Book Description

Excerpt from Studies in Seeds and Fruits: An Investigation With the Balance Whilst arranging the results of my observations, the difficulty of establishing a nexus between them soon became apparent. One thing led to another in an irregular manner, the new line of inquiry being often determined by some accidental indication, or by some inconsistency in the results of experiments. Perceiving that it would not be conducive to method to follow the order of inception of the several inquiries, I devised the plan of arranging the materials to be now described. The shrinking and swelling processes of seeds were first discussed until the question of permeability or impermeability was raised so frequently that the matter had to be dealt with before further progress could be made. In its turn, the subject of permeable and impermeable seeds was treated on its own ground until the question of their hygroscopicity demanded investigation. So also the matters relating to the proportional weight of parts of fruits, and to the connection between the seed-number and the fruit-weight, were discussed until the disturbing influences of the abortion of ovules and the failure of seeds became so obvious that an inquiry into their nature was necessitated. Amongst the other difficult questions that presented themselves in this inquiry was that relating to the unit of weight most suitable for seeds and fruits. It was soon found, however, that the grain was by far the most fitting for my purpose, and it was accordingly adopted. The grain is not only one of the most ancient and one of the most extensively employed: units of weight for small objects (such as precious stones), but it is Natures primitive suggestion. Seeds of small size are in use as weights in the East at the present day; and other persons besides myself must have been at times so circumstanced that they had to extemporise a balance and employ grains of rice as weights. This choice has enabled me to avoid the multiplicity of terms inseparable from most systems. Whether it happens that 60, 000 grains go to weigh down a green coco-nut, or that 6000 Juncus seeds go to weigh down a grain, no other term of weight need be used. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.