332 
PHYSIOLOGY. 
.;B00K II. 
flowering are the same: the phenomena are in both cases 
also very similar. 
When a germinating seed has acquired the necessary degree 
of heat and moisture, it abstracts from the air a portion of its 
oxygen, and gives out an equal quantity of carbonic acid 
gas ; but as one volume of the latter gas equals one volume 
of oxygen, it is evident that the seed is, in this way, deprived 
of a part of its carbon. Some changes take place in the al- 
bumen and cotyledons; and, finally, the faecula that they 
contained is replaced by saccharine matter. In like manner, 
a flower, while expanding, robs the air of oxygen, and gives 
out an equal volume of carbonic acid; and a sugary matter 
is also formed, apparently at the expense of the faecula of the 
disk or petals. 
The quantity of oxygen converted into carbonic acid in 
germination is, cceteris paribus, in proportion to the weight of 
the seed ; but some seeds absorb more than others. Theodore 
de Saussure has shown that exactly the same phenomenon 
occurs in flowers. 
Heat is a consequence of germination ; the temperature is 
also augmented during flowering, as has been proved by 
Theodore de Saussure in the Arum, the Gourd, the Bignonia 
radicans, Polyanthes tuberosa, and others. 
The greater part of the saccharine matter produced during 
germination is absorbed by the radicle, and transmitted to the 
first bud of the young plant. Dunal is of opinion that the 
sugar of the nectary and petals is, in like manner, conveyed to 
the anthers and young ovules ; and that the free liquid honey, 
which exists in such abundance in many flowers, is a secre- 
tion of superabundant fluid ; it can be taken away, as is well 
known, without injury to the flower. 
This opinion will probably be considered the better founded, 
if it can be shown that the disengagement of caloric and de- 
struction of oxygen are in direct relation to the developement 
of the glandular disk, and also are most considerable at the 
time when the functions of the anthers are most actively per- 
formed. 
In no plants, perhaps, is the glandular disk more developed 
