118 



of the fluid during osmosis, which were not seen in the study of 

 the currents through leaves, hence the objection to the term cy- 

 closis as applied to this radicular eddy. In the attempt he had 

 made to exhibit some facts in cytogeuesis (cell formation), as ob- 

 served in spongelets, the life history of the indiviilual cell must 

 form the basis of their study. But as in this research they found 

 great diversities of operations, so also varied opinions and ex- 

 planations on the subject had been given, which have tended to 

 obscure the mode l>y which nature carried on her Avork beneath 

 their feet. The truth was, that in the vegetable life, as in the 

 animal, the number of dissimilar tissues and the differences between 

 them were as decided as the shape of pollen. Endowments 

 peculiar to certain plants, as for example, the lofty and woody elm, 

 must necessarily be connected Avith " organs," that was with instru- 

 mental structures, Avhich were fitted to tlevelop constituents in the 

 future tree, but Avhich were uncalled for in the growth of the tiny 

 weed, or elegant pansy flower. The great desideratmn was a 

 classification of vegetable life-fonns, based on the several modes 

 by which that life l)egins and is carried on in the cell walls of the 

 spongelets of cryptogams, endogens, and exogens, whether, in the 

 first diAasion, the i)arcnt cell discharges young cells, as was the case 

 with " Achlya prolifera ;" and whether the geramiparous repro- 

 duction of zoophitcs is typified in the growth of the rootlet of 

 a monocotyledon ; and lastlj% do the liigher form of fissiparous or 

 cell division in exogens bear an analogy to the reproduction of 

 infusorial animalcules ? The philosopical botanist of the day felt 

 that the vast forms of Avjiich the vegetable kingdom was composed 

 rested upon a verj' unsatisfactorj- foundation, since, as Dr. Car- 

 penter tiiily remarks, " there is no one tribe of plants whose in- 

 ternal structure, and the history of whose development, have been 

 sufficiently studied to aff'ord the requisite data for a truly scientific 

 arrangement." Let him, therefore, urge ujDon the members of 

 this Society to pursue the study of the cytogenesis in spongelets 

 and fibrils as a relaxation in the intervals of the toilsome avocations 

 of daily life, which he A\as convinced woukl afford an abundant 



