60 THE FRUIT. 
§3. OF GERMINATION. 
130. The embryo is the most important part of the seed. It is to the protec- 
tion and nourishment of this alone, that all other parts of the seed, and even of 
the whole plant, are subservient, and if this be injured or destroyed, the ultimate 
object of the whole vegetable economy would seem to be defeated. 
a. GERMINATION is a term denoting the first stages of vital 
action in the seed; the process is briefly described as follows: 
131. When the seed is planted in a moist soil, at a moderate 
temperature, the integuments gradually absorb water, soften, 
and expand. The water is decomposed, its oxygen combines 
with the carbon of the starch which had been stored up in the 
tissues, carbonic acid is evolved, and the starch, at lengh con- 
verted into sugar for the nourishment of the embryo, which now 
begins to dilate and develope its parts. Soon the integuments 
burst, the radicle descends, seeking the damp and dark bosom 
of the earth, and the plumule arises, with expanding leaves, to 
the air and the hght* (See Fig. 19, explanations. ) 
132. As to the cotyledons, they either remain under ground at 
the centre of motion, as in all Monocotyledonous plants and in 
the oak, or, as in almost all Dicotyledonous plants, they arise 
above the surface with the ascending axis, become green, and 
perform the functions of digestion and respiration, like leaves, 
for the nourishment of the young plant. 
133. The conditions requisite for the germination of the seed 
are heat, moisture, oxygen, and darkness. 
a. Heat is a requisite condition of all vital actions, as well in the sprouting of a 
seed as in the hatching of an egg, and if it be not supplied from a source within, 
* The phenomena of germination, in all its stages, may be observed in an interesting ex- 
periment. Let a few seeds, as of the flax or the pea, be enveloped in a lock of cotton, float- 
ing upon water in a bulb-glass. In a few days, the plumule ascends in its genial air, while 
the radicle shoots downwards in long silky fibres. 
The ascent of the plumule in a direction contrary to gravity is a law in vegetation, as uni- 
versal as the law of attraction in matter, and no less difficult to explain. From the two 
following experiments, it would seem to result both from the influence of the light and the 
law of gravitation. Professor Shultz planted some seeds of cabbage, mustard, and beans, in 
moss, and so arranged them that the only light which they could receive was from a mirror, 
reflecting the solar rays upwards ; they sent their stems downwards, and their roots upwards. 
Mr. Knight placed vessels, containing earth with germinating seeds, upon the circumfer- 
ence of a large horizontal wheel, which was kept constantly and rapidly revolving for seve- 
ral days. The seeds grew, but instead of ascending perpendicularly, the axis of each plant 
was inclined at an angle of 45°, or more, towards the centre of the wheel, in accordance with 
the combined action of the centrifugal force of the wheel, and the attraction of the earth. 
