| | 158 OS practi anid Ph wsiological Botany. ee 
The position of the embryo i in the endosperm also varies” 
‘in different plants. It sometimes lies in the middle of haly 
endosperm, when the latter is said to be peripherte (Fig. 
340), as in /7zs; sometimes outside it, when it is said to be 
Fic. 340. — Peripheric Fic. 341.— Lateral em- FIG. 342.—Peripheric em- 
endosperm —surround- bryo of Menispermum bryo surrounding the ceniral 
_ ing the central embryo canadense (magnified). endosperm in Muzrabelis — 
‘ inthe pansy (magnified). Falapa (magnified). Z 
- opposite the lateral endosperm (Fig. 341); or pertpheric 
and the endosperm central (Fig. 342). The texture of the 
--endosperm also varies greatly ; in the cereal grasses it is 
-farinaceous or starchy, in the coffee-berry cartilaginous ; in 
the vegetable ivory, Phytelephas, hard and white like ivory. 
CHAPTER ¥: 
THE LIFE OF THE PLANT. 
‘In its external phenomena, the life of a plant is in general 
-much more simple than that of an animal, because plants 
are [as a rule] destitute of the power of spontaneous move- 
ment, so that they ere compelled to adapt themselves to the 
conditions of their environment, or must otherwise perish. 
The theory is founded on a number of delicate experiments which — 
cannot. here be described, that all organised parts of plants consist of | 
minute, solid, and comparatively unalterable particles called mzolecales, 
which cannot, however, be distinguished by the most powerful lenses. 
This hypothesis does not assume that the molecules must always be 
spherical ; they are often, on the contrary, supposed to have a crystal- 
line structure. The adjacent molecules are not united by any solid 
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