518 THE UNIVERSE. 



seeds having been buried undei- the water and preserved 

 there till, having been exposed to the air, all the conditions 

 necessary to germination, which were previously wanting, 

 were now brought to bear upon them.^ 



^ Thompson's weed {Lepixlium Druba), a plant which gives mucli auuoyauce to 

 agriculturists, appears to have been introduced in the straw of the beds brought 

 back from the disastrous expedition to Walcheren. The troops being disem- 

 barked at Eamsgate, the beds were rijjped up and the straw thrown into an old 

 chalkpit belonging to a Mr. Thompson. It was subsequently useil as manure, 

 and wherever this manure was laid down a plentiful crop of the new weed was 

 the result. This weed has now spread over a great part of Kent. — Popular 

 Sciciice Reciva; vol, v. p. 492. — Te. 



