On the Physiology of Vegetables. $43 
‘of wheat, and are in such numbers as completely to conceal and 
cover it (see fig. 2. 2b), pour in their nutriment at the bottom 
of the bag (cc) 5 but it equally tises to replenish the seed :—the 
entrance of the two juices is, however, easily distinguished; 
they are both liquids, though that which proceeds from the 
feather is infinitely thicker and richer than the other, which ap- 
pears like water, though with much gas in it. As soon as 
the feather and hairs have completed their absorption, and that 
the whole has entered the bag of the seed, the apparatus dies 
away by degrees; and all that graceful sparkling feather, with its 
attendant hairs on each seed of the wheat, all vanish, or leave 
such a trifling vestige as to show that it is no longer of use. 
The whole appearance of the plant becomes altered within, from 
a number of vessels which almost fill up the interior; sometimes 
there are as many as eight ; they run up to the flower-stem within 
the pith, and the stem of course swells and enlarges to begin the 
next process, which is the yielding the nutriment from the earth. 
(See fig. 2. d,d,d.) I would not give two figures of the wheat. To 
show therefore this part ef the process, { have taken the gourd, 
because it makes the filling up of the bag of the seed still plainer 
than it could have been in the wheat :—this plant having many 
seeds in one seed-vessel, it more easily shows the nutriment 
flowing up the pith into each bag from the root, and entering 
the seed-vessel. See fig. 3. e,e,e, a specimen of the gourd cut 
horizontally, and showing the various seed-vessels already half- 
filled by the atmosphere, and beginning to take in their nourish- 
ment from the earth. The whole process is exactly the same as 
in the wheat; only that the vessels, which were six in number, 
and which poured in the nutriment from the atmosphere into the 
seed-vessel, have all disappeared, and the pistil has, dried off too 
much to send any more juices to the part ; for the gourd equally 
took in the atmospheric juices from the stigma and the watery 
nutriment from the hairs that for the time surrounded the seed- 
vessel. The vessels ff contain the heart of the seeds, and the 
powdered nutriment is plainly shown at g, g, g, to pour into the 
bottom of the seed-bag, to which they are fastened, and after- 
wards detach themselves when complete. I have laid them open 
merely to show the powder flowing in :—this nutriment may be 
traced running up from the root in any part of the stem adjoining 
the pith, provided the exact time of its flowing is taken, and the 
stoppage only takes place when the seeds are quite full; then 
the vessels quickly disappear, and form naw matter. No mis- 
take can be greater than to suppose the plant is always the same 
in the interior ; but the changes are so quick and immediate that 
they must be watched for, to be discovered. 
cutting the specimens cy lays open all the vessels, rr 
