91 



my disposal in Berlin) are related, according to which some 

 Roman graves were opened in the Commune de la Mouzie- 

 St. -Martin, Canton Laforce (Dordogne), which contained in 

 their coffins seeds of various plants, almost all retaining 

 their powers of germination : they were seeds of Heliotropium 

 Europceum, Medicago lupulina, and Centaurea Cyanus* Next 

 follow the observations of Dureau de la Malle, according 

 to which, seeds of birch, ash, brooms, Digitalis, &c. can 

 retain their powers of germination after a hundred years and 

 more under ground ; arid birch and mustard seeds can lie for 

 20 30 years under water without losing this power. Finally, 

 Sir W. J. Hooker communicates a letter from W. Burroughs, 

 in which is announced that seeds of Centhranthus ruber were 

 found in an old tomb at Wymondham Abbey, which germi- 

 nated and produced flowering plants. The seeds were found 

 in a small coffin of baked earth, closed air-tight ; they were 

 packed together with salt and odoriferous shavings with a 

 foetus and wrapped in linen, which was coated with pitch. 

 The tomb, in all probability, dated from the middle of the 

 twelfth century. 



In October, 1834, there was also a notice in London's Gar- 

 dener's Magazine on the opening of a British tomb ; on which 

 occasion, in a portion of the contents of the stomach, a quan- 

 tity of small seeds were found which were declared to be seeds 

 of the raspberry. These seeds germinated in 183 6 and brought 

 forth excellent fruit*. Mr. Lindley immediately concluded 

 that the raspberry, at the time the tomb was placed there, 

 somewhat about 2000 years ago, grew wild in England. 



MM. Edwards and Collin f have instituted a series of expe- 

 riments on the influence of vapour on vegetation : they placed 

 various seeds under exactly similar circumstances to germinate; 

 only the amount of vapour in the surrounding media was dif- 

 ferent, in order to observe directly its influence on vegetation. 

 It was observed that the influence of vapour was exceedingly 

 great, and that it very much hastened the vegetation in this 

 first period. The favourable circumstances which accelerate 

 the germination of seed are, the presence of as much moist- 



* London's Gardener's Magazine, 1 836, p. 695. 



t Influence de la vapeur sur la vegetation. L'Institut, 1837, p. 193. 



