806 The American Naturalist. [September, 
also himself grew plants of more than a score of widely diverse 
species from seed in various stages of immaturity. 
At the very beginning of the agitation of the subject, a 
curious misusage in terminology arose, which at one time led 
to considerable controversy, but which gradually disappeared 
with the better elucidation of the subject. The confusion was 
in regard to the application of the terms viability, or power of 
germination, and maturity, or ripeness. The implied reason- 
ing of most writers, especially the earlier ones, seems to have 
been this: The object of maturity is to render the seed capable 
of becoming an independent plant through germination, there- 
fore a seed must be mature before it can germinate, per contra, 
the seed that germinates has already reached maturity. 
In Gertner’s monumental work on seeds and fruits, pub- 
lished in 1790, is the statement’ that seeds are ripe as soon as 
they can germinate, although from their color, weight and size, 
they may not appear so. Senebier, inthe year 1800, held that 
seeds must be ripe in order to grow, and yet at the same time 
says that he has seen green tender peas, taken from equally 
green pods, germinate. The same confusion of ideas is shown 
in the defense which Keith made when DeCandolle” pointed 
out that it was an error to place maturity of the seed as one of 
the conditions for germination, as Keith" had done in his work 
on vegetable physiology, published in 1816. Keith” says: 
“The seed that will germinate is, physiologically speaking, 
“Semen maturum, ut docet, non ex colore suo saturato, nec ex sua in aqua 
subsidentia, neque etiam ex duritie sua satis tuto cognoscitur ; sed certior matur- 
itatis nota ex ipso trahenda est nucleo; quippe que, si ex gelatinosa sensim factus 
sit solidiusculus, si testze suze cavitatem repleat exactissime, atque si intra se ipsum 
nullum prorsus contineat spatium vacuum, indubitatissimum prebit seminis ma- 
turi signum quia ita conformatum, germinando aptum est, queecunque etiam fuerit 
reliqua ejus conditio.” Gzrtner, De fructibus et seminibus plantarum, ii (1790), 
I, p. exii. 
°“ Les graines doivent être mûres pour germer ; pour l'ordinaire elles ne ger- 
ment pas quand on les a cuillies avant leur maturite; j’ai pourtant vu germer des 
pois verts and tendres otes de leurs siliques vertes and molles.” Senebier, 1l. c. 
iii, p. 377. 
” Phys. Veg., ii (1832), p 662. 
" Keith, System of vegetable physiology, ii (1816), p. 3. 
1? Phil. Mag., viii (1836), p. 492. 
