﻿Prof. Bailey on the Crystals found in Plants. 17 



Art. II. — On the Crystals which occur spontaneously formed 

 in the tissues of Plants ; by J, W. Bailey, Prof. Chem. U. S. 

 Military Academy, — (with a plate.) 



(Read before the Association of American Geologists and Naturalists at Albany, 



April, 1843.) 



Part I. 



If the objects of this society were less extensive than they are, 

 and if it were an Association for the improvement of geological 

 science alone, instead of embracing natural history in general, 1 

 should still feel that no apology would be necessary for asking 

 your attention to a paper on the crystalline matter of plants. 



Examinations of the nature of the saline matters which occur 

 spontaneously crystallized in the cells of plants, are so directly 

 connected with the subjects of agricultural chemistry and geol- 

 ogy, which have already engaged the attention of this society; 

 that, independent of the interest which this subject may present 

 to the botanist, chemist, and crystallographer, it is, I think, not 

 wholly unworthy the attention of the geologist. 



It is not my intention to consume the time of the society, by 

 relating what has already been discovered upon this subject, 

 especially as full information in regard to it may be found in 

 a very able paper, by E. J. Quekett, Esq. of London, which is 

 appended to the second edition of Lindley's Botany. My present 

 object is to give a statement of my own observations and exper- 

 iments, and I hope that I shall be able to present some new facts, 

 and perhaps to place some well known ones, in a new, if not a 

 stronger light. 



My investigations of the subject are far from complete ; nume- 

 rous facts, requiring further observations and experiments, have 

 presented themselves ; and it is my hope that I shall be able in 

 a second part of this paper, to supply some of the deficiencies 

 left in this : and to give the results of researches, which are as 

 yet in too incomplete a state to be placed before you. 



In the present part of this memoir, I shall confine my atten- 

 tion chiefly to the crystals in Dicotyledonous plants. 



My attention was directed to this subject by an accidental cir- 

 cumstance ; I noticed one day, upon my hearth, the white ashes 

 of a hickory cinder, which appeared to retain the pores and other 



Vol. xLvni, No. 1.— Oct.-Dec. 1844. 3 



