This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1864 Excerpt: ... easily off the leaves of the lily and various other plants, and off the petals of flowers. The microscope shews that it is formed of one layer of cells, containing air, and serving to protect the fluid-filled cells within; yet, as these latter require the entrance of a due proportion of outer air, the cuticle is ...
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1864 Excerpt: ... easily off the leaves of the lily and various other plants, and off the petals of flowers. The microscope shews that it is formed of one layer of cells, containing air, and serving to protect the fluid-filled cells within; yet, as these latter require the entrance of a due proportion of outer air, the cuticle is fitted up with ventilators in the form of pores, called the stomata, curiously arranged to open and shut. The internal cells of plants.--"The origin of every plant is a single cell; the perfection of a plant, from the tiniest moss to the loftiest oak, is in a countless multitude of simple cells, containing various substances needful for its growth, and of an infinite variety of shape and substance." Cell-contents.--Starch-granules abound in the cells of a good potato, and (according to Dr. Carpenter) "in some part or other of most plants." Oil is contained in the well-known red globules stilted on little stalks on the stem of the moss-rose. It is also to be found in some internal cells in an orangerind, and in the leaves of the myrtle and magnolia. Some plants contain crystals in the cells of their cuticles; the hyacinth affords an example. Wax, gum, and sugar are also to be detected in cells. The rotation of cell-contents is one of the most curious and beautiful spectacles afforded by the microscope. The best examples of it are found among plants which grow under water; and of these the' Vallisneria spiralis is peculiarly fitted for its exhibition. The Vallisneria is an aquatic "Objects for the Microscope," p. 13. VALLISNERIA SPIRALIS. 107 plant that grows abundantly in the rivers of the soutli of Europe, but is not a native of this country; it may, however, be readily grown in a large glass jar with a little mould at...
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