a 
TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 103 
A Notice, with the Results, of a Botanical Expedition to Guernsey and 
Jersey, in the months of July and August, 1837. By Cuar.es C. 
Basineton, I.A., F.L.S., §e. 
This paper gives a short account of the Flora of those islands, and 
also of the island of Herm. The author finds 725 species of flowering 
plants and Ferns to be natives of them, and adds to the recorded spe- 
cies the following 6, viz. Hypericum linearifolium, Neottia estivalis, 
Sinapis incana, and Mercurialis ambigua, in Jersey, and Arthrolobium 
ebracteatum and Atriplex rosea, in Guernsey. 
An Inquiry into the Origin of the Solid Materials found in the Ashes 
of Plants, their structure and office during the period of life, and the 
effect of their subsequent addition to the crust of the earth. By the 
fev. J. B. Reape, M.A., ERS. 
A recent microscopic examination of the ashes of plants having led 
the author to the conclusion “ that the earthy saline and metallic in- 
_ gredients which they contain are indebted exclusively to the operation 
of vegetable life, both for their origin and their arrangement ;” he shows 
the contrast of this view with that adopted by many physiologists, who 
rank as accidental ingredients in the substance of plants, all that cannot 
be referred to hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, or azote. 
Assuming, as a basis of argument, that “the presence of organiza- 
tion is direct evidence of the agency of life,” and that every organized 
- portion of a plant is “ a proper product of the power of vegetation,” 
—the author proves, by a detail of experiments, that siliceous skeletons 
of plants, exhibiting most distinct and beautiful organization, remain 
in their ashes after exposure to the intense heat of a blowpipe flame; 
that in the white ashes of common coal may be recognized cellular 
tissue, spiral fibre, and annular ducts with transverse bars. The vege- 
table origin of coal is not only thus proved, but by a comparison of the 
ashes of coal with those of recent plants, some further insight may be 
gained into the nature of the plants from which beds of coal of differ- 
ent quality have been produced. The siliceous organizations which 
are respectively yielded by the Blyth, Newcastle, and Barnsley coal 
appear to be different. 
“ Silica is not the only material which forms the frame-work of plants. 
Lime and potash also occur as their skeletons ; the ashes of the calyx 
and pollen of the mallow, consist of organized lime ; and the ashes of 
the petals of the rose, as well as the pollen of the geranium, consist of 
organized potash.” The author gives the details of his experiments, 
by which he endeavoured to prove the small cups which lie in the sili- 
ceous vessels of graminez, to be of metallic nature, and ventures to 
conclude, generally, that “ earthy saline and metallic ingredients enter 
as organizable products into the structure of plants.” 
As much of what is above stated in regard to plants may, with suit» 
able modifications, be applied to animals, as certain infusorial animalcule 
