“How incompetent is human effort to portray the beauties of this sublime subject! How inadequate the most descriptive talent to approximate to our view the vegetative profusion contained within the recess of nature! How limited have been our public researches! How contracted the knowledge which has been as yet obtained! What an incomprehensible store remains yet concealed, impenetrable to mortal view!”[171]
[171] Observations on the Structure and Economy of Plants, by R. Hooper, M. D., F. L. S. page 128. This work contains an ingenious display of the analogy which subsists between the animal and the vegetable kingdom.
From a source so abundant, the botanist will be under no difficulty in selecting for himself; those who have not made the science a part of their studies, will be materially assisted by having recource to the elegant figures and their descriptions in the Botanical Magazine, by W. Curtis, F. L. S. the well-known author of Flora Londinensis; and English Botany, by J. E. Smith, M. D. F. R. & Pres. L. S. published by Jas. Sowerby, F. L. S. I shall, therefore, just mention in general terms those parts of plants which are peculiarly adapted for microscopical investigation. These are as follow:
- The trunk, composed of
- Epidermis or cuticle
- Cortex or outer bark
- Liber or inner bark
- Alburnum
- Lignum or wood
- Medulla or pith
- The root cut transversely or longitudinally
- Leaves and their fibres
- The parts of fructification, consisting of
- The calyx or flower cup
- corolla or foliation, containing the leaves or petals, and the nectarium
- stamina or threads, their filaments and anthera or summit, and the pollen contained therein[172]
- The pistillum or pointal, its germen, style, and stigma
- pericarpium, seed vessel, or germen grown to maturity
- semina, seeds and their parts
- receptaculum, the base on which the fructification is seated
[172] The pollen or meal is a fine dust designed for the impregnation of the germen; a small quantity of this meal being put into hot water and applied to the microscope, will exhibit the bursting of the elastic covering of each grain; and the escape of the smaller atoms, which is the true farina.
Of the various classes of plants, that called cryptogamia is eminently calculated for microscopical observation; comprizing the filices, the musci, the algæ, and the fungi. On these subjects Hedwig has produced a valuable work, entitled Theoria Generationis et Fructificationis de Plantarum Cryptogamicarum, of which a new and much improved edition has just appeared, and to which for further information I refer the reader.
A LIST OF MR. CUSTANCE’S VEGETABLE CUTTINGS, THAT USUALLY ACCOMPANY THE MOST COMPLETE SORT OF MICROSCOPES MADE BY MESSRS. W. AND S. JONES.
- English oak.
- Evergreen ditto.
- Norway oak.
- Ash.
- Cedar.
- Cork.
- Savin.
- Fir.
- Ceanothus.
- Hazel.
- Lime.
- Elm.
- Elm root.
- Mulberry ditto.
- Grape root.
- Lime ditto.
- Beech.
- Birch.
- Plum.
- Ivy.
- Spanish elder.
- American climber.
- Cissampelos.
- Virgin’s bower.
- Magnolia grandiflora.
- Gelder-rose.
- Althæa frutex.
- Tulip tree.
- Ash.
- Spanish chesnut.
- Platanus orientalis.
- Viburnum lantana.
- Oak root.
- Ash root.
- Asp root.
- Walnut ditto.
- Grape vine.
- Indian turpeth.
- China root.
- Jasmine.
- Dog rose.
- Raspberry.
- Barberry.
- Briar.
- Elder root.
- Ditto branch.
- Willow root.
- Ditto branch.
- Mulberry.
- Fig.
- Sycamore.
- Maple.
- American dogwood.
- Ptelea trifoliata.
- Ligneous night-shade.
- Sumach.
- Apricot.
- Medlar.
- Bay.
- Laurel.
- Sea weed.
- Longitudinal cutting of plane tree.
- Ditto of Spanish elder.
- Ditto of briar.
- Common cane.
- Ditto with curious center.
- Bamboo cane.
- Sarsaparilla.
- Longitudinal cuttings of sugar cane.
- Elder.
- Rose tree.
- Mugwort.
- *Longitudinal slices of elder.
- *Ditto grape vine.
- *Transverse ditto.
- *Dogwood.
- *Plane tree.
- *Beech.
- *Grape vine.
- *Spanish chesnut.
- *Walnut.
- *Fig.
- *Ditto longitudinal.
- Asparagus.
- Artichoke.
- Thistle.
- Fennel.
- Parsley.
- Ditto root.
- Sunflower.
- Ditto root.
- Agrimony.
- Eryngo.
- Potatoe stalk.
- Centaurea.
- Indian reed.
- Ditto corn.
- Amaranthus.
- Bromelia pinguin.
- Campanula.
- Monkshood.
- Lavatera.
- Solidago.
- Mugwort.
- Chrysanthemum.
- Helianthus.
- Wormwood.
- Bulrush.
- Portugal reed.
- Burdock.
- Ditto.
- Wild mustard.
- Aloe flower stalk.
- Solomon’s seal.
- Tulip.
- Calamus aromaticus.
- Buckbean.
- Gourd.
- Melon.
- Crown imperial.
- Flower-de-luce.
- Pine apple.
- White lily.
- Asparagus.
- Ragwort.
- Water flag.
- Sugar cane.
- Stems of leaves of hog’s fennel.
- Hemlock.
- Chesnut.
- Wild turnip.
- Stems of the leaves of red dock.
- Horse-radish.
- Cabbage.
- Carrots.
- Roots of phytolacca.
- Teasel.
- Carrot.
- Fennel.
- Stinging-nettle roots curiously variegated.
- Roots of parsley and wormwood variegated.
- Stalks of fern, with variations.
N. B. Those marked with an * Mr. Custance conceives prove Dr. Hill in an error, when he observed, that the pith of a shoot is not connected with the pith of the branch. See his Construction of Timber, &c. p. 103, 8vo edition.