BOOK III. 



THE SEED AND GERMINATION. 



THE seed is really only a vegetable egg, and Linnaeus, 

 when lie gave it this name in his botanical philosophy, al- 

 ready perceived all the analogies between the two. 



When these analogies are compared we see that the ad- 

 vantage is on the side of the plant, and that its egg is ele- 

 vated to a higher state of organic development than that of 

 the bird. In the latter it is with difficulty that we perceive 

 the germ of the new being that is to issue from it, whilst, 

 when we separate the coverings and membranes of the seed 

 of the plant, we see the embryo already formed. We distin- 

 guish in it, even with the naked eye, the little root, the 

 stem, and the delicate leaves ; everything is there ; it is 

 nothing but a young plant slumbering in its cradle. In 

 many seeds we can even discern the cords by which the lit- 

 tle one clings to the mammae which are to nourish it. 



The young stalk of the wheat exists already in the grain 

 which we eat ; the little palm-tree, as stiff as the vertical, 

 stem which it is about to produce, is also seen in the cocoa- 

 nut ; while the embryo of the bean, bent upon itself, re- 

 veals the tendency which its stem has to curl itself round 

 everything that finds itself in its way. 



