ON THE DISSECTION OF FLOWERS. \J\ 



each other. Suppose seven or eight gl?_«s cylinders placed 

 within rne another, and having ribs of The same matter, 

 which convey the juices of each to th^ir appointed place; 

 would it not be most easily understood, that the liquid 

 thus carried, and the mechanism thus enclosed, can in no 

 manner disturb those in the adjoining circles, though cer- 

 tainly increasing the size of the whole? This is exactty 

 the case in the vegetable structure: as for example ; when 

 the mechanism is to be sought that governs the leaf; draw 

 off the rind of the plant, and in the next matter, (that is 

 on the bark) will be found the whole of what forms and 

 regulates the motion of the leaves. Great care must be 

 taken however not to carry off the balls with the rind; but, 

 if properly stripped, the whole management of the spiral 

 wire will then he discovered in regular order, with the balls 

 on which it is wound, and the knots by which it is fastened. 



If the mechanism of the flower is desired, the rind is first To find the 



drawn down, and displays the mechanism of the calyx, mechanism of 



• , i • . i • i , i i . • , , a flow-er. 



with the partial skm that leads up the vessels to its edge, and 



generally lines it When this is thoroughly examined, it 

 must be taken off with the greatest care; and it will display 

 a green matter of a thicker kind, which is the skin on which 

 the vessels of the corolla repose ; this regular cylinder reaches 

 up to the claw of each petal, and gives to it the vessels 

 that are to meander through it, and the juices that inflate 

 them. This, when prooerly viewed, must be cut off with 

 a lancet, and a yellow and also a thin white skin will 

 appear next, which hold the vessels of the stamen between 

 them, and convey them either to the filaments or the co- , 

 rolla ; in which they perform the rest of their journey, 

 as in the primula; or in a skin that forms an additional 

 cuticle to the pistil, as in the tnalva ; or in a cylinder that 

 stands up round the female, as in many flowers. But let 

 it pass where it will, it always has a skin appropriated to 

 the stamen alone; till it reaches the part where the corolla 

 branches off; and afterward it has no connexion with the 

 juices of the petals, though lying on them; or with the 

 pistil, though enclosing it; as I shall now show by the 

 dissection of a flower: I chose the peach out of several hun- 

 dreds drawn in the same manner, because it is now in 

 N 2 season, 



