S16 



PHYTOTOMY. 



which could be procured in abundance, and even in these the 

 results of the experiments have been very various and even 

 contradictory. 



A variety of the albuminous matter^ which is called by 

 John, pollenin, seems, in fact, to be the chief ingredient in 

 pollen. This substance is uncommonly liable to decomposi- 

 tion, readily becomes corrupted, gives out a great quantity 

 of ammonia, and communicates to the pollen the naseous 

 animal flavour which we frequently perceive in it. It is 

 insoluble in the ordinary menstrua. Beside this, the pol- 

 len, in all probability, contains wax, although not in the 

 same state of mixture in which we have it from the cells of 

 bees, on which account some chemists entirely deny the exis- 

 tence of wax in the pollen. Extractive matters, of a gummy 

 or resinous nature, constitute the other component parts of 

 the pollen, (John in Schweigger's Neuen Journal, B. II. Heft. 

 3. s. 247. Grotthuss in the same Journal, B. II. Heft. 3. 

 Stolze, in Berlin Jahrb. der Pharmacie, B. VII. s. 159.) 

 Although these results are not universally admitted, they yet 

 entitle us to conclude, that an animal matter predominates in 

 the pollen, and that it is made up of azote and hydrogen, in 

 union with albumen and gluten. After the deposition in the 

 nectaries, and in the coloured portions of the corolla, of the 

 superfluous oxygen, hydrogen and azote make their appear- 

 ance, as the chief product of vegetation ; and of this product 

 we are speedily made sensible by the before-noticed exhalation 

 of azotic and hydrogen gases from the flower, by which means 

 the substance of the plant assumes a resemblance to animal 

 matter, whilst the plant is preparing to give, by its fructifica- 

 tion, the highest proof of its vital activity. 



338. 



We naturally begin the consideration of the female parts 

 of the flower, with that of the Germen. This, in its unim- 

 pregnated state, is principally a cellular organ, in which the 

 ovula, or rudiments of the future seed, appear hke small ve- 

 sicles filled with pure water, and can scarcely be distinguished 

 from the cells themselves. From the fruit-stalk, or from the 



