CflS Mr. Lawrence on Palingenesia, and on Smut in Wheat. [Not. 1;, 



gicc) to these iniracnlons preteii;,ions of gcllicr, av\ sometimes pioduccc! new 



fiiscouutiyniaii, ncvertlielessjnt'nesame jninitications. I'lie fructiloiin uiodiic- 



pages, putting in a prctciision of his tioiis wl)ich were found up.on the same 



o\v!i, 'little less miraculous, namely, stalks often remained fixed l^getiier 



raising up tlie manes or representations after the latter had disengaged tSieai- 



of perTect vines from a solution of vcrdi- selves, and they changed their respectiv* 



gris, which contained a tpiantity of the positions like flowers or fruits, upon 



•ialine particles of the husks of pressed branches which coiiliiuie to increase in 



crapes. On which Dr. Wallis piously growth. After .some tiine the viiolo 



I leave it to th.cm who, in disappears, and there rennin only some 



grap 

 remarks, 



philosophizing on the works of nature, 

 are chiody desirous to adore th.c grcat- 

 licss of God, to give their opinion con- 

 cerning this zeal, this inclination, tliis 

 enudarion, tliat matter always retains, 

 to dispose and replace itself as near as 

 it can, in the same figure which the 

 Author of Nature originally impres-sed 

 on it." Surely, then, the Doctor must 

 have been in earnest on this .subject. 



In concinsion, I must acknowledge 

 •that the curious experiment of M. Be- 

 nedict Prevost, on the material of the 

 smut in w heat, brought to my rccollec- 

 lion the perhaps analogous transactions 

 •f former days, a small part of whi(;h I 

 liavc detailed ; it impelled me to rum- 

 mage among them, and to rake up the 

 ashes of the long-since deservedly dead 

 ■and forgotten. Sir John Sinclair, in his 

 late publication on ihe Netherlands, 

 thus describes M. Provost's process. 

 " By frequent cxjieriments he ascer- 

 tained, that the globules of the smut are 

 organized bodies, or, to speak more cor- 

 rectly, the seeds (gcmmes, gemtnules, 

 ■^ongt/les,) of a microscopic jjiant, and 

 this plant 13 the cause of the disease in 

 the grain. After having placed these 

 seeds in water, or in some very moist 

 substances, which might be favorable 

 to their vegetation, he saw them pro- 

 duce sinallcylindrical stems of different 

 sj^es, often articulated, sometimes sim- 

 ple, and at others assuming at the ex- 

 tremity i\x. form of small stars, the 

 rays of which, though at first very short, 

 fcecame afterwards long, like straight, 

 Tiarrow leaves. Often, also, the extre- 

 mity spread itself into a thick mass, 

 -^vhich appeared consposcd of small 

 filaments, interwoven with each other, 

 and, as it were, twisted like cotton. 

 Two or three days after vegetation had 

 «ommcnced, he remarked jpoji the con- 

 gregated stems, some small, oblong, pe- 

 diculated bodies, v Inch were the real 

 fruit of the plant, and in which he 

 thought he sometimes saw particles of 

 an astonishing minuteness. The sprigs 

 which shoot out from the blown and 

 ♦conglomerated stems, often grew to a 

 • coasideiabie Jength ; they twijitsd ^0- 



deiaelied globules, which womd, pro- 

 bably, have become seeds, similar to 

 those from whieii they origmaled, if 

 they had been in a convenient posirion, 

 that is, in the emi lyon ol the grain of 

 some young blade of corn." 



I leave it to tliC cientific reader ta 

 deternnne, as to the analogy whicu may 

 subsist between the principles of the old 

 and of this recent experiment ; and of 

 the degree of influence which the heated 

 imaginations of the experimenters may 

 have retained over their judgment. A 

 correct repetition of the process, witli- 

 smutly powder, used by M. Prevost, 

 fully satisfied me as to the activity of 

 his imagination, but at no rate of the 

 accuracy of tiiat judgment wliieh he has 

 so confidently formed, as the basis of his 

 subject. lie has, indeed, afl'ordcd mo 

 an additional evidence that the learned, 

 as well as tho unlearned, w ill now and 

 then very complacently and collectively 

 accept of eifects under the guise of 

 causes ; an error, however, much to be 

 lamented, since it serves to divert en- 

 quiry froDi its proper path, and to pro- 

 mote the cause of spurious and fallacious 

 science. Strange appearances, it is 

 true, afc beheld in this new operation, 

 and much in the recorded style of the 

 paliiigencsia ; but the same phenomena 

 also iresnlt from the drojjping of almost 

 any other powder into water; the same 

 shooting and ramificaliou of the matter 

 may be observed on its admixture with 

 the water, tho consequence merely, I 

 suppose, of chemical action. May I, in 

 fine, seriously ask, whether, from motives 

 of curiosity, it can possibly be worth 

 while, at tiiis time of day, for our che- 

 mists, or rather foi- our phantasmago- 

 rists, to repeat any of the old palinge- 

 ncsian experiments ? There can, in- 

 deed, be no plea of utility in the case, 

 of winch I am aware; but neither can 

 wc yet transmute charcoal into diamond, 

 although we can carbonize that precious 

 gem, and prove it to be charcoal. Not 

 am I about to recommend seeding our 

 lands, by tlie cheap process of sowing 

 the ashes only and salts of grain, nor 

 tjie yaisyig up jj^mUae and high-formed 



