THE SOLID COMPONENTS OF PLANTS. 225 



fibre ; so that it enters into the whole of the solid ma- 

 terials of the vegetable. 



The Cellular texture is formed from the membra- 

 nous. It presents, in the parts of a plant where it is 

 not compressed, the appearance of hexagonal cells, 

 resembling those of a honeycomb. Mirbel discovered 

 that they are similar to the geometrical cells of a honey- 

 comb, although sometimes of a longitudinal figure, 

 and that the divisions of the membrane which forms 

 them are common to contiguous cells ; that they com- 

 municate with each other by means of pores and slits, 

 about the 300th part of a line in diameter ; and that 

 through those perforations, the vegetable juices they 

 contain are slowly transfused. He asserts, also, that 

 these pores are surrounded with borders ; and that 

 the perforations are few and scattered in the true hex- 

 agonal cells ; but numerous and arranged transverse- 

 ly in regular series in the longitudinal openings. The 

 membrane itself is so thin, that when examined through 

 a microscope, with the light thrown obliquely upon it 

 it appears iridescent ; but, its organization is too mi- 

 nute to be determined by any magnifying power with 

 which we are acquainted. When separated and put 

 into water it very quickly resolves into a kind of muci- 

 lage, but in the living state resists the action of water 

 with which it is often filled. 



The cellular texture, in one form or other enters 

 into the composition of almost every vegetable organ. 

 It is dry in some parts, but in other situations it re- 

 ceives and slowly transmits fluids ; and in it, princi- 

 pally, the various secretions of the plant are deposited. 

 Thiis, it Is generally tilled with mucilaginous, resinous, 

 oily, or saccharine juices ; but sometimes the cells con- 

 tain air only. In the bark of plants the cellular tex- 

 ture is found immediately under the cuticle, filled with 

 a resinous juice, which is of a different color in differ- 



