204 BOTANY. 



which is absorbed and becomes part of their orga- 

 nized matter, and the oxygen, which is the other 

 constituent, is thrown off. In the dark, no oxygen 

 is produced by plants, and no carbonic acid absorbed. 

 In many matters appertaining to vegetation, light 

 is of more importance than heat. The pine-apple 

 can now be cultivated and ripened without fire. 



Dead and Living Matter. 



Plants alone have the power of deriving nourish- 

 ment, though not exclusively, from inorganic matter, 

 such as mere earths, salts, or airs, substances cer- 

 tainly incapable of serving as food for any animals ; 

 the latter feeding solely on what is or has been orga- 

 nized matter, either of an animal or vegetable nature. 

 It would seem to be the peculiar office of vegetable 

 life, to transform dead inert matter into living orga- 

 nized bodies. 



The germ or embryo of a plant or animal is able 

 to attract to itself particles of inanimate matter, and 

 bestow on them an arrangement widely different 

 from that which the laws of chemistry and mechanics 

 would have assigned them. 



Poisonous Plants. 



Five stamina, one pistil, one petal, and the fruit of 

 the berry kind, indicate poisonous plants. 



The calyx double, glume valved, three stamina, 

 two pistils, and naked seed, indicate plants of a fari- 

 naceous quality, and fit for food. 



Effect of Poisons on Plants. 



Metallic poisons act on vegetables nearly in the 

 same manner as they act on animals j the poisons 

 that affect vegetables are chiefly those which are 

 known to destroy animals by their action on the 

 nervous system ; such also cause the death of plants. 



