378 



breaks up into suberic acid, valerianic acid, veleronnitrile, and 

 some other products. During the oxidation of the pollen, 

 abundance of hydrocyanic acid is given off, indeed in such 

 quantity as to mask the smell of every other body. This is an 

 additional proof of the presence of nitrogen. 



" When the solid fat is removed from the retort, and the 

 remaining liquid distilled nearly to dryness until all the vola- 

 tile oily acids have passed over, there remains in the retort a 

 large quantity of suberic acid, and also pimelic, and the other 

 acids obtained in the oxidation of fat, but the principal pro- 

 duct is suberic acid. I obtained oxalic acid only from one 

 pollen, namely, Crataegus monogyna. 



" It would be premature to speak of the nature of the 

 white solid fat, but I may state that I think I will be able to 

 establish its relation to wax on one side, and to lignine and 

 starch on the other. 



" There is one point more, of great interest, to which I 

 would beg to call the attention of botanists. Wydeler, as a 

 consequence of the theory of Schleiden, maintains that plants 

 have not two sexes, as hitherto supposed ; that the anther, 

 far from being the male organ, is the female, — in fact, an 

 ovary ; that the pollen grain is the germ of a new plant ; that 

 the pollinic tube becomes the embryo within the embryo sac 

 of the ovule, which merely supplies nourishment and shelter 

 to the embryo up to a certain period ; and that this phenomena 

 is improperly termed ' fecundation.'* I think the chemical 

 nature of the pollen of Lycopodium clavatum, which is a true 

 germ or sporule, bears out this view in full. I have obtained 

 all the products from that body which I have obtained from 

 the pollen of the Pinus picea, &c. 



" I hoped to have been able to have arrived at some fur- 

 ther conclusions this Spring, but want of time, and the bad- 

 ness of the season, prevented me from obtaining pollen in any 



* Wilson in Hooker's Journal, t. xxiv. 92. 



