By Thomas Andrew Knight, Esq. 99 



their leaves and flowers as strongly, when supplied with water 

 only, as when growing in good soil : but this growth is chiefly 

 germination only, and during this process, in which the 

 organs of the plant are merely formed out of matter previ- 

 ously assimilated, it may be questioned whether a single 

 particle of new matter be ever vitally united to it. 



A plant, of a very beautiful variety of the Oriental Hya- 

 cinth, which had been made to blossom with water only 

 was, at my request, put into my hands in the last spring, just 

 when its blossoms had begun to lose their beauty. Those were 

 immediately taken off, but the stem was suffered to remain, 

 and the plant was removed from the bottle of water, in which 

 it grew, into a pot sufficiently deep to receive its roots. A 

 quantity of the rich compost above-mentioned was then, in 

 successive portions, put into the pot, and washed in amongst 

 the roots ; which were kept properly separated from each 

 other. The bulb itself remained wholly out of the soil, with 

 which it was not in contact, a thin layer of light and dry 

 sandy loam, intervening between it and the rich soil ; and 

 the bulb was also thinly covered with the same material. As 

 the roots of the plant had been accustomed to live in water, 

 the compost in the pot was at first kept very wet ; and the 

 quantity of water subsequently given was lessened very gra- 

 dually ; and as its leaves had been little exposed to light, it 

 was retained under glass till the leaves perished. The bulb 

 was then examined, and was found as solid, and apparently 

 as perfect, as it would have been if it had germinated, as 

 well as ultimately only grown, in a rich soil. The water in 

 this case occasioned the extension of the roots, and the 

 developement of the leaves, and thus was instrumental in 



