40 



THE LIFE OF THE PLANT 



or, rather, we have discovered the elements into which 

 the substance of the plant can be broken up : for this 

 purpose we had to destroy the plant itself, to burn it 

 down. This elementary analysis does not, however, 

 give us any information as to the substances or com- 

 pounds which enter into the composition of a living. 

 plant. For this purpose another course must be fol- 

 lowed ; and, first of all, as has been already said, we must 

 peep into the cell, the microscopic laboratory where 

 all kinds of matter, produced by the plant, are formed. 



Fig. 15. 



It is not difficult to see a cell, every part 

 of a plant consists of them ; but to see it 

 alive, uninjured, is easy only in such parts 

 as consist of single cells or of single rows of 

 cells ; such, for instance, as hairs. Many 

 people will know by sight, if not by name, 

 a plant very generally grown indoors and in hot-houses 

 with long, narrow leaves and violet-coloured flowers 

 with three petals — I mean Tradescantia virginica 

 (Spiderwort). The stamens of this flower are made 



