O28 
formed of very slender pieces of 
wood, tothesameaxis. Round the 
circumference of the latter, which 
was eleven inches in diameter, nu- 
merous seeds-of the garden bean, 
which had been soaked in water to 
produce their greatest degree of ex- 
pansion, were bound at short dis- 
tances from each other. The radi- 
eles of these seeds were made to 
' point in every direction, some to- 
wards the centre of the wheel, and 
others in the opposite direction, 
others as tangents to its curve ; some 
pointing backwards, and others 
forwards, relative to its motion, and 
others pointing in opposite direc- 
tions, in lines parallel with the axis 
of the wheels. The whole was in- 
closed in a box, and secured by a 
Jock, and a wire grate was placed 
to prevent the ingress of any body 
capable of impeding the motion of 
the wheels. 
The water being then admitted, 
the wheels performed something 
more than 150 revolutions ina mi- 
nute, and the position of the seed 
relative to the earth, was of course 
as often perfectly inverted, within 
the same period of time, by which I 
conceive that the influence of gravi- 
tation must have been wholly sus- 
pended. 
In a few days the seeds began to 
germinate, and as the truth of some 
ot the opinions I had communicated 
to you, and of many others which I 
had long entertained, depended on 
the result of the experiment, [ 
watched its progress with some 
anxiety, though not with much 
apprehension; and I had soon 
the pleasure to see that the 
vadicles, in whatever direction 
they were protruded from the 
position of the seed, turned their 
points eutwards from the circum. 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 
1806. 
ference of the wheel, and in their ~ 
subsequent growth receded nearly 
at right angles from its axis. ‘The 
germens, on the contrary, took the — 
opposite direction, and in a few 
days their points all met in the cen. 
tre of the wheel. Three of these 
plants were suffered to remain on — 
the wheel, and were secured to its 
spokes, to prevent their being 
shaken off by its motion. The 
stems of these plants soon extended — 
beyond the centre of the wheel ; but 
the same cause which first occasion- 
ed them to approach its axis, still 
operating, their points returned, 
and met again at its centre. 
The motion of the wheel being, in 
this experiment, vertical, the radicle 
and germen of every seed occupied, 
during a minute portion of time in 
cach revolution, precisely the same 
position they would have assumed 
had the seeds vegetated at rest ; and 
as gravitation and centrifugal force 
also acted in Jines parallel with the 
vertical motion, and surface of the: 
wheel, I conceived that some slight 
objections might be urged against 
the conclusions I felt inclined to 
draw. J] therefore added to the 
machinery I have described, another 
wheel, which moved horizontally 
over the vertical wheels; and to this, 
by means of multiplying wheels of 
different powers, I was enabled to 
give many different degrees of ve- 
locity. Round the circumference 
of the horizontal wheel, whose dia- 
meter was also eleven inches, seeds 
of the bean were bound as in the 
experiment which I have already 
described, and it was then made to 
perform 250 revolutionsin a minute: 
By the rapid motion of the water- 
wheel much water was thrown up- 
wards on the horizontal wheel, part 
of which supplied the seeds upon it 
with 
