EASY LESSONS IN VEGETABLE BIOLOGY.
It will be observed that many of the words and expressions used by Dr. Wythe in his “Lessons” are pronounced and explained in the “Glossary and Index.” Where such explanations and pronunciations occur, of course no notes have been prepared.
P. 12.—“Albumen,” al-buˈmen. The word is derived from albus, the Latin word for white. Albumen forms a part of all animal fluids and solids. The white of an egg is almost pure albumen. In the vegetable world it is the food laid up for the nourishment of the embryo around which it lies.
P. 13.—“Slide.” A small slip of glass about three inches long by one wide. It is intended to place objects on which are to be examined under the microscope. The “cover” here referred to, is a square of very thin glass, which is placed over the object to hold it in place.
“Capillary attraction,” căpˈil-la-ry. When a capillary (hair-like) tube is dipped into a liquid, there is an attraction between the solid and the particles or molecules of the liquid which causes the latter to rise in the tube if it wets it, or to sink if it does not.
“Heated stage.” The simplest means for heating the stage or slide upon which an object is placed, is by a small alcoholic lamp placed at the corner of the stage.
P. 15.—“32 deg. F.” 32 degrees on the Fahrenheit thermometer. This scale, invented in 1714, by Fahrenheit, is commonly used in England and America, although the centigrade scale (where the distance between the boiling point and zero is divided into one hundred parts) takes its place largely on the continent, and in most scientific works.
P. 18.—“Amœba,” a-mœˈba. Readers who live in warm climates will have no trouble in finding the amœba attached to the stems of plants or floating in pools of stagnant water. To find a specimen in December in temperate latitudes will be more difficult, but by collecting grass and stems of water plants, with water from a pool, and keeping them in a warm room for a time, specimens may be obtained.
P. 22.—“Cinchona,” cin-chōˈna. The tree from which the well known drug, Peruvian bark, is obtained.
“Quinine.” Kwiˈnīn is Webster’s preferred pronunciation, kwe-nīnˈ, Worcester’s. Quinine is an alkaloid obtained from the cinchona bark.
P. 28.—“Nucleus.” The nucleus may be easily seen in a thin section from an apple or potato, placed under a microscope.
“Mucilaginous,” mū-ci-lăgˈi-noŭs. Like mucilage.
P. 29.—“Silica,” sĭlˈi-ca. Flint or quartz.
P. 31.—“Tannin,” tănˈnin, or tannic acid. An astringent principle found in nut-galls and the bark of many trees. If treated with ether a solid is obtained which is soluble in water. It is used in tanning leather.
“Starch.” The grains of starch are easily found. Wheat, oats, arrow-root, sage and tapioca all furnish excellent examples.
“Crystals.” Răphˈi-des is the name given by botanists to the little crystals found in the tissues. A section of an onion will reveal them. Also, the juice of the hyacinth.
P. 34.—“Cochineal Cactus,” cŏchˈi-nēal. The cactus from which the cochineal insects, whose bodies are sold in the shops for a red dye, are obtained. The plant is also called cochineal fig, and is raised with as great care for food for the insect, as is the mulberry tree for the silk worm.
P. 35.—“Vessels.” The “dotted” vessel, or duct, is a long, open tube whose sides are marked by pores, or dots. A transverse section of a radish will furnish an example. A fern will furnish an example of “reticulated” cell; almost any common plant contains the “annular” and “spiral” cells.
P. 36.—“Epidermis.” All varieties of cells will be found in the epidermis together with the mouths, or stomata. For examination a layer should be carefully removed with a razor or knife, a little water put on it to prevent too rapid drying, and the whole covered by a thin glass.
P. 37.—“Volatile oil.” That which wastes away when exposed to the atmosphere; as musk.
P. 39.—To prepare sections of wood for slides there is a very simple instrument which may be made at home by any one possessed of a little ingenuity. Let a block of hard wood be selected, one and one-fourth inches square by two inches in length, its ends perfectly smooth. In one end drill a hole one-fourth of an inch in diameter, lengthwise, one and one-half inches. In the other end insert a common wood screw, its point filed square, until it reaches the hole. In the side of the block, one-half inch from the end in which the hole has been bored, insert another screw, with square point; this is to be used as a clamp. To cut the section take a branch the proper diameter, and which has been boiled in water, place it in the hole, and clamp solidly with the screw at the side. With a keen razor cut off the end even with the block. By turning the screw in the end of the block the branch will be pushed forward any distance desired, and the section can be cut by a sliding motion of the razor across the stem. The slices should be removed from the knife with a camel’s hair brush, slightly dampened, and may be preserved in weak spirits. The work is, of course, very delicate, and requires the skill and nicety of touch which only practice brings. To mount the sections in Canada balsam, as Dr. Wythe advises, the object should be placed exactly in the center of the slide, which must be carefully cleaned from dust, and a drop of the balsam placed upon it; hold the slide over a flame until the balsam spreads over the object. Air bubbles should be broken with a needle. A glass cover, warmed, should now be placed on the object and pressed sufficiently to remove the superfluous balsam. The whole should be put in a warm place until thoroughly dry.
P. 42.—“Showers of blood,” or blood-rain. A shower of reddish dust mixed with rain, which has been known to fall in several places on the eastern coast of the Atlantic.
P. 42.—“Diatoms.” “They are found in great abundance in the mud of rivers, lakes and ponds. They are also present in those deposits of clay which once formed the beds of rivers and lakes, and which are now dry. In order to procure the diatoms from these deposits, the earth or clay should be well washed with pure water, and the deposit allowed to settle and the water poured off. This may be repeated several times. The deposit is then to be washed with hydrochloric acid, and when the effervescence is over, the acid is poured off, and a fresh portion is added. This may be repeated several times. When no action occurs by its use cold, the deposit may be transferred to a watch-glass, and kept over a spirit lamp, at a temperature of about 200° for three or four hours. The deposit must then be well washed with pure water, and will be found to consist almost entirely of diatoms.”—Lankester.
P. 47.—“Fungi,” fŭnˈji. No class is so easy to study in the winter. If fruit, bread and the like are allowed to mould, any number of interesting objects will be found. In the woods fungi are to be gathered from bark and old logs. Of these the peziza, or cup-moulds will be found most pleasing. Lichens also abound, and numerous sections can be made from them.
P. 62.—“Big Trees.” These Big Trees are Cedars (sequoia gigantea). “Calaveras,” kä-lä-vāˈräs.
“Buds.” Many plants form their buds in the fall. A careful search will reveal such for examination. The lilac and trailing arbutus form their flower buds in autumn, and in vigorous plants a section of the bud will show distinctly the flower stowed away for spring.
P. 63.—“Leaves.” “Opposite” leaves are seen in the chickweed and fuchsia; “whorled,” in Prince’s pine; the “alternate,” in the rose family. The arrangement of leaves on the stem has been reduced to a science, called phyllotaxy.
P. 64.—“Bracts.” Seen in the camellia and strawberry. The white portion of the calla blossom is a colored bract called spathe; also, the “pulpit” of the common Indian turnip or Jack-in-the-pulpit.
“Sessile” leaves are seen in the upper leaves of the common primrose and spring beauty. All plants of the violet and the rose families bear stipules.
P. 65.—“Lanceolate,” as in the peach; oblong, the radical leaves of shepherd’s purse; cordate, in the blood-root; sagittate, in the stem leaves of shepherd’s purse; ovate, in chickweed and violet; pinnate, as in the rose; bipinnate, as in the sensitive plant.
P. 68.—When the stamens and pistils are on separate trees or plants, the fertilization is accomplished in various ways; insects or birds carry the pollen in many cases, in others the wind wafts it.
“Hypogynous,” as in the cress, radish, cabbage, and other cruciform plants.
P. 69.—Perigynous, as in the rose family; epigynous, as in the caraway, celery, and parsnip.
P. 76.—“Labiate.” The word means lip-shaped, and the order is named from the peculiar shape of the corolla.
P. 77.—“Composite,” or compounded; “Herbaceous,” her-bāˈshus. Plants with soft stems which die every year.
“Coriander,” cŏˌri-anˈder; “Asafœtida,” ăsˈa-fĕtˌi-da.
P. 78.—“Papilionaceous,” pa-pĭlˈyo-nāˌshus. From the Latin for butterfly.
“Tamarind,” tămˈa-rĭnd. A tree 60 to 80 feet in height, with dense foliage. A native of Africa and India. Its pods are preserved and used as a medicine, or as an article of diet.
“Senna,” sĕnˈna. A drug prepared from the dried leaves of the cassia, a shrub raised in India and Nubia. A variety of cassia is found in the United States, but its leaves are less powerful. “Acacia,” a-kāˈshĭ-a, “Mimosa,” mī-mōˈsa.
P. 79.—“Ranunculus,” ra-nŭnˈcu-lŭs. The word means a little frog. Pliny is said to have so named this species because many of its members grow in water where frogs abound.
“Aconite,” acˈo-nite. A plant related to the Hellebores; the common wolf’s bane, or monk’s hood.
“Cruciate,” kruˈshĭ-āt. The petals are arranged in the form of a cross.
P. 80.—“Chimborazo,” chim-bo-rāˈzo. A peak of the Andes in Ecuador. It is the sixth in height among the lofty peaks of the range.
P. 82.—“Floras.” The whole number of plants native to any section forms its flora.
“Urticaceæ,” ur-ti-caˈce-æ. Nettles.
P. 83.—“Rhododendrons,” rhōˌdo-dĕnˈdron; “Azalias,” a-zāˈle-as. These plants both belong to the order of heathworts or ericaceæ, the order to which the huckleberry, cranberry, trailing arbutus, and other well-known plants belong.