36 
SEEDS OF PLANTS. 
partake of the blood of the plant, the sap, the juices of the 
line of life, and nectary, of the curious compounds of the 
fruit, as well as those juices peculiarly formed for the seed ; in 
short, it must truly be a most wonderful production. 
Formation of I have shewn, that the radicle, at the time it produces the 
on*^ whi'ch^tliey protuberances; the line is also formed at 
the sanje place, but so confused is the 7nass, and so diminutive 
the objects, though, from its consequences you may be sure 
that it is here the line developes and pushes up, yet it is not 
actually to be seen to grow, till the seeds appear hanging on 
their stalks, and forcing their way through the contracted space 
which conveys them to the root : but the vessels (supported by 
each other) are constantly moving upwards for two months 
preceding the flowering of the plant. When I first discovered 
the seeds in the radicle, I concluded that they were carried 
up the tree by the rush of the sap up the vacuum caused in the 
passage of the alburnum by the retiring bark : but I was soon 
undeceived, and I find no projectile force is required for the 
purpose. The vessels round which the seeds hang, increasing 
at the point of the radicle where they are first formed, are con- 
tinually forcing themselves up the passage, till, in various dif- 
ferent shoots, they attain their proper situation in the bark, 
lengthening and developing, and requiring no other means to 
gain the seed-vessels, than growing quickly up the alburnum 
Early disco- cylinder. Most phytologists have endeavoured to trace the first 
sec^ds growth of the seed; Duhamel mentions, with astonishment; 
his opening the pericarp in the first bud when the flowers were 
still in their aggregate state, and finding the seeds within it. 
I have traced them even sooner, and could not then imagine 
where they could first be produced. The present discovery of 
the seeds in the roots enlightens the whole subject, and how 
greatly does it add to the beauty of the contrivance, the em- 
bellishment of the design, when, in the cold season of the 
year, all the important parts of the tree or shrub are forming; 
where the protection of the earth gives them warmth and sup- 
port ; when, without this management, all the time of winter 
must be lost to nature, instead of which it is, (though withont 
appearing 
