GERMINATION, 191 
plete a molecular change ; whether it disappeared suddenly under 
the action of diastase, or is only gradually changed into a some- 
what similar substance, 
so that one could follow 
out with the microscope all 
the phases of this change. 
It has been proved that this 
change is only , brought 
about by successive steps, 
and we are enabled to follow _ 
the progress of this altera- 
tion in the germination of 
several plants. 
To return to the evolu- 
tion of the embryo. How- 
ever thus nourished and 
strengthened, either at the 
expense of the albumen, or 
of its own cotyledons, the 
embryo quickly presses the 
integuments covering it on 
all sides, which, in the end, 
are broken, thus giving 1 
Fig. 284.—Germination of the Spanish Bean. 
it a passage through. This rupture 
takes place sometimes in an irregular manner, as in the Spanish 
4 
Fig. 285.—Germinating of the Sugar Cane. 
and other Beans (Fig. 284) ; 
sometimes in a very regular 
manner, as in the Virginian Spider-wort, the Date, and the 
