OF PLANTS. 
201 
belonging to it: in both, it breaks the transition from pre¬ 
pared to unprepared aliment; in both, it is prospective and 
compensatory. In animals which suck, this intermediate 
nourishment is supplied by a different source. 
In all subjects, the most common observations are the 
best, when it is their truth and strength which have made 
them common. There are, of this sort, two concerning 
plants, which it falls within our plan to notice. The first 
relates to what has already been touched upon, their ger¬ 
mination. When a grain of corn is cast into the ground, 
this is the change which takes place. From one end of 
the grain issues a green sprout; from the other, a number of 
white fibrous threads. [PI. XXXIV. fig. 5.] How can this 
be explained ? Why not sprouts from both ends ? Why not 
fibrous threads from both ends? To what is the difference 
to be referred, but to design; to the different uses which 
the parts are thereafter to serve; uses which discover 
themselves in the sequel of the process? The sprout, or 
plumule, struggles into the air; and becomes the plant, of 
which, from the first, it contained the rudiments: the fibres 
shoot into the earth; and thereby both fix the plant to the 
ground, and collect nourishment from the soil for its sup¬ 
port.* Now, what is not a little remarkable, the parts 
* “ The seed , the last production of vigorous vegetation, is wonder 
fully diversified in form. Being of the highest importance to the re¬ 
sources of nature, it is defended above all other parts of the plant, by soft, 
pulpy substances, as in the esculent fruits, by thick membranes, as in the 
leguminous vegetables, and by hard shells, or a thick epidermis, as in the 
palms and grasses. 
“ In every seed there is to be distinguished, first, the organ of nour¬ 
ishment; secondly, the nascent plant, or the plume; thirdly, the nascent 
root, or the radicle. 
“ In the common garden bean, the organ of nourishment is divided in¬ 
to two lobes called cotyledons; the plume is the small white point be¬ 
tween the upper part of the lobes; and the radicle is the small curved cone 
at their base. 
«« In wheat, and in many of the grasses, the organ of nourishment is a 
single part, and these plants are called monocotyledonous. In other 
cases it consists of more than two parts, when the plants are called polye- 
otyledonous. In the greater number of instances it is, however, simply 
divided into two, and is dicotyledonous. 
*« The matter of the seed, when examined in its common stale, appears 
dead and inert; it exhibits neither the forms nor the functions of life. 
But let it be acted upon by moisture, heat, and air, and its organized 
powers are soon distinctly developed. The cotyledons expand, the 
membranes burst, the radicle acquires new matter, descends into the 
soil, and the plume rises towards the free air. By degrees, the organs 
of nourishment of dicotyledonous plants become vascular, and are con¬ 
verted into seed leaves, and the perfect plant appears above the soil. 
