205 



such means could not (one would think) be reasonably considered as any other 

 than what is properly called accidental. Certainly the appearance, in number- 

 less instances, on virgin soils, of plants strange, with respect to the botanical 

 character of the circumjacent lands, in some cases, perhaps, many miles in extent, 

 could not be explained upon such theory. Diuring the last 25 years provincial 

 botanists have had extensive fields of observation opened to them by the forma- 

 tion of railways, the embankments of which afford ample scope for the investi- 

 gation of the question at issue ; and need it be said that the Anemonians would 

 often be grieviously puzzled to maintain the credit of their agent as a general 

 carrier. The earth of which railway empankments are formed has often been 

 conveyed from a distance in some instances, perhaps, of 10 or 20 mUes, and 

 excavated from a considerable depth. In the course of a few months after its 

 completion it is found to possess a Flora peculiar to it, from which posies might 

 be culled, more dainty, perhaps, than any to be found in the " sweet garden of 

 nature " thereabout. Which would be the more rational mode of accounting 

 for such phenomenon ? — that the seeds were brought thither by a special con- 

 veyance of Dan Ventus, the carrier, or that long-buried germs, newly brought 

 within the sphere of the combined influence of air and light, being vitalised, 

 " burst their cerements," and were expanded into beauty by the plastic hand 

 of nature ? 



It is worthy of remark that the Flora of an embankment does not long continue 

 peculiar, a variety of causes operating in the distribution of the seeds through the 

 adjacent districts, where each, according to its nature, elects a soil congenial to 

 It, and becomes a settler ; and it is an indisputable fact that many districts 

 traversed by a railway embankment have had their Floras enriched by the 

 addition of plants which were not to be found there before the formation of the 

 line. As to the power of seeds to preserve their vitality for an indefinite period, 

 when placed beyond the agency of air and light, I see not how scientific men can 

 regard it as indisputable ; certainly geologists, of all others, do so with the 

 least grace, and those who would 



" Shame the doctrine of the Sadducee " 

 are surely not disagreed upon the matter (?). The study of entomology would 

 reveal to each and all of them more marvellous facts. 



A remark upon this question, made by a member of the Woolhope Club, as 

 given in your report, appeared to me extremely unworthy of one in his position. 

 It was something equivalent to stating that the supply of mummy wheat would 

 be always equal to the demand — as if anybody could be found, at least among 

 those who are speculative enough to seek a few grains of the said wheat for the 

 experiment, so weak-minded to believe it to be procurable at Memphis or Cairo 

 at Mark-lane prices. Certainly we are among the most gullible people of the 

 northern hemisphere — even science has its dupes ; but if there is any master 

 tiller of the ground of the mental calibre referred to, for aught of agricultural 

 science the world could expect from him, he might at once be steeped in mummy 

 and deposited in the great Pyramid. 



