Prolonged Vitality of Seeds, 91 



had been thrown there, or how long they had quietly slept 

 beneath the surface of the earth, must be determined by those 

 who know very much more than I do." 



Another example of the same general fact, is interesting 

 from its connexion with historical events. During the rebel- 

 lion in Scotland in the year 1715, a camp was formed in the 

 King's Park at Stirling. Wherever the ground was broken, 

 broom sprang up, although none had ever been known to grow 

 there. The plant was subsequently destroyed ; but in 1745, 

 after the ground had been broken up for a like purpose, a 

 similar growth appeared. Sometime afterwards the Park 

 was ploughed up, and the broom spread all over it. The same 

 thing happened in a field in the neighborhood, from the whole 

 surface of which about nine inches of soil had been removed. 

 The broom seeds could not have been conveyed by the wind, 

 since they are heavy, and without wings ; and the form of the 

 ground is such that no stream of water could have transported 

 them, or covered them afterwards with soil. The effect must 

 have been produced by the operationof causes continued through 

 a long period of time. 



The most remarkable instance on record, as presenting sat- 

 isfactory proof of the lapse of at least 1600 or 1700 years, 

 during which the seed was dormant, is perhaps one related by 

 Professor Lindley. " I have now before me," he says, "three 

 plants of Raspberries, which have been raised in the gardens 

 of the Horticultural Society, from seeds taken from the 

 stomach of a man whose skeleton was found 30 feet be- 

 low the surface of the earth, at the bottom of a barrow,* 

 which was opened at Dorchester. He had been buried with 

 some coins of the Emperor Hadrian." Grains of wheat en- 

 closed in the bandages of mummies are said to have some- 

 times germinated, and though there is no improbability in the 



* These barrrows are large mounds of earth, common on the downs along 

 the south coast of Eugland. They are evidently artificial, and when dug 

 into, are usually found to contain human remains, with pottery, weapons, 

 coins, and other articles. They are evidently burial places, and as a number 

 of them are generally found together, they seem to have been erected on 

 fields of battle, to contain the bodies of the slain. 



