which 

 the French natnralist teslifies lo having wilnessed as 

 occurring to the Ae. trilicoides derived from Ae. o\ala. 



First year of cultivation: 1839. A few grains ri- 

 pening here and there among the spiklets, which still 

 ]ireserved Ihe briltle characler of .\egilops. The re- 

 tur» was about l\\e luld of clusepacked concavc com, 

 which was very velvely al the upper cnd The heards 

 of the glunies. which are most ahundantand remarkahle 

 in Aegilops, had begun to alter and disappear. The 

 plants looked exactiy like Touzelle Wheat. 



Second year; 1841. The spiklets of this sowing 

 had become more numerous, and each coulained two 

 grains; ihe ears were less brillle; the grain was less 

 Cüucave and velvely, and mach more floury Ihan in 

 Ihe pre\ious year. The bcards of the glunies were 

 further dimiuished. 



Third sowing; 1841. The chan^es already de- 

 scribed became more evident; as many as three grains 

 appeared in some spiklets ; ihe planls became more 

 and more like Wlieal. 



Fourlh sowing; crop of lf'42. Much injured by 

 rusl. Ihe heards had so much disappeared lhat the 

 ears hail quile Ihe appearance of beardless Touzelle 

 Wheal. 



Fiflh sowing; 1843. The planls were iiow a yard 

 high and exaclly like Wheat; none of the glunies had 

 more ihan one beard, wilh, perhaps, ihe rudimeiils of 

 another. The spiklets coulained each from two lo 

 three grains. The ears had becuiue less briltle. The 

 com was so large that il prolruded beyond Ihe chaf; 

 the crop was Iblt-fold in one case and 4ö0-fold in 

 another 



