formed by the breaking down, or conversion of this vesicle. But Bayle and Laennec believe a grey semi-transparent granule of a hard and almost cartilaginous nature to be the commencement, which, according to the latter, afterwards softens and acquires a fluidity nearly equal to that of pus. In whatever manner any natural or diseased product grows, or whatever its ultimate condition, it is agreeable to all the known laws of physiology and pathology that its primordia should be soft; thus, if bone is to be produced in the foetus, first we have a mere mucous mass, which, by degrees, becomes cartilaginous, and in which, osseous matter is finally deposited; the reverse of this does not occur in any of the phenomena of the vital economy. It does, therefore, appear to us, arguing from analogy, that Bayle and Laennec's opinion is not well founded, and that the reasoning of our author and Dr. Baron is, in this respect, correct.

The last point to be examined is the seat of tubercle; in what texture is it resident? Here, we think, the observations of Andral well worthy of attention; it will be seen, that he allows them to be seated in the air ducts in the cellular tissue and occasionally, perhaps, in the lymphatic glands. M. Broussais is, indeed, a strenuous supporter of the opinion which places their seat in these last, and Dr. Abercrombie believes they often arise from the deposition of albumen in the glands, though he would not insist that this is always the case. Dr. Baron considers them as being altogether resident in the lymphatic vessels. Without entering into the views of any of these gentlemen, we must confess we believe that tubercles commence in the lymphatic glands much oftener than M. Andral suspects, it is exceedingly common to find in ordinary cases of phthisis the bronchial glands much tumified and converted into a caseous matter, we also often meet with swellings of the mesenteric and cervical in connection with this disease. M. Andral does not offer any facts to prove the contrary, he contents himself with stating it is in contradiction to what observation teaches us relative to their formation. Laennec is of opinion, that tubercles are not formed in the air cells, because in this case, they would be coughed up with the sputa.

With regard to the granulations of Bayle, our author asserts, that they are vesicular inflammations; that they are, in fact, a less severe form of hepatized lung, which, he contends, is made up of these granulations, and that they are perfectly distinct from tubercles. M. Laennec maintains the reverse, and affirms that they are tubercles in their nascent state. M. Chomel, who agrees with Andral, answers to Laennec, 1st. That the opaque points sometimes found in the granulations, on which the latter rests his opinion, are met with in but few subjects, and in those only in a few of the granulations. 2dly. That admitting the opaque points to be the commencement of tubercle, that would not prove the identity of the two lesions. 3rdly. M. Laennec regards the hardened, grey, semi-transparent and impermeable parenchyma, which so frequently surrounds tubercles as identical. with the granulations, but there is a considerable difference between them; in the midst of this hardened mass the original pulmonary tissue may yet be distinguished, but in the granulation there is nothing which bears the slightest resemblance to it, for it is really an accidental production. Again, why should they be considered as the rudiments of tubercle, when they are so often observed of a much smaller size than granulations? we cannot suppose that the granulation would grow less before it assumed the tuberculous appearance. Hence, he does not think them capable of softening and ulcerating. English authors are very meagre in their writings on the subject of these bodies.

It gives a very simple, may we not say, a very beautiful solution of all this mystery to suppose that tubercle originates in chronic inflammation of the lung, which causes a deposition of matter at certain points in its different textures, that these points go on enlarging till they produce, according to some accidental circumstance, all the varied appearances met with in tubercles. There is nothing in all this which the imagination could not fully conceive, but alas, unfortunately for this simplicity, facts have not yet been made completely to demonstrate it, indeed, they sometimes seem to contradict it; when, for example, the disease takes its

course, as it occasionally does, without any appreciable, inflammatory symptom ; when also the disease appears simultaneously in different viscera, where we cannot show that there has been inflammation in these several parts; and, lastly, when there is such a peculiarity of form as to induce us to say, that this patient is, and that is not of a phthisical habit. Much has been done by different writers on this subject, and more especially by Andral, to whose ingenuity and candour great praise is due. Still the field is open to future inquirers, and he who can gather from these various and discordant theories, or from his own resources, a clear insight into the cause, nature, and seat of tubercle may yet confer a great boon on mankind, and secure himself an honourable niche in the temple of fame. If we have ventured to express an opinion, it has been with diffidence, for when such great men differ on points confessedly obscure, it becomes us to exclaim with the poet,

"Non nostrum inter vos tantas componere lites."

[38]

ON THE METAMORPHOSIS OF PLANTS,

BY THE GERMAN POET GOETHE.

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF FREDERIC DE GINGINS-LASSARAZ.

(Continued from p. 98.)
NECTARIES.

51. HOWEVER instantaneous (brusque) the passage in some plants of the petals into the state of stamens, we yet find that nature cannot always accomplish this distance at a single leap; she often produces intermediate organs, which, both in their form and functions, approximate sometimes to the one, sometimes to the other these, although they vary much in form, we may nevertheless, for the most part, refer to the same fundamental idea, viz., that these organs are slow and gradual passages of the Calicine leaves into stamens.

52. Most of the different organs, designated by Linnæus under the appellation of Nectaries, enter into this general definition. Here, again, we find new occasion for admiring the sagacity of the extraordinary man, who, without having any very distinct idea of the nature of these parts of the flower, yielded to a kind of foresight, and ventured to range, under a common denomination, organs apparently so different.

53. Several petals at once display their affinity with the stamens by certain glands, which do not alter their form, and which commonly secrete a honied juice.* We may presume, from what has been already observed, that this juice is imperfect, and imperfectly directed, (déterminée) fecundating matter. This presumption will, further on, receive new evidence of its probability.

54. In this state the nectaries appear, as it were, distinct, but approximate in form at one time to that of petals, at another to that of stamens. The thirteen filaments of the nectaries of Parnassia, terminated by the same number of reddish globules,+ much resemble stamens. Others resemble these bodies without anthers, as in Valisneria, and Fevillea : in Pentapetes, they are ranged in the form of a circle, alternate regularly with the stamens, and have a slightly petaloid form. They are designated in the system under the name filamenta castrata petaliformia, or antherless petaloid filaments. We meet with these equivocal formations also in Kiggellaria, and in the Passion flower, (Passiflora.)

55. The improperly called paracorolles, or interior corollas, appear to us to deserve the name of nectaries, in the sense which we have attached to it; for, if the petals be formed by the dilatation of the THE ORGAN, the interior corollas, as well as the stamens, are formed on the contrary by a contraction of the same Organ. * Petals of the Ranunculi. See pl. V. fig. 5. + See pl. V. fig. 2, and 3. See pl. V. fig. 1.

For the London University Magazine Printed by C Hullmandel.

Figs. 1.2.3.5.6.7. are from Mirbel. Fig. 4.is from De Candolle

Hence it is that, in the very dilated corollas, we find an internal corolla of more contracted parts, as, for instance, in the Narcissuses, in Nerium, in Agrostemma.* 56. We see in different genera other still more striking alterations in the form of the parts of the corolla. The petals of several flowers have at the interior of their base a honey-bearing cavity; in others, this cavity is more or less prolonged, and changed into a posterior spur,† modifying more or less the form of the petal. This phenomenon is seen in several varieties of columbine (ancolies.)

57. This organ is found to be modified to the greatest degree in the Aconitums, and in the Nigella, in which, however, we may, with some attention, recognise their analogy with the petals. In the Nigella, particularly, they often return to the petaloid form, and, the flower becomes double by the transformation of the nectaries. In the Aconitums, we readily recognize the resemblance of the nectaries, with the vaulted petal that covers them.

58. Since we have already observed that the nectaries are analogous to the petals and to the stamens, we may be permitted to deduce from thence some observations relative to the irregularity of certain flowers. Thus, for example, in Melianthus we may regard the first verticille, composed of five parts, as a true corolla, and the five parts of the second verticille, as an accessary crown, composed of six nectaries, of which one, the superior, approximates much in form to the petals, and of which the inferior, already called a nectary, is the most remote from them in form. It is in the same sense that we may name the carina, or keel of the Papilionacea, a nectary, because, hidden under the exterior petals, it approaches more to the form of the stamens, and is much more remote on the contrary from that of the Vexilli, or standards. We shall explain, in the same manner, the broken extremity of the petals of Polygala soldered into a carina, and we shall thence be able to account to ourselves for the destination of these parts. 59. It would be superfluous here to advertize the reader, that the object of these observations is not to throw again into disorder what has been classed and separated by the care of observers the sole aim of this essay is to render more easy of comprehension the alterations of form which are found among vegetables.

ADDITIONAL OBSERVATIONS ON THE STAMENS.

60. Microscopic observations have placed beyond a doubt, that the sexual organs are like the other parts of vegetables produced by spiral vessels. We shall thence deduce an argument in favour of the identity of the internal structure of the different parts of plants, which we have hitherto seen under such diversified forms.

61. By admitting that the spiral vessels are placed in the centre of bundles of, and are surrounded by, lymphatic vessels, we may conceive in some degree this powerful contraction, by supposing that these spiral vessels, which we picture to ourselves under the form of very elastic springs, (ressorts,) have arrived at a maximum of tension, so that this predominant force prevents the expansion of the lymphatic vessels, which thus become subordinate to them.

62. The lymphatic vessels, whose bundles are thus contracted, have no longer freedom to expand, to seek a rout for themselves, or to form delicate networks by their numerous anastomoses. The tubular vessels, which filled up the interstices of the network, can no longer develope themselves to the degree necessary for the formation of the leaves of the stem, of the calyx, and of the carolla, which is dependant on the expansion of these vessels; and only form themselves into a simple and delicate filament.

63. The thin membranes of the lobes of the anther, in the interior of which the more delicate vessels terminate, are with difficulty formed; and if we admit now that these same vessels which, elsewhere expanded and anastomosed, are here found in a remarkable degree of contraction; if we find that they secrete a highly organized fecundating powder, which, by its subtlety and its lightness, makes up for the extension of the vessels which have secreted it; if we again observe this * The corona, or crown, of the Narcissus, owes its origin to a doubling of the petals, and not to the production of a second verticille; for the lobes of the corolla are opposite to, and not alternate with, the petals. + See pl. V., fig. 6, and 7.

Seringe, Monogr. des Aconits.