on objective case, because governed by, or com- reputation A noun, common, singular, and the objective will not secure the best and most lasting case. Third person singular, present tense of the For to secure is the infinitive of the transitive A demonstrative, or definite adnoun to reputation, which is understood to best, and most lasting. An adnoun, superlative degree, positive good, comparative, better, superlative best. A conjunction, joining best, and most lasting together. An adverb of manner; positive, much or many, comparative, more, superlative, most. An adnoun, or the imperfect participle, combining with reputation, and compared by the. adverbs, mor and most. reputation A noun, common, singular, and the objective. case, being the object of the transitive verb, secure. In the arrangement of sentences, the qualifying terms and phrases should be placed near to the words they are intended to qualify. The omission of the qualifying expression, often produces the greatest absurdity. A newspaper speaking of Her Majesty's reception at Brighton, thus wrote. "That preparations are now being made for her reception, and that several tradesmen have received orders to be immediately executed." The following is another ludicrous instance. It is said to have been exhibited on a church in the north of England. "Notice. Any person found sticking bills on this church, will be prosecuted according to law, or any other nuisance." Son. John and I laughed heartily at another ludicrous instance published lately, it was an advertisement and ran thus, "Wanted by a married man, age 30, one child, five years old, a situation as gardener, &c." "Lost, at Mr. B. The following is equally ludicrous. Kensington, a large Spanish blue gentleman's cloak." It should have run thus-Lost, in Kensington, a gentleman's large Spanish blue cloak. Vegetable Physiology. Mr. B. As we finished our last conversation with an account of the action of leaves and the green parts of plants, I will now say a little more in addition to what was stated at page 53 on the circulation of the sap. When a young bud, or a leaf, is first excited to growth in the spring, the fluids it contains are increased in density by evaporation; endosmose immediately takes place between it and the tissue below it, which latter parts with the thinnest portion of its contents, and then acts by endosmose upon the tissue below it, and thus the whole chord of vegetation is set in vibration, if I may so express it, from the extremity of the branches to the points of the roots; the moment the spongelets are affected, the fluid in the soil is attracted through their sides, and thus a complete motion throughout the system is established. Hence the leafing of trees is not the effect of the ascent of the sap, as it is usually thought to be, but the cause of it. All that we really know about the development of tissue is this, that in Chara and Nitella, young cells appear like buds at the point or axils of older cells, and gradually lengthen out into the tubular form peculiar to these plants; and that in Marchantia polymorpha, they have been seen by Mirbel, to form in a somewhat similar manner. De Candolle tells us, that a branch during its increase in length, is under the influence of two opposing forces; the one from below, softening its tissue and forcing it to lengthen; the other from above, solidifying it, and rendering it incapable of elongation. This fact, about which there can be no doubt, explains how it is that the branches of plants growing in wet and shady places, are long, succulent, and brittle; while those produced in hot, dry, and sunburnt places, are short, stiff, tough and stunted. In the first place, the force of elongation is not sufficiently overcome by the decomposition of carbonic acid, &c., and the consequent solidification of the tissue; in the latter, the force from below in itself is feeble, and is very much overcome by the powerful action of the leaves, and the degree in which all the parts become hardened. The following theory of vegetable growth will be found conformable to admitted facts, in all the divisions of the vegetable kingdom. A plant is a mass of cellular tissue, capable of expansion and growth in all directions. When there is no leafy system, growth is indefinate, and not carried on in any particular direction, and no woody system is formed; but when leaves are developed, they send their organic fibres down through the mass of cellular substance, and arrange them, sometimes in one way, sometimes in another, according to the specific powers of a plant. Upon this supposition the stem of a woody plant will be composed of two essentially distinct systems; the one cellular, constituting the pith, the prínciple part of the bark, and the medullary processes (if an Exogen), and capable of growth in all directions; the other fibro-vascular, comprising the wood and a part of the bark, and capable of growth, longitudinally only. It will be found that this will answer all the objections which have been made to wood being an organic emanation of the leaves. It is commonly said that in the winter all vegetation is at rest, that the sap ceases to flow, new parts to be developed, and old parts to enlarge, but this is not exactly true. It appears, from experiment, that vegetation is at all times more or less active; and that we ought to say, that it is languid in winter, and energetic in the spring and summer. Son. But, we are told, that whatever power of attracting sap by its roots a plant may possess during winter, it has little means of parting with any part of it again by evaporation at that period of the year; so that during the winter, the whole of the tissue must gradually acquire a state of turgidity, which will go on increasing till the leaves and new branches are developed, and carry off the sap, or decompose, or assimilate it. Mr. B. Yes, and this turgid state is eminently favourable to rapid growth, when vegetation once resumes its activity; for it acts as a force from behind, which continually presses the new-born tissue, and causes it to expand. upon The seasons of growth and repose are also so essential to vegetation, that as you know, it is hardly possible to prevent plants preparing themselves for their annual changes, whatever artificial means may be employed to maintain them in an uniform atmosphere. Son. And if, as I understand, annual changes in their condition are requisite to the well-being of plants, so in like manner are the diurnal changes of light and darkness. If plants were kept incessantly growing in light, they would be perpetually decomposing carbonic acid, and would in consequence become so stunted, that there could be no such thing as a tree. If, on the contrary, they grow in constant darkness, their tissue becomes excessively lengthened and weak, no decomposition of carbonic acid takes place, none of the parts acquire solidity and vigour, and finally they perish. Mr. B. One of the most important consequences of the decomposition and assimilation of their sap by plants is the formation of various secretions, which are often peculiar to particular species. The production of these is ascribed to the varied powers of the vital principle, as otherwise it is inconceivable in what manner the unelaborated fluids of the earth, or the gases mixed with the atmosphere, are converted to such a prodigious number of different products, by the uniform action of phenomena which are common to all plants. These secretions are what give hardness and durability to wood, (while their absence renders it perishable) flavour to fruit, and odour to flowers; which form the bitterness, acidity, or acridity of some, and the mucilagenous, farinaceous, saccharine, and other qualities of other species. A detailed account of them must be sought in the works of chemists. They are, however, in some things so intimately mixed up with physiological considerations as to require a short notice. We cannot trace the chemical processes which prepare the secretions, and over which the vital principle presides; but we may conceive how admirably perfect must be the organisation of the plants in which they are carried on; inasmuch as, minute as are the organs in which they are conducted, yet all is done with perfect order, no confusion in the arrangement, no commixture in the secretions takes place, but as the several changes, combinations, &c., which produce them are effected, the secretions are transmitted to separate cellules, where they remain distinct from each other. Starch is a secretion very frequent. It is stored in cells whose coats protect it from being at once dissolved and carried off by the ascending sap; but are yet permeable to that sap when emergencies arise, and some extraordinary circumstances connected with the plant demand its being given out. Starch is peculiarly calculated to nourish, and it affords that reservoir to the plant which fat does to the animal. Sugar is almost an universal product. It is considered generally, not to be an original secretion, but to be a product resulting from chemical changes in secretions which have already been formed. Son. Dr. Darwin supposes that the mucilage of vegetables, when subjected to the action of a certain degree of heat, becomes sugar, and when to a smaller degree, starch. Mr. B. The secretions of vegetable milk are of several kinds. Opium is one of these; it is extracted from poppies, lettuces, and other plants. The elastic gum or India rubber is another vegetable milk, when it flows from the trees where incisions are made, it is white and pure like milk, but by exposure to the air, it acquires the black hue which we see it to possess. Gum of various kinds is peculiar to certain trees. Large drops of gum are often seen exuding from our own peach, plum, and cherry trees. Resin is a secretion variously modified in different trees. It is a substance of great use in the arts; it is easily soluble in spirits. Pitch, tar, and turpentine are all resins. The various flavours of fruits as well as of culinary vegetables, are produced by the secreted juices stored in the cells of each. Fixed oils are also obtained from the seed or fruit of different plants. Amongst the secretions which are evolved externally, must be ranked the Aroma, or scent of flowers, which consists in oils or gases of a highly volatile nature, from which the various perfumes are procured. This aroma, usually supposed to to arise from the essential oils, or at least, to be intimately connected with them, is a substance highly volatile and diffusible, the atoms of which richly impregnate the atmosphere to a very considerable distance from the object from which it proceeds. The leaves and stems of some plants give out this odorous secretion as well as their flowers. That roots give off in some cases a peculiar matter has been noticed at page 24. Brugmans was the first to observe it in the Heartsease, and it was afterwards remarked in the Elm, and some other plants. No one, however, seems to have suspected this to be a general function of vegetation before De Candolle, who as long ago as the year 1805 called attention to this curious subject. It now appears from experiments conducted by Macaire of Geneva, that to throw off execretions by the roots is a general property of plants, and one of their most important vital actions; that the matter so thrown off is in most cases deleterious to the species ejecting it, although it may be harmless to others, and that particular species discharge by their roots a matter so deleterious as actually to poison the soil. He found that Leguminous plants produce a substance, analogous to gum and a little carbonate of lime; grasses a minute quantity of matter, containing certain alkaline and earthy muriates and carbonates, but very little gum; that Chicoraceous plants exude in abundance a brownish, bitter, excretion, analogous to opium, and containing tannin, a gummy extractive brown matter, and certain salts; Papaveraceous plants, a substance of a similar nature; Euphorbias, a gummy resinous secretion of a yellowish white colour, and of an acrid flavour, and so on. The phenomena attendant upon flowering and fruiting, have next to be considered. To what causes the production of flowers is owing is uncertain. It must generally be refered to the specific nature of plants, or what is called their idiosyncracy. Annuals, for instance, flower in a few weeks after their seeds are sown ; what are called biennials demand some months; perennials a |