84 PICTURING MIRACLES 



deposited in its desired location, germinate, and the 

 nuclei mingle to give them that power of fertility 

 which enables them to sprout and carry on. 



Visible action ceases shortly after the mingling of 

 the nuclei and the ripening of the seed and another 

 resting period follows. Seeds do not germinate read- 

 ily before this resting and nature has taught them 

 how long must be this time in which to store up 

 energy to enable them to perform their link in their 

 continuous chain. 



The mingling of the nuclei of pollen has not been 

 witnessed in life. Its action has been studied by kill- 

 ing the ovaries at various stages of life, staining them, 

 making microtome sections and splicing them in 

 order, and in that way getting an idea of what takes 

 place. Staining may result in unknown changes and 

 it does not show the action. The difficulties to over- 

 come in trying to picture through the microscope 

 and motion camera these hidden steps of the life 

 chain are almost, if not quite, insurmountable. The 

 ovary is surrounded by a more or less opaque dense 

 tissue, the growing pollen tube and the nucleus of 

 about the same color as the tissue, and to dissect the 

 tissue away and keep the ovary alive and carrying on 

 its life work has so far been found impossible, but 

 without doubt, sooner or later a flower will be found 

 having a thin transparent ovary, microscopic in size 



