1 c)D DESCRIPTION OF THE MUSEUM. 



Thouin the headgardener, who devotes the 

 greater part of his time to it, particularly at the 

 season of sowing the seeds ; an operation which 

 he entrusts to no other hand. 



In the pot with each seed is placed a hit of 

 lead with a number engraven on it, correspond- 

 ing with that of a catalogue containing the name 

 of the plant, of the country whence it came and 

 the person who sent it, with the date of its re- 

 ception, and the time when it was sown. 



The seed-garden, as we have already re- 

 marked, is the nursery of the establishment; but 

 for science it offers another species of interest 

 in the opportunity of observing the germination 

 of seeds, and the early growth of plants. It is 

 well known that the evolution of the radicle, 

 plumule and seed-lobes, affords important cha- 

 racters for classing vegetables, and determining 

 their affinities. These characters, it is true, may 

 be discovered by the dissection of seeds ; but 

 they are much more apparent in their incipient 

 germination and the successive developement of 

 the parts : the first phenomena of vital action are 

 of the highest importance in vegetable physio- 

 logy. It was here that M. Mirbel made the beau- 

 tiful observations on the characters and deve- 

 lopement of seeds, which he first communicated 

 in the Annals of the Museum, and which he has 



