54 PROSERPINA. 



plunged into a weak solution of acetate of lead," — 

 I don't in the least want to know what happens. 

 " From the minuteness of the tissue, it is not easy to 

 determine the vessels through which the sap moves." 

 Who said it was ? If it had been easy, I should 

 have done it myself. " Changes take place in the 

 composition of the sap in its upward course." I 

 dare say ; but I don't know yet what its composition 

 is before it begins going up. "The Elaborated 

 Sap by Mr. Schultz has been called 'latex.'" I 

 wish Mr. Schultz were in a hogshead of it, with 

 the top on. "On account of these movements 

 in the latex, the laticiferous vessels have been 

 denominated cinenchymatous." I do not venture to 

 print the expressions which I here mentally make 

 use of. 



15. Stay, — here, at last, in Article 264, is some- 

 thing to the purpose : " It appears then that, in the 

 case of Exogenous plants, the fluid matter in the soil, 

 containing different substances in solution, is sucked 

 up by the extremities of the roots." Yes, but how 

 of the pine trees on yonder rock ? — Is there any sap 

 in the rock, or water either ? The moisture must be 

 seized during actual rain on the root, or stored up 

 from the snow ; stored up, any way, in a tranquil, 

 not actively sappy, state, till the time comes for its 

 change, of which there is no account here. 



