CYCLOSIS. 



139 



produces assimilation and nutrition. In consequence of the 

 latter torce, the niolecules of the latex. esca|)e through the 

 sides ot' the vessels, to be conveyed to the :)arts requirin<r nu- 

 triujenl ; while on the coniniry autosynci isis, brings about 

 the assimilation ot* the nutritious matter. 



189. " Cyciosis is analogous to the motion of tlie blood in 

 lower animals, or in the fcetus of a fowl before the heart is 

 formed, when as Malpighi and Wolfe have sliown, tlie blood 

 moves spontaneously in the vascular apparatus." 



190. We have thus extracted from Prof. Lindley's late 

 work, the mo^t important points on the subject of cyciosis, 

 and we confess tluit at present ue are unable to decide as to 

 several positions assumed on this subject. 



191. The power which plants possess of accumulating sap, 

 and drawing, on this store, as food for future use, is a subject 

 of much interest, and of much practical importance, 'Striking 

 examples of this kind, we see exhibited in the Radish, Turnip, 

 Beet, 6cc. In these cases the enerjjies of the plant are spent 

 in the first period of their existence, in laying in stores of 

 food in the form of large succulent roots, which is to be used 

 when the plant requires large supplies of nourishment in the 

 perfection of its seed. But plants which do not so obviously 

 provide this accumulntion of food, nevertheless, require a fit 

 state of develojunent before ihey can perfect their fruit. The 

 gardener is well acquainted with this fact, since he knows 

 that Melons and like fruits, which set early, either uniformly 

 fall off", or are diminutive and useless, but if they are not per- 

 mitted to set till the vine is well developed, and filled w ith sap, 

 Ihcy then grow rapidly and come to perfection, having a full 

 supply of food laid in store for their use. It is a well known 

 fact, also, that when a tVuit tree is prevented from bearing one 

 year, that the fruit for the next year is much better than the 

 ordinary fruit of the tree ; tlie tree having accumulated food 

 during the year of rest, which conti ibutcs to the abundance and 

 perfection of the t'ruit. Tnesalso, sometimes cease to bear on- 

 ly every other year, either t'iom age, or from want of 5ulficient 

 nourishment in the soil, in which they grow; they cannot bear 

 the exhaustion attendant on the perfection of a yearly crop of 

 fruit. 



192. The fleshy receptacles also of many plants, a fiord 

 nourishment during the perfection of the seed. In some of 

 the grasses, when ihev grow in moist soils, they become tu- 

 berous, laying up food in the tuuers, tor times of drougiit. 



