July 1, 1SC5.] 



SCTENCE-GOSSJP, 



149 



to tlicir satisfaction, would by this way, with tlie 

 ordiuary patience and practice wliich are necessary 

 for success in any pursuit, succeed in preparing good 

 and clean slides, and acquire the means of opening 

 up for themselves a fund of pleasurable and profit- 

 able microscopic entertainment, in working with 

 guano and other fossil deposits, even in the dark 

 and dreary days of winter, when nature affords but a 

 limited supply of other objects for microscopic study 

 and investigation. 

 Arma{ih. Lewis G. Mills, LL.B. 



LONDON EOCKET. 

 {Slsymbrimn Irio.) 

 T T is a curious circumstance respecting this plant, 

 -^ that after the great fire in London, in 1666, a 

 most abundant crop of it sprung up over many acres 

 of the ruins. Dr. Morrison, Professor of Botany at 

 Oxford, one of our earliest writers on Systematic 

 Botany, and who lived at that time, has a long 

 dialogue on the subject, a translation of which (it is 

 written in Latin) may perhaps amuse some of your 

 readers. The parties are a Botanist andaEellowof 

 some society. 



Bot. On the 2ud day of September, in the year 

 1666, began that lamentable fire which, lasted three 

 or four days, and which could not be extinguished 

 by any human means. Indeed, it was brought about 

 by Divine Providence ; for " shall there be evil in a 

 city and the Lord hath not done it ? " The east 

 wind, liaving opened (if I may so express it) the 

 prison of the winds, raged all that time. About 

 eight months afterwards, I was taking a walk among 

 the ruins, which covered nearly two hundred acres, 

 and coming near to the old Exchange, formerly 

 called Gresham College, I observed among the fallen 

 buildings a very large quantity of a species of wild 

 mustard, which Columna calls the smooth rocket- 

 leaved Irio. Returning to the same place in about 

 two months' time, the plants had grown to such a 

 size that they might have been reaped like a crop of 

 wheat, 



Soc. Well, whence do you suppose arose such 

 an abundance of the plant — from sowing the seed ? 



Bot. What can iuduce you to put such a question, 

 since all the buildings about St. Paul's and in the 

 centre of the famous city of London have been 

 built and stood a thousand, or at least, many hundred 

 years ? 



Soc. Then I suppose that the seed, having been 

 concealed in cellars or cavities of the earth, sprang 

 up when exposed to the sun and rain. 



Bot. Let me say, I am not a Pliny to impose upon 

 the world the stories of other men ; nor am 1 a 

 Matthiolus, to invent what never existed ; but if 

 you wish, I will tell you my mind in plain unvar- 

 nished words. 



Soc. Say on. 



Bot. The seed of no plant, how carefully so ever 

 kept, will grow after ten years, very rarely after 

 five, much less after some hundreds or a thousand 

 years. 



Soc. Then some one sowed these seeds among the 

 ruins ? 



Bot. I do not believe, nay I am sure, so much 

 seed could not have been found in all Britain, nor in 

 Prance, nor in Germany or Italy, in one part of 

 which, Naples, it grew plentifully in the time of 

 Columna : so that even had there been persons 

 willing to sow it, so great an abundance of seed 

 could not have been supplied from all these 

 kingdoms. 



Soc. I do not doubt it. Whence, then, do you con- 

 clude the great abundance of the rocket came from? 

 Did it arise spontaneously? At that' time you 

 will have observed that many other pappus-bearing- 

 plants and grasses, and other species sprung up, 



Bot. Yes I did. 



Soc. Whence came these ? 



Bot. A pappus-bearing or downy seed may be car- 

 ried many miles by the wind, and wherever it falls 

 will sprout and gi'ow up. 



Soc. I do not doubt it : and grasses will spring up 

 abundantly in any neglected soil : might not, then, 

 this rocket spring up spontaneously among the 

 ruins of London ? 



Bot. There is a difference between this rocket and 

 the grasses. Grasses are the most abundant of all 

 plants, and their seeds are scattered everywhere, and 

 thus are easily propagated. 



Soc. You have already told us that a perfect plant 

 is propagated only by seed. 



Bot, I have always believed, and do still believe 

 this. I would only ask, do j^ou suppose that this 

 rocket was sown by some gardener, or other inhabit- 

 ant of the city among the ruins ? 



Soc. I am sure no one would take the pains, nor 

 could he obtain sufficient seed for the purpose. 

 Therefore, as it came neither from sowing nor from 

 seed by accident, from what source do you suppose 

 it arose ? 



Bot. I certainly shall not endeavour to prove that 

 it arose from some volatile or fixed salt — from salt- 

 petre, sulphur-trampled earth and water, however 

 mixed — m fact, I know not what to believe. Per- 

 haps it arose spontaneously. But this opens a 

 door to certain Eationalistic Philosophers, who hold 

 that plants of any kind, even trees or shrubs, may 

 arise from the earth spontaneously, witliout any 

 seed. But such an opinion, as it seems to me 

 is contrary both to sacred Scripture and to reason. 

 However, I think I have said enough at present. 

 What remains I leave to be discussed by your 

 learned Fellows, whether of London or Paris. Pare- 

 well, 11. W. 



