UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 85 



bulbs decay and that the best plan, she thought, 

 was to put them into cold water. Mary had 

 called me to look at the glasses on the first dis- 

 covery of the misfortune; and we carried them 

 and the bulbs inclosed in ice, to my uncle, who 

 had just come down to the library, to consult him 

 on what was best to be done. He approved of 

 Mary's proposal, and said, " That is a practical 

 instance of the advantage of acquiring different 

 kinds of knowledge." Mary had concluded, that 

 the sudden change of temperature would produce 

 immediate decay in the roots on the same prin- 

 ciple that heat applied to people who have been 

 frost bitten, causes mortification in the frozen 

 part. My uncle afterwards told me, that the 

 same thing happens to the frozen buds of tender 

 plants, which are exposed to the rays of a hot 

 sun before the frost has been dispersed ; while 

 those which are gradually thawed receive no in- 

 jury. 



I reminded him of his having spoken of crystals 

 of ice, and asked how that term could be applied 

 to any thing but mineral bodies. 



"The term crystal," he replied, "came from 

 the Greek word for ice it was afterwards ap- 

 plied to rock crystal, W 7 hich the ancients imagined 

 to be water converted into stone ; but it now sig- 

 nifies the regular figure in which the particles of 

 any substance arrange themselves in passing from 

 the liquid to the solid state. Each of those sub- 



