375 



kinds of granules occur very seldom, and are probably only in- 

 tended to supply material for the formation of the pollenic tubes. 

 This opinion, which is borne out by the researches of most 

 others, coincides singularly with the anomalous chemical nature 

 of the oil-globule itself. If the oil be saponified by carbonate 

 of soda, from which it readily expels the carbonic acid, and 

 precipitated by acetate of lead, and the lead salt treated with 

 pure anhydrous ether, the greater part will dissolve, leaving a 

 quantity of a lead salt, which, on decomposition with hydro- 

 chloric acid, yields a solid, white, fat acid, having all the proper- 

 ties of the acid obtained by the saponification of pure bee's 

 wax. At present I prefer not giving any formula for this body. 

 The portion soluble in ether, when decomposed, yields an oil 

 which appears in every respect to be oleic acid. The quan- 

 tity of the wax varies in different pollens, and it even appears 

 to vary in different specimens of the same pollen. The pollen 

 ■which I in general employed was that of the Finns picea, but 

 I have also examined that of Pinus sylvestris, Abies excelsa, 

 Ulex europeus, Sarothamnius scojyarius, and another species, 

 Crataegus monogyna, Sambicus nigra, Ilex aquifolium. Ra- 

 nunculus hederaceus, j3 grandijlorus, and also the sporules of 

 Lycopodium clavatum. 



" I have not been able to determine whether the stigma of 

 plants is alkaline. I at first believed that such might be the 

 case, and that some connexion existed between the acid 

 nature of the pollen and the alkaline nature, if such be so, 

 of the stigma ; but the results at which I have arrived, with 

 reference to the constitution of the poUenine itself, and parti- 

 cularly with reference to the chemical nature of the sporules 

 of lycopodium, lead me to think that the origin of the oil-glo- 

 bules is simply a chemical metamorphosis of the pollenine, as 

 I will point out in another place. 



" The residue, after treatment with ether, was boiled for 

 some minutes with a weak solution of potash, and then with 

 pure water. The mass which remained after this treatment 



