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LXXXI. On the Pfnjsioloay of Feget aides. By Mrs. 

 Agnes Ibbetson. 



To Mr. Tilloch. 



Sir, — irlow exquisite is this formation! how perfect tills 

 scheme of plants ! — Each day adds to the beautv of the svbtem, to 

 the exquisite development of the vegetable, and renders the plan 

 still more perfect, more impossible to be confuted, as every part 

 exactly coiiicidrs. 



In mv last letter I showed that I was completely justified re- 

 specting all I had written concerning the flowers and leaves form- 

 ing in the root; and mentioned that Sir Wm. Herichel had done 

 me the honour to inspect and examine the specimens, and give 

 his assent to this (by far the most difficult part of the plan): 

 I then proved that the apparent flower consisted only of the 

 pistil and corolla, and that a specimen having these, if thrown 

 on a glass, would (from the line of life being ciU) eject moisture 

 sufficient to continue the vegetable growth of the flowers as 

 long as the juices remained; and that I had known them con- 

 tinue in moisture sufficient, for nearJv a whole week. 



But I have now an additional fact of extreme importance to 

 communicate to the public, which most admirably continues, 

 nay, finishes the foundalinn of the growth of plants, in a manner 

 so complete, and with a simplicity so exquisite, as at once to 

 declare the plan of its origin to |)roceed from God alone, for no 

 human sagacity could have devised or suggested it. Before I 

 began my promised dissection of the buds, it occurred to me 

 (being the usual season in which to do it) to examine the seeds, 

 and see whether they could at all contribute to the showing the 

 flowers. But 1 had so carefully dissected them before, that I 

 despaired : but there is certainly a progressive line in my dis- 

 coveries over which I have no power. Words will not do justice 

 to mv astonishment at finding tliat all the interior of tiie seed 

 (surroimding the cmI)ryo) is filled uj) either by bladders, which 

 each contain a separate germ tied together with an extremely fine 

 line of liie, or l)ranches of very diminutive size running all over 

 the interior of the seed, the embryo excepted. See fig. 1. Plate 

 No. 4, [IMate v.] a diminutive specimen of the part of the bean 

 surrounding the emlnyo. Fig. 2, the seed of the melon after 

 fructification. F'ig. \i, the seed of the buckwheat. Fig. 4, the 

 interior of the large pea, a specimen surrounding the embryo 

 lefore fructification. This discovery led me to consider and to 



Vol. ^'■i. No. 224. Dec. 181G. ' C c conjecture, 



