TRANSACTIONS 
OF THE 
MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY 
OF 
LONDON. 
On the Formation and Development of the Vegetable Cell. 
By F. H. Wenham. 
(Read November 28th, 1855.) 
The fav'ourable manner in which my paper on ' Sap Circula- 
tion,' published in the last ' Journal of Microscopic Science,' 
has been received, by some of the most eminent members of 
tliis Society, has encouraged me to bring directly before the 
present meeting the result of investigations on the origin and 
first formation of the Vegetable Cell. 
As I have admitted that I take up the microscope only 
occasionally, as a means of recreation rather than a special 
study, it may probably appear great presumption in one, com- 
paratively unpractised, to make a statement of investigations 
that stand in opposition to the opinion of the distinguished 
observers who have written upon this self-same subject, after 
many years of observation, aided by an intimate knowledge 
of the researches of others in a similar department. I must 
state, therefore, that I write with due submission, and in the 
hope that some of the facts mentioned herein may contribute 
towards the promotion of science, if only by directing atten- 
tion towards a field of investigation, which, in my opinion, is 
yet comparatively unexplored. 
Feeling that many who take up the study of a particular 
department ot physiological science for the first time will 
agree with me, I cannot refrain from protesting against the 
excessive predilection that most professed writers exhibit, in 
applying technical phraseology to a new branch of science 
even in the earliest stages of discovery. From this mistaken 
display of scientific pedantry, the uninitiated are probably at 
first quite unable to comprehend the matter ; and worse than 
this, an inappropriate name is frequently applied to a circum- 
stance or imaginary substance, having a doubtful, or at least 
vol. IV. b 
