CULTIVATION  OF  CINCHONA  PLANTS  UNDER  GLASS.  261 
I  think  that  the  proper  range  of  temperature  might  be  placed  at 
from  55°  F.  in  winter  to  65°  in  summer. 
It  is  very  important  to  allow  as  much  access  of  fresh  air  as 
possible.   It  must  be  remembered  that  these  are  mountain  plants, 
loving  free  air  and  alternate  mist  and  sunshine,  whilst  the  hot, 
close  atmosphere  of  the  lower  valleys  is  always  injurious  to  their 
perfection  as  quinine-producing  plants,  and  generally  fatal  to 
their  growth.*    The  very  condition  of  life  depends  on  the  con- 
stituent molecules  of  an  organized  body  being  never  all  in  re. 
pose;  and  whilst  these  are,  on  the  one  hand,  received  from  with- 
out, on  the  other  hand  effete  particles  are  continually  expelled 
from  the  plant,  whilst  others  are  deposited  in  the  formal  tissues, 
thus  building  up  gradually  the  solid  portions  of  the  structure. 
In  this  manner  plants  live,  grow,  multiply  under  the  influence  of 
the  vital  force ;  and  if  these  phenomena  were  more  constantly 
under  the  notice  of  our  writers  on  Nature,  we  should  perhaps  be 
able  nationally  to  elaborate  something  better  than  mechanical 
theories  of  life,  force  upon  our  acceptance  with  an  amount  of 
confidence  bearing  an  inverse  ratio  to  the  proofs  produced.  We 
should,  perhaps,  not  be  told  that    there  is  no  real  difference  be- 
tween vital  and  physical  forces."    Even  the  theory  of  cell-for- 
mation as  the  origin  of  all  living  things,  though  true  as  to  the 
manner  in  which  nature  works,  yet  does  not  elucidate  her  mys- 
teries.   It  seems  to  solve  more  than  it  really  does  explain,  for 
what  is  the  cell  but  the  boundary  within  which  nature  carries  on 
*  I  have  recently  had  the  opportunity  of  observing  the  same  result  as 
produced  by  similar  causes  in  India.  Two  specimens  of  red  bark  were 
sent  over  for  analysis  from  "  Balmadies,"  a  cinchona  plantation  belonging 
to  Mr.  Rhode.  One  of  these  presented  the  usual  appearance  of  East  In- 
dian succirubra  bark.  Mr.  Broughton  informs  me  that  it  was  grown  in  a 
valley  adjoining  the  Neilgherris,  at  an  elevation  of  about  4O0rO  feet.  Mr. 
B.  made  an  examination  of  it.  Though  actually  lower  in  elevation  than 
the  site  of  the  lower  Crown  barks  on  the  Nediwuttum  plantation,  which 
produce  much  cinchonidine,  it  is  tolerably  rich  in  quinine.  "  The  climate 
differs  from  these  latter  by  this  peculiarity,  that  during  the  dry  season 
fogs  and  mists  roll  up  each  day  from  the  western  coast  and  moisten  the 
leaves,  and  shade  them  from  the  baking  Indian  sun."  The  other 
specimen  had  the  aspect  of  the  C.  rubra  dura  of  the  Germans,  and  con- 
tained less  quinine,  but  more  than  twice  as  much  cinchonidine.  It  came 
"  from  the  hot  bottom  of  the  valley." 
