6 
PRELIMINARY TREATISE. 
Dr. Brown has mentioned elsewhere the strange circum- 
stance, that when those seeds are ripe and detached from the 
capsule, the embryo is often not discoverable, yet will become 
apparent after it has lain awhile on the ground, and that 
an artificial direction may be occasionally given to it ; 
and in such cases the original direction of the embryo is 
vague. For instance an Hymenocallis in my stove had 
ripened a considerable number of seeds above an inch long ; 
I cut open several and found a cavity within the fleshy 
mass, but no appearance of an embryo, and the seeds might 
have been supposed to be incapable of vegetating ; the 
remainder were laid upon a pot of earth, and after the lapse 
of several weeks every one of them sprouted vigorously, the 
radicle issuing on the side in contact with the earth. In such 
case it must have been drawn towards the earth by some 
influence, and, if not bent at its earliest manifestation, the 
point of the embryo must have been kept straight at first by 
the toughness of the inner coat of the cavity, and have turned 
the moment it had issued from it; but its being kept straight 
by the toughness of the inner coat of the cavity in which it 
lies, till it can find a vent, cannot be a distinguishing feature 
of very high importance. I should have supposed that the 
embryo, though not discoverable by the magnifier I applied 
to it, must have existed originally in a very minute state, 
but Dr. Brown asserts in the Linnaean Transactions, xii. 149, 
that its formation is subsequent to the separation of the seed 
in such cases ; a recondite point, which I have not had a 
sufficiently powerful magnifier to investigate. I beg not 
in any manner to be considered as imputing blame to a 
gentleman whose botanical skill and information exceeds 
mine immeasurably, and who has minutely enquired into 
many difficult points connected with the science, on account 
of any lapses, which are the necessary consequence of an 
imperfect knowledge of the profusion of various yet kindred 
vegetables, with which the Almighty has adorned our 
world ; but when fundamental errors meet me in the 
outset at each step, without travelling beyond the im- 
mediate object of my labours, I must be allowed at least 
to say that the science is yet in its infancy, and that its 
most distinguished professors are still feeling their way in 
the dark, or at least have not been yet able to emerge into 
broad day-light. 
My friend, Professor Lindley, whose writings are daily 
