INTRODUCTION. 
of winch would be liigUy interesting, both to the professor and student. 
Every variety of plant and shrub has its own peculiar manner of sustenance 
in life, requiring diiferent soils, cHmate, &c. Few, however, possess the 
power of locomotion ; the natural order, Confervce, alone, we believe, enjoy- 
ing that privilege ; and, perhaps, of all plants, they alone consist of solitary 
individuals. Other plants are composed of communities, the buds being the 
inhabitants, the stems consisting of store-rooms and galleries, the little spongy 
bodies at the extremities of the roots being the true locomotive organs. But 
as trees do not vv\alk upon the suiface of the earth, they in other respects ex- 
hibit abundant instances of spontaneous motion. For example, the ten- 
dency of jilants to incline their stems, and turn the upper surface of their 
leaves to the light ; the direction which the extreme fibres of the root will 
often take to escape the light, or to reach the best nourishment ; the folding 
up of the flower on the approach of rain ; the rising and falling of the water- 
lily ; and the peculiar and invariable direction assumed by the twining stem 
in ascending its prop. 
If a pan of water be placed wiLhin six inches on either side of the stem 
of a young pumpkin or vegetable marrow, it will in the course of the night 
approach it, and will be found in the morning with one of its leaves floating 
. in the water. This experiment may be continued nightly, until the plant 
begins to fruit. 
If a prop be placed within six inches of a young convolvulus, or scarlet 
runner, it will find it, although the prop may be shifted daily. If after it 
has twined some distance up the prop, it be unwound and twined in an op- 
posite direction it will return to its original position, or die in the attempt ; 
yet, notwithstanding, if two of these plants grow near each other, and have 
no stake near, on which they can entwine, one of them will alter the direc- 
tion of its spiral, and they will twine round each other. A very interesting 
experiment was tried by placing some kidney beans in a cylinder of moist 
earth : after a short time they commenced to germinate, of course sending 
the plume upwards to the light, and the root down into the soil. After a 
few days the cylinder was turned one-fourth round, and again this was re- 
peated until an entire revolution of the cylinder had been completed. The 
beans were then taken out of the cylinder, and it was found that both the 
plume and radical had bent to accomodate themselves to every revolution, 
