LIFE OF THE PLANT-CELL. 



95 



The fanciful opinion propounded by Amici, Dutrochet, and others, of the 

 motion being caused by a galvanic influence, in which the rows of 

 chlorophyll globules in the Charts represent the connecting chain, is an 

 unscientific sporting with lame analogies. It is at once refuted by the 

 fact, that in the germinating Chara the circulation is evident previous 

 to the existence of the globules and their serial arrangement. 



41. In almost all cells which, according to their position or 

 degree of completion, enjoy a high degree of independence, a 

 peculiar system of minute currents, with numerous anastomosing 

 branches, is exhibited. The fluid of which these currents are 

 constituted is of a mucous nature, mixed with minute opaque 

 granules ; and the streams proceed from, and return to, the cyto- 

 blast, which is invariably present at the same time : they cover the in- 

 ternal surface of the cell- wall (fig. 97.), 

 or traverse the cavity of the cell from 

 one wall to the other, without ming- 

 ling with the rest of the cell-fluid, 

 which is for the most part as clear as 

 water. 



Up to the present time, I have found 

 this peculiar form of circulation in nume- 

 rous cryptogamous plants, for instance, in 

 Achlya prolifera, Spirogyra, and other 

 Hyphomycetes and Conferva; in almost 

 ail the forms of hair in the Phanero- 

 gamia (Plate I., fig. 13.) that I have as 

 yet examined, for instance, in Solanum 

 tuberosum ; in many spores, such as of 

 Equisetum arvense, and pollen granules, 

 for instance, of (Enothera grandiflora in 



the immature state ; in almost all immature endosperm-cells, as in Nuphar 

 luteum, and especially in such as are subsequently, reabsorbed as 

 in Ceratophyllum demersum, in almost all stigma-papillae, 

 as in Tulipa Gesneriana, in the loose cells of juicy 

 fruits in the young state, as in Prunus domestica ; in the 

 pulp which is constituted by the placental cords (Plate I., 

 fig. 7), as in Mammillaria ; less frequently in the loose 

 juicy parenchyma of many plants in the young state, | 

 as in Tradescantia rosea. I believe it exists, however, in | 

 all vegetable-cells as long as the cytoblast retains its vital 

 activity. Upon the whole, I have, up to the present time, 

 collected several hundred examples from the most various 

 families. 



As instances admitting of easy verification, I would 

 mention the fruit of Symphoricarpos racemosa (snow- 

 berry) (fig. 98.), which may be procured anywhere, or of 

 a Mammillaria. Each cell in these instances is entirely 



07 Longitudinal section through the style of a Campanula, with two hairs : a, a hair 

 exhibiting a circulation ; its point is enclosed in a layer of mucus : b has lost its con- 

 tents, and is in consequence contracted. 



99 A single cell from the fruit of the Snowberry : the arrows give the direction of the 

 currents. 



