SUMMER

SUMMER, line 216.

Dr Percival next touches on motion; he mentions corallines, sea-pens*, oysters, &c. as endowed with the power of motion in a very small degree, and then he speaks in the following manner. "Mr Miller (says he), in his late account of the island of Sumatra, mentions a species of coral, which the inhabitants have mistaken for a plant, and have denominated it lalan-cout, or sea-grass. It is found in shallow bays, where it appears like a straight stick, but when touched withdraws itself into the sand. Now if self-moving faculties like these indicate animality, can such a distinction be denied to vegetables, possessed of them in an equal or superior degree? The water-lily, be the pond deep or shallow in which it grows, pushes up its flower-stems till they reach the open air, that the farina fecundans may perform without injury its proper office. About seven in the morning the stalk erects itself, and the flowers rise above the surface of the water: in this state they continue till four in the afternoon, when the stalk becomes relaxed, and the flowers sink and close. The motions of the sensitive plant have been long noticed with admiration, as exhibiting the most obvious signs of perceptivity. And if we admit such motions as criteria of a like power in other beings, to attribute them in this instance to mere mecha-

VOL. XVI. Part II.

nism, actuated solely by external impulse, is to deviate from the soundest rule of philosophizing, which directs us not to multiply causes when the effects appear to be the same. Neither will the laws of electricity better solve the phenomena of this animated vegetable: for its leaves are equally affected by the contact of electric and non-electric bodies; show no change in their sensibility whether the atmosphere be dry or moist; and instantly close when the vapour of volatile alkali or the fumes of burning sulphur are applied to them. The powers of chemical stimuli to produce contractions in the fibres of this plant may perhaps lead some philosophers to refer them to the vis infinita, or irritability, which they assign to certain parts of organized matter, totally distinct from, and independent of, any sentient energy. But the hypothesis is evidently a solecism, and refutes itself. For the presence of irritability can only be proved by the experience of irritations, and the idea of irritation involves in it that of feeling.

"But there is a species of the order of decandria, which constantly and uniformly exerts a self-moving power, uninfluenced either by chemical stimuli, or by any external impulse whatsoever. This curious shrub, which was unknown to Linnaeus, is a native of the East Indies, but has been cultivated in several botanical gardens here. I had an opportunity of examining it in the collection of the late Dr Brown. See HEDYSARUM.—I cannot better comment on this wonderful degree of vegetable animation than in the words of Cicero. Inanimatum est omne quod pulsu agitur externo; quod autem est animal, id motu cietur interiore et suo.

"I have thus attempted, with the brevity prescribed by the laws of this society, to extend our views of animated nature; to gratify the mind with the contemplation of multiplied accessions to the general aggregate of felicity; and to exalt our conceptions of the wisdom, power, and beneficence of God. In an undertaking never yet accomplished, disappointment can be no disgrace: in one directed to such noble objects, the motives are a justification, independently of success. Truth, indeed, obliges me to acknowledge, that I review my speculations with much diffidence; and that I dare not presume to expect they will produce any permanent conviction in others, because I experience an instability of opinion in myself. For, to use the language of Tully, Nescio quomodo, dum lego, assentior; cum posui librum, assenso omnis illa elabitur.—But this scepticism is perhaps to be ascribed to the influence of habitual preconceptions, rather than to a deficiency of reasonable proof. For besides the various arguments which have been advanced in favour of vegetable perceptivity, it may be further urged, that the hypothesis recommends itself by its consonance to those higher analogies of nature, which lead us to conclude, that the greatest possible sum of happiness exists in the universe. The bottom of the ocean is overspread with plants of the most luxuriant magnitude. Immense regions of the earth are covered with perennial forests. Nor are the Alps, or the Andes, destitute of herbage, though buried in deep snow. And can it be imagined that such profusion of life subsists without the least sensation or enjoyment? Let us rather, with humble reverence, suppose, that vegetables participate, in some low degree, of the common allotment of vitality; and that our great Creator hath

4 H apportioned

Plants. apportioned good to all living things, ' in number, weight, and measure.' See SENSITIVE Plant, MIMOSA, DIONEA Muscipula, Vegetable MOTION, &c.

To these ingenious and spirited observations, we shall subjoin nothing of our own, but leave our readers to determine for themselves (c). Speculations of this kind, when carried on by sober men, will never be productive of bad consequences; but by the subtle sceptic, or the more unwary inquirer, they may be made the engine of very dangerous errors. By this we do not mean to insinuate that the spirit of inquiry should be suppressed, because that spirit, in the hands of weak or of wicked men, may be abused. By those, however, who know the bad consequences that may be drawn, and indeed that have been drawn, from the opinions we have now given an account of, our caution will not be deemed impertinent.

PLANTS growing on Animals. See INSECTS giving root to PLANTS.

Sexes of PLANTS. See SEXES and BOTANY.

Colours of PLANTS. See COLOUR of Plants.

Colours extracted from PLANTS. See COLOUR-making.

Method of Drying and Preserving PLANTS for Botanists.—Many methods have been devised for the preservation of plants: we shall relate only those that have been found most successful.

First prepare a press, which a workman will make by the following directions. Take two planks of wood not liable to warp. The planks must be two inches thick, 18 inches long, and 12 inches broad. Get four male and four female screws, such as are commonly used for securing fast windows. Let the four female screws be let into the four corners of one of the planks, and corresponding holes made through the four corners of the other plank for the male screws to pass through, so as to allow the two planks to be screwed tightly together. It will not be amiss to face the bearing of the male screws upon the wood with iron plates; and if the iron plates went across from corner to corner of the wood, it would be a good security against the warping.

Secondly, get half a dozen quires of large soft spongy paper (such as the stationers call blissom blotting paper is the best), and a few sheets of strong pasteboard.

The plants you wish to preserve should be gathered in a dry day, after the sun hath exhaled the dew; taking particular care to collect them in that state wherein their generic and specific characters are most conspicuous. Carry them home in a tin box nine inches long, four inches and a half wide, and one inch and a half deep. Get the box made of the thinnest tinned iron that can be procured; and let the lid open upon hinges. If any thing happen to prevent the immediate use of the specimens you have collected, they will be

kept fresh two or three days in this box much better than by putting them in water. When you are going to preserve them, suffer them to lie upon a table until they become limber; and then they should be laid upon a pasteboard, as much as possible in their natural form, but at the same time with a particular view to their generic and specific characters. For this purpose it will be advisable to separate one of the flowers, and to display the generic character. If the specific character depend upon the flower or upon the root, a particular display of that will be likewise necessary. When the plant is thus disposed upon the pasteboard, cover it with eight or ten layers of spongy paper, and put it into the press. Exert only a small degree of pressure for the first two or three days; then examine it, unfold any unnatural plaits, rectify any mistakes, and, after putting fresh paper over it, screw the press harder. In about three days more separate the plant from the pasteboard, if it is sufficiently firm to allow of a change of place; put it upon a fresh pasteboard, and, covering it with fresh blossom paper, let it remain in the press a few days longer. The press should stand in the sunshine, or within the influence of a fire.

When it is perfectly dry, the usual method is to fasten it down, with paste or gum water, on the right-hand inner page of a sheet of large strong writing-paper. It requires some dexterity to glue the plant neatly down, so that none of the gum or paste may appear to defile the paper. Press it gently again for a day or two, with a half sheet of blossom-paper betwixt the folds of the writing paper. When it is quite dry, write upon the left-hand inner page of the paper the name of the plant; the specific character; the place where, and the time when, it was found; and any other remarks you may think proper. Upon the back of the same page, near the fold of the paper, write the name of the plant, and then place it in your cabinet. A small quantity of finely powdered arsenic, or corrosive sublimate, is usually mixed with the paste or gum-water, to prevent the devastations of insects; but the feeds of slaves are finely powdered will answer the same purpose, without being liable to corrode or to change the colour of the more delicate plants. Some people put the dried plants into the sheets of writing paper, without fastening them down at all; and others only fasten them by means of small slips of paper, pasted across the stem or branches. Where the species of any genus are numerous, and the specimens are small, several of them may be put into one sheet of paper.

Another more expeditious method is to take the plants out of the press after the first or second day; let them remain upon the pasteboard; cover them with five or six leaves of blossom paper, and iron them with a hot smoothing

Plants. smoothing iron until they are perfectly dry. If the iron be too hot, it will change the colours; but some people, taught by long practice, will succeed very happily. This is quite the best method to treat the orchis and other slimy mucilaginous plants.

Another method is to take the plants when fresh gathered, and, instead of putting them into the press, immediately to fasten them down to the paper with strong gum water: then dip a camel-hair pencil into spirit-varnish, and varnish the whole surface of the plant two or three times over. This method succeeds very well with plants that are readily laid flat, and it preserves their colours better than any other. The spirit varnish is made thus. To a quart of highly rectified spirit of wine put five ounces of gum sandarach; two ounces of mastic in drops; one ounce of pale gum elemi, and one ounce of oil of spike-lavender. Let it stand in a warm place, and shake it frequently to expedite the solution of the gums.

Where no better convenience can be had, the specimens may be disposed systematically in a large folio book; but a vegetable cabinet is upon all accounts more eligible. With the assistance of the following description a workman may readily make one. The drawers must have backs and sides, but no other front than a small ledge. Each drawer will be 14 inches wide, and 10 inches from the back to the front, after allowing half an inch for the thickness of the two sides, and a quarter of an inch for the thickness of the back. The sides of the drawers, in the part next the front, must be sloped off in a serpentine line, something like what the workmen call an ogee. The bottoms of the drawers must be made to slide in grooves cut in the uprights, so that no space may be lost betwixt drawer and drawer. After allowing a quarter of an inch for the thickness of the bottom of each drawer, the clear perpendicular space in each must be as in the following table.

This cabinet shuts up with two doors in front; and the whole may stand upon a base, containing a few drawers for the reception of duplicates and papers.