COLOR. 129 



A solution of the oxyde of arsenic killed Beans, Roses, Lilacs, 

 &c., after an action of a few hours in the former case, and in 

 some days in the latter cases. Corrosive sublimate and various 

 other mineral poisons produced similar effects ; but salts that are 

 harmless to animals are so to vegetables. Vegetable poisons, 

 such as Alcohol, Prussic acid, Belladonna, Laurelwater, and the 

 like, destroy the life of vegetables, as they do that of animals. 



240t From numerous experiments of the most distinguished 

 physiologists, it is thought that the action of poisons operates 

 on vegetables through a system similar in its organization to 

 that of animals. Any one, seeing the effect of vegetable poi- 

 sons on various plants, throwing them into apparent convulsions, 

 and producing immediate death, without any disorganization of 

 the tissue, must confess that there is an endowment of plants, 

 which the physiologist has as yet been unable satisfactorily to 

 attach to any appropriate apparatus. 



Section 8. — Color. 



241. The products of no department of nature have been more 

 admired for the beauty of their colorings, and the variety of 

 their tints, than those of vegetables. Flowers have ever been 

 the noted examples of nature's penciling, and from their beauty 

 in this respect they have been the subjects of the poet's strains 



" Who can paint 

 Like nature ? Can imagination boast, 

 Amid her gay creation,"hues like hers? 

 Or can she mix them with that matchless skill. 

 And lose them in each other, as appears 

 In every bud that blows 1"' 



Our Saviour with unequalled beauty, in his allusion to the 

 Lilies of the field, yields his assent to the same sentiment. 



The various colors are supposed to have their origin in a 

 substance called Chromule, and that the great variety of hues 

 presented in the vegetable kingdom is produced by the action 

 of acids and alkalies on the chromule. 



Chromule in its natural state is green, and by maceration 

 may be readily separated from the tissue, to which it gives 

 coloring. The grains of chromule are of an irregular shape, 

 rather approaching the sphere, but somewhat angular, and con- 

 sist of a semi-fluid, gelatinous mass, not inclosed in a sac. It is 

 affirmed by some to contain iron and manganese, to which the 



240. How is it thought poisons act ?— 241. To what do the various colore 

 owe tLeir origin ? The natural state of chromule ? Shape of the grains ! 



6* 



