PERMEABLE AND IMPERMEABLE SEEDS 89 



impermeable seed. The suggestion is that if the impermeable seed, as 

 it presents itself in its semi-unconditioned state, cannot withstand for 

 ever the test of the ages, it supplies us with a hint as to the kind of 

 plant-organism that might withstand the strain in this and other planets 

 (p. 84). 



(13) The question is put as to which is the original condition, 

 that of the permeable or of the impermeable seed. In this connection 

 it is shown that though the impermeable seed has the appearance of 

 necessity, it has to become permeable in order to germinate, and that 

 with plants possessing both types of seeds the permeable seed may be 

 regarded as a seed where the shrinkage has been checked. It is asked 



* ' O 



whether impermeability may not be a cosmic character, which, in 

 response to the expanding life-conditions of our particular planet, has 

 largely given place to permeability (p. 85). 



