278 Researches into the Anatomy of Plants. 
them everywhere. An unprejudiced person will agree witht 
both these naturalists, that the membrane is the primordia 
substance of vegetables, and J may add of all organized bodies. 
Those vesicles which compose the celhular texture are 
frequently separated from each other, sometimes combined 
completely and frequently combined in part. I have found 
them entirely separated from each other in several parts, 
particularly in the fruits ; and the berries of the ligustrwm, and 
of the lantana aculeata, furnish proofs of this. In the midst 
of the peduncles, of the receptacula, and some other hollow 
parts, we frequently see isolated cellules. In order to ex- 
amine the cellular texture under this respect, we must bake 
it, because then the cellules are detached from each other. 
Vid. Pl. I. f. 1. [Plate IV. of the present volume] the round 
cellules of a French bean taken from thé interior of the 
shell: fig. 2, the oblong cellules taken from the exterior. 
I have seen precisely the same thing in boiled potatoes, the 
roots of parsley, &c. 
We cannot separate the cellules, by this or any other 
means, in the epidermis of plants. There they are com- 
pletely combined: the cellules which are immediately uti- 
der the epidermis are equally incapable of separation. We 
observe no interval between the cellules of this genus, and 
there exists therefore a continuous cellular texture without 
any interruption. 
Lastly, there are cellules which are not entirely com- 
bined. The sides, adhering to each other at the middle, 
separate towards the edges, and leave a small interval like a 
vessel. This structure is generally observed in all the fatty 
plants, in the pith, and in general in all the woody parts. 
Hedwig has remarked these small intervals, and calls them 
vasa revehentia. M. Sprengel maintains tbat he is mis- 
taken, that he merely saw the inferior edge of the partition 
through the transparent membranes beside the upper edge, 
and that this must have presented the appearance of an in- 
terval or a vessel. He is probably correct: nothing could 
more easily deceive an observer. But on looking at the 
cellular texture obliquely, we can distinguish perfectly well 
the upper edge of the partition from the lower edge, and 
we see at the same time the small interval generally filled 
with an obscure substance not very fluid. Pl. I. fig. 3, 
[Pl. IV. of the present volume] represents cellules taken 
from the stalk of the cacalia ficoides. M. Treviranus calls 
these intervals meatus intercellulares. They are found solely 
between the edges of the partitions: the remainder of the 
latter present only a simple membrane. 
5 I find 
