IN FLOWERING PLANTS. 137 
account of that eminent observer Grew, given in 1672, er- 
roneous as it is, yet is in some points nearer the truth than 
that perhaps of any other, up to the appearnce of Trevira- 
nus' Memoir on the development of the Vegetable Embryo 
in 1815. 
And as an additional proof, I may be allowed to contrast 
the opinions of M. Mirbel in 1815, with those of the same 
distinguished Botanist in 1830 ?* 
e most important points established in Mr. Brown's 
memoir are— 
1. The universal existence of the foramen. 
2, 'The frequent inversion of the inner membrane with 
regard to the testa. 
3. The impossibility of the radicle of the embryo point- 
ing directly to the hilum. 
4. That the radicle is never absolutely enclosed in the 
albumen. 
On this subject Mr. Brown says, *another observation 
may be made, less obviously a consequence of the structure 
described, but equally at variance with many of the publish- 
ed accounts and figures of seeds, namely, that the radicle is 
never absolutely enclosed in the albumen ; but, in the recent 
state, is either immediately in contact with the inner mem- 
brane of the seed, or this contact is established by means of 
a process generally very short, but sometimes of great length, 
and which indeed in all cases may be regarded as an elon- 
gation of its.own substance.’ From this rule I have found 
one apparent deviation, but in a case altogether so peculiar, 
that it can hardly be considered as setting it aside. 
5. That the raphe, or vascular cord of the outer coat, 
almost universally belongs to that side of the ovu- 
lum which is next the placenta. 
The exceptions mentioned in Euonymus, and the perfect 
ovula of Abelia, are due to resupination. 
6. The late development of the arillus, and its non- 
interference with impregnation. 
* Elements de Physiologe veget. et de Botanique. tom. i, pp. 49 and 314. 
T 
