On ihc Seed of Plants. 405 



vay of a loo?e ball, perfectly unfastened, but by a string, and al- 

 ways independent of the interior of the seed, — nay, in its first 

 week's entrance easily to be shaken out ; as for instance, the 

 heart of the walnut, nut, bean, &c. and every other kind of ve- 

 getable. The corculum when first composed in the radicle is 

 simply a diminutive ball of powder, which may be seen to insert 

 itself into its allotted place in the seed, as soon as it gains the top 

 of the plant : but first it crosses the root adjoining the radicle, 

 and runs up the albunnim vessels, which convey it by degrees up 

 to the flower; it then consists of the lall, and a diminutive spj >g 

 rmlliin, which was inserted v.hile leaving the radicle and j)ass- 

 ing into the root. That there can be no doubt of the existence 

 of these dimbmttve lalls, nor the shoot within them, h certoin; 

 since they were first discovered by Leuwenhoek, and afterwards 

 that extreme clever jihilosopher Mr. Henry Baker; — nor did the 

 latter know of the previous discovery. 1 also was in the same 

 predicament : from not possessing the works of cither of these 

 gentlemen, 1 was ignorant that they preceded me. But sure such 

 testimonies in favour of the fact, and from such a quarters, do 

 not require my assurance of its truth, — and is it likely that three 

 dissectors should have been convinced of its exactness by con- 

 tinual observation, if it was not just ? I must also notice, that 

 these pictures of the heart of the seeds are taken much earlier 

 than any one h.as before draw?] tliesi specimens — when the cor- 

 culum had just entered the enijjty bag of the seed, I know no 

 cne besides who has dissected them so early. Wiiy then is it 

 doubted, after such evidence ? Has any person proved by dissec- 

 tion that it is a mistake ? Has any one dissected progressively, 

 to in(|uire into the truth of it? — Have they tried and followed the 

 various specimens for one year, taking the seed from the first for- 

 mation to its completion ? No. How then can they know the- e 

 facts to be false, when it is only by this means their truth can 

 .e properly ascertained ? Another gentleman gave his testimony 

 uf having seen the balls pass up the alburnum. Sir J. E. Smith 

 ".aw those balls in a specimen 1 sent him, and took them for 

 uutriinent. He was ))crfectly right in the idea; but not the si- 

 iunlion he asiii^ned to lite vmnislmievf, which is never found in 

 the alburnum ; but the balls being followed up to iiripregnalion, 

 tould not beany olhcr mailer tha.'; a part of the seeds, or lather 

 tlie seeds themselves. 



To prove of what consequence it is to take plants progressively , 

 r.nd how ivipossille it is to comprehend them if not so taken^ 

 I shall show the progress of the lieart of the seeds, from the mo- 

 ment they are formed in the radicle till they enter the seeds in 

 the seed-vessel: and giving specimens sufficient /7«^ to murh 

 the progress of the whole series, and prove that these balls must 

 C c 3 be 



