184 A Paper proving that the Embryos of the Seeds 



complete account of their proceedings from their first formation 

 in the side roots to their settling in the buds : I shall then an- 

 8w^.i- every objection that has occurred to myself, or been s'lg- 

 gested by others in contradiction to the fact here reported, with 

 the same exactness and impartiality as if I were unconnected with 

 the discovery. 



When first I viewed these balls just entering the bud, I coilld 

 not conceive what they were ; but pursuing them in the right 

 season for several years together, I found that tliey conmienced 

 their course in the radicle, at the termination of tlic. side roots, 

 about tlie end of January; there they appeared to be first formed 

 in a soi$ of gross powder, which separated as it advanco-.i lurther 

 into the root, and soon became very small balls, which after- 

 wards entered the narrow passage of the middle root : here they 

 generally stopped for a time, and then, proceeding acro-s the cen- 

 tre, entered the alburnum vessels in the stem, and mounttd to the 

 buds. Suppose the larch or oak tree, — but tlie tir^t is the most 

 distiiiguished and clear for viewing the completion of this curious 

 phaenomenon, as the shooting of its beautiful red flowers marks 

 best the time of observation. The seeds liaving mounted the 

 stem arrive at a collection of gemmae, and form a large heap at the 

 middle points of the pith leading up to the buds ; here they re- 

 main many da\s, perhaps a week or more, till the vessel of di- 

 spersion has formed, and run from the heap opening at effch bud ; 

 the seed-vessel of which remains distended for the reception of 

 the seeds. When this is complete, the balls enter this new- formed 

 vessel one by one, and slide up the cylinder to each pericarp, 

 and such a number of balls are deposited in each seed-vessel as 

 suits the order to which the tree belongs. Thus the seeds dis- 

 appear from the heap by degrees, alid the ))ericarps when they 

 have attained their proper number close at the bottom, and the 

 vessel of dispersion is soon lost in the increasing part of the 

 plant ; but tlie seeds never enlarge from the time they quit the 

 middle root till they enter the bud. 



1 nnist observe that I have every reason to believe that it is 

 the heart of the seed only that is formed in the root, that part 

 \vhich afterwards becomes the emlnyo of the plant. In the 

 wheat and grasses it is so exactly marked, as the heart is before 

 impregnation, that it is impossible not to be struck with the si- 

 militude of the figure. I conclude, therefore, that this part is 

 formed by the immediate assemblage of the fresh blood of the 

 plant mixing with and imbibing the new sap just proceeding from 

 the earth, and pouring into the side roots. We know that the 

 lif|uid of those roots is drawn from the richest part of the vege- 

 tcii)le earth ; ma\ not therefore the concoction thus formed, when 

 both juices are in their purest state, and perfectly unmixed with 



other 



