156 
have been excited to germination when at last 
exposed to the requisite conditions.* 
Most physiologists, at least, are content to 
adopt this explanation, seeing that it is con- 
formable to what is otherwise known of the 
persistence of vitality in seeds ; but it has been 
recently maintained that in such instances a 
— production takes places, similar to 
that which many philosophers have supposed 
to occur among the lower tribes of organised 
beings.t This is not the place to discuss such 
a theory, of which it would not perhaps be 
very difficult to show the absurdity; but the 
following case furnishes, we apprehend, a very 
satisfactory proof that seeds may preserve their 
vitality for an unlimited time, when the ex- 
ternal conditions are such as to prevent either 
the active exercise of their properties or the 
disorganisation of their structure. “ 1 have now 
before me,” says Professor Lindley,f “ three 
plants of raspberries whichhave been raised in the 
gardens of the Horticultural Society, from seeds 
taken from the stomach of a man, whose skele- 
ton was found thirty feet below the surface of 
the earth, at the bottom of a barrow which was 
opened near Dorchester. He had been buried 
with some coins of the Emperor Hadrian, and 
it is probable, therefore, that the seeds were six- 
teen or seventeen hundred years old.” 
In regard to eggs, no such examples are, we 
believe, on record ; nevertheless, there are some 
tribes of animals whose eggs are capable of 
being preserved for a considerable length of 
time, and of undergoing very severe treatment 
without loss of their vitality. Most insects de- 
posit their eggs sufficiently early in the summer 
for the larve to be hatched and attain their 
full growth before the autumn deprives them 
of their supply of food, and these pass the 
winter in the pupa state. But there are some 
which do not begin to lay until the activity of 
vegetation has nearly ceased, and their eggs 
remain undeveloped until the ensuing spring 
arouses both the animal and vegetable creation 
into life. The curious instincts which lead 
these insects to choose secure places for the de- 
position of their eggs, and to use other means 
of protecting them against cold and moisture, 
are described by Mr. Kirby ;§ and the same 
author points out the beautiful correspondence 
between the temperature required for the de- 
velopment of the buds of the plant and of the 
larve that prey upon them. It has been men- 
tioned in a former article|| that the eggs of the 
slug are capable of enduring a temperature of 
40°, and of being completely desiccated, with- 
out losing their fertility ; and it can scarcely be 
doubted, therefore, that these might preserve 
their vitality like the seeds of plants for an un- 
* For several cases of this kind related on the 
authority of Professor Graham, see Dr. Prichard’s 
Physical History of Man, third edit. vol. i. p. 39, 
&c.; and for a very curious instance communicated 
to the author of this article, see his Principles of 
General and Comparative Physiology, p. 141. 
t+ See Dr. Weissenborn’s papers in the Philo- 
sophical Magazine for 1838. 
¢ Introduction to Botany, p. 298. 
Kirby and — Entomology, vol. ii. p. 443. 
Voi. ii. p. 402. 
LIFE. 
— str if a aroused into 
nor disorganised by decomposing ager 
It will par to denied that the ag 
which are known to destroy the vitality 
seeds and eggs are such as are calculate 
produce important changes in their strue 
and composition, even though these be 
kind inappreciable by our present means « 
search. Thus most seeds are killed by a 
perature of 160°, which is that at whie 
ture of the vesicles of fecula takes plac 
the application of heat sufficient to dest 
Vitality of an egg coagulates its albumen 
electric shock is well known to be a po 
means of instantaneously extinguishi ng th 
properties of eggs or seeds; and althou 
precise alterations which it effects in the” 
ture or composition of their parts is not 
stood, it cannot be doubted that importa 
ganic changes are produced by so power 
agent. Cold, in like manner, probabl 
injuriously on most eggs and seeds as” 
plants, by causing the rupture of the cel 
their tissues through the expansion of the 
tained fluids in the act of freezing. — 
not mean to say that other changes are ne 
produced by such agents, but we 
these as evidences of the position with y¥ 
we started—that vitality is not destroyed b 
influence of external agents without a struc 
change of some kind being induced by 
operation. - 
But it is not during their emb 
merely, that the vital actions of living bei 
may be suspended by the deficiency of ext 
stimuli, and yet their vitality be preser 
Both the vegetable and animal kingdoms: 
numerous examples of such an occurrer 
all periods of existence, especially among 
lower tribes. Mosses, for instance, ofter 
ye 
pear completely desiccated in dry weather 
seem as if dead; whilst, on the applicatic 
moisture, they revive in all their pristine be: 
The curious Lycopodium of Peru exhibits 
torpor in a still more remarkable mat 
When desiccated by drought, it folds i 
leaves and contracts its roots so as to fot 
ball, which, apparently quite devoid of ani 
tion, is driven hither and thither by the 
as soon, however, as it reaches a moist § 
tion, it sends down its roots into the soil, 
unfolds to the atmosphere its leaves, wl 
from a dingy brown, speedily change to 
bright green of active vegetation. 
of Jericho is the subject of similar trans’ 
tions. Instances exactly parallel are furnis! 
by the animal kingdom. The common W 
animalcule is one of the most remark 
being capable of desiccation so complete: 
splinter if touched with the point of a 
and still preserving its vitality so as to 1 
when moistened.* In animals reduced 
a ee ee” ec ee ~~ ce. ee 
* This fact has been denied by some natur 
but the author can positively assert it n his 
experience. See Principles of Gen. and Cor 
Physiology, p. 90, note. From es ents | 
quent to the one there related, he is inclined 
believe that of two species of Rotéfer, s 
allied as to be usually considered the sam 
thus revivifiable, and the other not. 
