68 
VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY AND BOTANY. 
posed to adopt our recommendation, to a 
pursuit which cannot fail to prove a source 
of interest and improvement. It will be 
adapted as much as possible to such as have no 
previous information on the subject, beyond 
that which all young persons of ordinary 
capacity may gain by themselves ; and it will 
omit, therefore, several topics of high but less 
general interest, which those who feel in- 
clined to examine them will find fully treated 
elsewhere." — P. 4. 
The first chapter treats of the general 
characters of living beings, and the dis- 
tinction between animals and vegetables. 
The second contains a general view of the 
vegetable kingdom, and here all the classes 
of plants, down to the smallest fungi, are 
ingeniously and familiarly described: and 
speaking of fungi, we are struck by the re- 
lation of a fact worth quoting. 
" The power of expansion," says the author, 
" which these plants possess, soft as their tissues 
seem, is truly wonderful. Some years ago the 
town of Basingstoke was paved; and not many 
months afterwards, the pavement was ob- 
served to exhibit an unevenness, which could 
not be easily accounted for. In a short time 
after the mystery was explained; for some of 
the heaviest stones were completely lifted out 
of their beds by the growth of large toad- 
stools beneath them. One of these stones 
measured twenty-two inches by twenty-one, 
and weighed 83 lbs. ; and the resistance offered 
by the mortar which held it in its place would 
probably be even a greater obstacle than the 
weight. It became necessary to re-pave the 
whole town, in consequence of this remark- 
able disturbance." — P. 55. 
Chapter III. brings us to the elementary 
structure of plants, and here the illustrations 
greatly assist in making the subject clear and 
intelligible. From this the author proceeds 
to the structure of the roots and stem, next 
the food of plants, and the manner in which 
it is obtained. The structure of leaves and 
flowers occupies a very large portion of the 
work, and is as familiarly explained as the 
subject is capable of being explained. There 
is, throughout the volume, much to entertain 
and instruct both young and old. Upon the 
subject of the vitality of seeds, which is too 
often used as proofs of spontaneous genera- 
tion, there is much to interest the reader. 
The following are specimens : — 
" Instances are of no unfrequent occur- 
rence, in which ground, that has been turned 
up, spontaneously produces plants different 
from any in their neighbourhood. There is 
no doubt that, in some of these cases, the 
seed is conveyed by the wind, and becomes 
developed only in spots, which afford it con- 
genial soil. Thus, it is commonly observed, 
that clover is ready to spring up on soils 
which have been rendered alkaline by the 
strewing of wood-ashes, or the burning of 
weeds, or which have had the surface broken 
and mixed with lime. But there are many 
authentic facts, which can only be explained 
upon the supposition that the seeds of the 
newly-appearing plants have lain for a long 
period imbedded in the soil, at such a distance 
from the surface as to prevent the access of 
air and moisture ; and that, retaining their 
vitality under these conditions, they have been 
excited to germination by exposure to the 
atmosphere. 
The following possesses considerable in- 
terest : — 
" To the westward of Stirling, there is a 
large peat-bog, a great part of which has been 
flooded away, by raising water from the river 
Teith, and discharging it into the Forth; the 
object of this process being, to lay bare the 
under-soil of clay, which is then cultivated. 
The clergyman of the parish was on one 
occasion standing by, while the workmen 
were forming a ditch in this clay, in a part 
which had been covered with fourteen feet of 
peat earth ; observing some seeds in the clay, 
which was thrown out of this ditch, he took 
them up and sowed them; they germinated, 
and produced a species of Chrysanthemum. 
A very long period of years must have pro- 
bably elapsed, whilst the seeds were getting 
their covering of clay; and of the time neces- 
sary to produce 14 feet of peat-earth above 
this, it is scarcely possible to form an idea; 
but it must have been (in the natural course 
of things) extremely great. 
" The following circumstance, which oc- 
curred about 30 years ago in the State of 
Maine, in North America, is, perhaps, still 
more remarkable. Some well-diggers, when 
sinking a well, at the distance of about 40 
miles from the sea, struck, at the depth of 
about 20 feet, a layer of sand: this strongly 
excited curiosity and interest, from the cir- 
cumstance that no similar sand was to be 
found anywhere in the neighbourhood, or 
anywhere nearer than the sea-beach. As it 
was drawn up from the well, it was placed in 
a pile by itself; an unwillingness having been 
felt to mix it with the stones and gravel, 
which were also drawn up. But when the 
work was about to be finished, and the pile of 
stones and gravel to be removed, it was found 
necessary to remove also the sand-heap. This, 
therefore, was scattered about the spot on 
which it had been formed; and was for some 
time scarcely remembered. In a year or two, 
however, it was perceived that a great number 
of small trees had sprung from the ground 
over which the sand had been strewn. These 
