STRONG DRINK AND TOBACCO SMOKE. 25 



modest-looking barley plants, the germs of future flowers, 

 and of fruit yet to be garnered. Plucking up a plant, 

 root and all, and examining its exterior very carefully, 

 a slio'ht distension or swellinof will be observed about 

 midway {g (j Plate 3, fig. 1 7) up the stem. If the plant 

 is now cut vertically through its entire length (fig. 18) 

 a small conicat, semi-transparent body, in reality no bigger 

 than a pin's head (to which allusion was just now made 

 in speaking of the stem), will be found at g. Fig. 19 c 

 is a highly magnified representation of this body, which 

 is the inflorescence, or flower-bearing portion of the plant, 

 whilst still very young. When detached and more 

 highly magnified it has the appeararance represented 

 at fig. 20 ; that of a gelatinous, semi-transparent, 

 conical body, with lobed margins. If we watch closely 

 from day to day the development of this inflorescence, 

 it will be found to increase rapidly in bulk, and to alter 

 considerably in form. 



Another stage of its growth is exhibited at fig. 21, 

 in which the lobes are more strongly marked, and more 

 numerous, and the mass has become broader. In a 

 short time a still further development is observed (fig. 

 22), each lobe assuming distinct parts, the rudiments 

 of floral leaves. Each lolje at length develops into a 

 perfect flower (fig. 23), which, with its appendages, is 

 something larger than the head of an ordinary pin, 

 and of a pale yellow colour, with all its parts semi- 

 transparent. 



Whilst in this condition, the inflorescence is most 



