LETTER on being ploughed or turned up for any considerable depth, has frequently surprised the cultivator by the appearance of plants which he never sowed,56 and often which were then unknown to the country. This has arisen from ancient seeds becoming deeply covered, and there remaining inert, but yet retaining their principle of life. This principle has been ascertained to be capable of existing in this latent state for above two thousand years unextinguished, and springing again into active vegetation as soon as planted in a congenial soil." It even remains unimpaired in blighted corn, and will grow from that as vigorously as from the perfect seed. But yet, although thus abiding in vitality in its dormant state for an indefinite length of time, such is its delicacy of existence when once roused into its living action, that it perishes for ever if it be prevented from continuing its growth.59 56 6 58 A field that was thus ploughed up near Dunkeld, after a period of 40 years rest, yielded a considerable blade of Black Oats, without sowing. It could have been only from the plough's bringing up to the surface seeds that had been formerly too deeply lodged for germination.' Loud. Encyc. Gard. 194. ... Some ground turned up in Bushy Park in winter, which had probably not been disturbed since the time of Charles I., was covered in the following summer with Tree Mignionette, Pansies, and Wild Raspberries, none of which grow in the neighbourhood. Jesse's Gleanings. 57 At the Royal Institution in 1830, Mr. Houlton produced a bulbous root, which had been discovered in the hand of an Egyptian Mummy, where it had remained above 2,000 years. On exposure to the atmosphere it germinated, and when planted in earth, it grew with great rapidity. Journ. Roy. Instit. No. I.... In boring for water near Kingston-upon-Thames, some earth was brought up from a depth of 360 feet, and tho carefully covered with a handglass to prevent the possibility of other seeds being deposited on it, was yet in a short time covered with vegetation. This is rightly referred to seeds anciently lodged in it. Jesse's Gleanings. From the depth, these Seeds must have been of the diluvian age. 58 Sir Joseph Banks, in 1805, sowed 80 grains of the most blighted Wheat in pots, in a hot-house, and had 72 healthful plants. 59 Those who convey seeds from distant countries should be instructed 60 VI. This living priciple can subsist in all its reproduc- LETTER tive power in fruit trees, from one to two centuries, and in others for many more." Some of the poisons affect the activity of this principle, though they do not destroy it."2 62 But altho we can observe these effects, we do not know what vegetable life really is. We can discern it to be something distinct and different from all the known material agencies of nature. These can excite and affect and assist the agency, but cannot without it do what it does, nor be what it is. We are therefore authorized to deem it a peculiar sui generis principle, as distinct in plants from their material laws and substance, as life and instinct are in animals. It is affectible, or can be influenced by light, in its stem, leaf and flower. It turns to this the upper surface of its leaves, and if they be forcibly turned from it, they will gradually revert back. Heat alone will not produce this effect. Many close their flowers and 63 structed to keep them dry; for if they receive any damp, sufficient to cause an attempt at vegetation, they then necessarily die, because the process, as they are situated, cannot go on.' Smith's Intr. 99. 60 An Apricot tree 120 years old, was bearing fruit sufficient for any family. Life of L. Kames, v. 2, p. 73. Pear trees planted in the time of King William, were, by gradual paring away the old wood and bark, covering the garden walls with new branches and fine fruit in 1807. Smith, Intr. p. 29. 61 A Yew tree was in existence at Peronne, in Picardy, in 1790, which was mentioned in the original charter for building the church in 634. Journ. of Science, No. 40, p. 412.... The Yew tree at Fountain's Abbey, Yorkshire, is thought to be 1,000 years old. . . . The most vital parts of the stem of a tree are thought to be the innermost layers of the bark, and the outermost layers of the wood. Quart. Journ. Agric. 62 Thus Sensitive plants lose their power of contracting, if laurelwater, opium, or nux vomica be applied. So they contract from camphor, and do not dilate again. Quart. Journ. Science, v. 9, p. 203. 63 Bonnet placed some plants in a heated stove; yet the stems did not incline to the side of the greatest heat, but to a small opening LETTER others droop their leaves when the light departs, as VI. 64 65 if to take their sleep; and expand them in the morning, at various hours, according to their species. But this does not depend upon the Sun; it is more like the roosting of fowls. Some flowers follow the path of the sun. The ripe ears of corn, in a whole field, will be found during the day-light to incline to the South, tho they return to a different position at night. Warmth has a perceptible effect in raising the principle of life to its germinating and floral action. Hence a mild Winter will cause it to anticipate its vernal efflorescence. Some plants also discover a peculiar susceptibility of atmospherical agencies, probably to electrical influences, which of the stove, from which some rays from the burning fluid issued. Sir J. Smith, in his Lectures, stated, It is an invariable circumstance, that plants always turn their stem and leaves to the light, not towards the air. If in a hot-house, the door of which is left open, we shall yet always find them inclining to that side where the light is, let the air come in whence it may.' MS. Note. 64 This may be seen in the Daisy and the Convolvulus. The leaflets of the Mimosa fold themselves up along their common footstalk. Pliny and Theophrastus mention the Lotus of the Euphrates as sinking below the water at night, to rise above it, and expand its blossom as the Sun returns. Smith, p. 333-4. 65 Flowers of plants removed from a hotter to a colder climate, disclose their flowers at a later hour. Thus, that which opens in Senegal at six, will not unfold in France and England till eight or nine, and in Sweden not till ten; and the flower that does not open in Africa till noon, or later, will not open in England at all. 66 The Convolvulus Minor in our garden folded up its corolla in August at four in the afternoon, tho the Sun did not set till near eight. It opened in the morning gradually about two hours after the Sun had risen. 67 If the Siberian Sowthistle shuts at night, the ensuing day will be fine; if it opens, it will be cloudy and rainy. If the African Marigold continues shut after seven in the morning, rain is at hand. The Convolvulus Arvensis, Calendula Fluvialis, and the Anagallis Arvensis, or Poor Man's Weather-glass, close on the approach of rain. Loud. Enc. 231. science has not yet elucidated." The motions of the LETTER moving plants are as yet not at all accounted for.68 It is also one of the laws on which the Vegetable organization has been constructed, that its living principle shall be separable from it, and shall depart from it, just as in man and brute. Here again specific ordainment visibly appears. Each has its appointed period of duration peculiar to its species, and dies when that has been reached. Thus, some are only annuals, and do not survive the year; others are biennials, or grow up in one year and die in the next; while others are perennials, or last for many years, reviving every Spring. The changes which take place on the substance of the firmest tree, when its living principle has left it, attest the reality and power of this energetic agent, which, while it abides in its organization, resists and prevents such a material dissolution.69 68 Mohl gives the anatomy of the Sarmentaceous Plants, and says,― Most of them turn to the left, and this direction is not owing to the action of light, or to the appui. This motion of the Vrilles does not arise from spiral vessels, but from the irritability of their cellular tissue. In their revolving, the Vrilles turn equally every way. But the stigma only moves from below, upwards; and always in one determinate way.' Bull. Univ. 1830, p. 261. When life is extinguished, nature hastens the decomposition. The surface of the tree is overrun with lichens and mosses, which attract and retain the moisture; the empty pores imbibe it; and putrefaction follows. The tribes of Fungi which flourish on decaying wood, then accelerate its corruption. Beetles and Caterpillars take up their abode under the bark, and bore innumerable holes in the substance. Woodpeckers, in search of insects, pierce it more deeply, and excavate large hollows, in which they place their nests. Frost, rain, and heat, assist, till the whole mass crumbles away, and dissolves into a rich mould.' Convers. on Botany, p. 365. VI. VII. LETTER VII. THE LOCAL CREATION AND GRADUAL DIFFUSION OF PLANTS LETTER WHEN the command was issued for the Vegetable Kingdom to arise, the whole of its numerous races either appeared simultaneously in every part of the globe, in immediate diffusion and completion; or they emerged on such particular portions only of the surface, as sufficed for the production of every species; and from these primitive localities were disseminated gradually and successively over the rest of the Earth. The Sacred Record does not decide or elucidate this point. It has preserved the mandate for their general creation, and declared its fulfilment, but has not described the manner or the extent of the first formation. Satisfied with asserting that all plants were the special and appointed creation of the same God, who made the rest of our globe and the starry orbs which surround us, it leaves the chronology of every local Vegetation, to be investigated and ascertained by human inquiry and patient consideration. If we consult our historical and geographical communications on this subject, we find that the Vegetation of many countries which have been examined, and of all newly formed islands that have lately arisen, has been, and still continues to be a progressive process; and we may trace it ourselves on many places near our domestic residence. We see the lichen class arise as their minute seeds descend; and |