OF THE VEGETABLE CELL. 



133 



654. Cellulose, the material of which the outer cell-walls and other 

 secondary layers are made, is proved by a chemical analysis to consist 

 of three simple elements, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, in the proportions 

 of C M H 20 O 20 , — carbon and the exact elements of water. In the 

 material of the primordial utricle nitrogen is added. Out of these 

 four simple elements (CHON) with slight additions of lime, silex, 

 and a few other earthy matters, God is able to produce all the count- 

 less varieties of plants which clothe and beautify tbe earth. 



655. Contents of the cell. Some cells contain air only. Others 

 are filled with solid matter ; but the greater part contain both fluids 

 and solids. There is the cytoblast, a globular atom, earnest of new 

 cells ; and protoplasm, the nourishing semi-fluid, both of the same 

 material as the primordial utricle, and with it, and the fluid cell-sap, 

 ever flowing, acting, combining, transforming, and producing either new 

 cells or products like the following. 



656. The coloring matter, which gives to fruits and flowers their bright and 

 varying tints of yellow, red, and blue, is generally dissolved in the cell-sap which 

 is otherwise colorless; but 



5TS 577 576 575 574 573 572 571 



567 56S 569 570 



667, Cells, a, of the pulp of Snow-berry, showing the nucleus; b, of the parenchyma of the 

 leaf of Pink, showing the granules of chlorophylle. 568, Cell of a Cactus, soaked in Alcohol, the 

 primordial utricle separated and contracted. 569, Cell of pleurenchyma of Pine, dotted. 570, 

 Sketch to illustrate the nature of those dots ; a. dot seen in front ; &, a side view of the same. 

 571, Trachenchyma, a spiral cell from the sporange of Equisettim. 572, Spiral vessel of the 

 Melon, single thread ; 573, of the Elder, 4 threads" 574, Annular duct, distended by rings in- 

 stead of a coil. 575, Scalariform vessels, from Osmunda (Fern). 576, A dotted duct from Gym- 

 nocladus (Coffee-tree). 57S. Spiral vessels apparently branched. 577, Branching spirals in 

 the Gourd. 



657. Chlorophylle, the green coloring matter of leaves, consists of 

 green corpuscles floating in the colorless sap or attached to the color- 

 less wall. In the indigo plant these corpuscles are blue and constitute 

 that poisonous drug. 



