66 
HISTOLOGY OF VEGETABLES. 
FIG. 49 . 
Cells in the testa of the seed of the 
Star -anise ( Illicium, anisatum ). 
FIG. 50 . 
Old ligneous cells of the bark of the 
Beech, exhibiting concentric deposit. 
numerous, can be better studied when the outer surface 
of the cell is in focus, or when a thin layer of the cells 
is uninjured in the preparation of the specimen. 
A knowledge of these hard structures is often of con- 
siderable importance, much more so, indeed, than many 
are apt to imagine. The following is an example of 
the practical utility of such an acquaintance with minute 
structural anatomy : About two years since, I received 
from a medical gentleman in the country, some speci- 
mens mounted as microscopic objects, that had been 
passed from the bowels by a female. One of them I 
found to be the cuticle of a plant, and this turned out 
subsequently to be the cuticle of a Gooseberry ; the other 
puzzled me, but I made up my mind that it also was of 
vegetable origin, and that it was, in all probability, the 
testa of some seed. I wrote to my correspondent to 
this effect, but the patient denied having eaten any dried 
fruit for the space of twelve years, and the physician, be- 
lieving the statement of his patient, considered that the 
