The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1878-08-01

I
spiral or great beauty. The heart
(venrieals) of mammals is s. double
continuous spiral Of exquisite beauty.
The wings of birds, aud the extremi-
ties Of bipeds and quadrupeds are dis
tincHy spiral in their nature, and
their movements are curved spiral
movements. The vertebrAl column
is a spiral Of exquisite beauty the
soft celled fibres equally with the
bOny skeleton. This Is q point OF
great interest. 1t is important, as
spiral continuous structures give rise
to spiral continuous movements as
seen in walking, swimming, and fly
ing, and in all movements OF all hol-
low viscera. These phenOmens are
owing to an internal vital force which
causes a revolution round the central
axis OF the stem. II was at one time
considered an impossibility to detect
the differences OF the rate of speed
that sap travels in either class Of ves-
sells, but He rbet Spencer clearly DEM
Onstrated this question in 1867, il l
mistake not, by soaking young shoots
which develop little wood, in deeOe-
tions OF logwOOd and other dyes. He
discovered that the only channels
stained by the process were those
corresponding to the spiral vessels OF
the vascular system. Through these
vessels consequently these cOlOred
fluids must have passed. The spiral
vessels Of the vascular system are the
most engaged as sap-earriers when
new wood is being formed In their
vicinity, in which case they are the
most porous. There Is no direct con-
nectiOn between the age OF vessel
and its pOrOslty. Those vessels are
always the most porous around which
q formation of wood is taking place.
This is clearly seen by looking at
stump of the oak or ash, Immediate
ly or soon after the tree has been cut
down, and this one point assists In
determining the age Of the tree, by
this pOrosity alongside of what is
called the CLASSY portion of the wood,
which shows the grain, as wood
workers call it.
There are points OF resemblance be-
tween the vessels OF plants and ami
mails, when we take into eons;deTa-
ton the function performed by the
vessels of plants. There can be no
doubt that the vascular tissues Of the
vegetable kingdom bear close rela-
tIOn or analogy to those of the ami
NAL kingdom, Then again In the
vessels Of plants we have structures
that resemble those structures Of the
blOOd-vessels OF animals These are
straight, AHuuI--- and spiral nDres,
These are present in a large proper
tion according to the thickness of the
vessel, and the distance from the
heart. Take for instance the large
arteries OF the OK, near the heart you
will find the Longitudinal, the spiral,
and the annular fibres, all present,
where In the cspillaries parts or only
fragments Of the annular fibres alone
appear. Similar conditions can be
said of the plants regarding the ves-
sells in nearly all the plants, only in q
much less marked condition, as they
are presented to our observation.
Then we have the reticulsted variety
Of vessels which are found in large
quantities with the spiral and annu-
lar kinds in such vegetables, as the
potato, beet, turnip, watermelon,
cantaloupe, ETC., with which most Of
our citizens are more or less familiar,
1 doubt not, especially in q culinary
point of view, at any rate. The ves-
sells of plants, like those OF animals
are cylindrical, while the vessels Of
plants and animals are formed upon
one common type. There Is this diff
ference between them, viz: The
vessels of plants unless when quite
young are rigid and have no move.
ments. This vessels Of animals, on the
other hand, are flexible and elastic, and
in some cases have independent mo-
tion. This is so to q certain extent
in the dorsal vessels Of the insect.
The veins Of the bats wing,
the saphenous veins of the rabbit,
the web of the frogs foot, and
the pulmOnic veins of the mann
NAL where they join the heart.
The vessels Of plants, on the other
hand, are In contiguity, and touch
each other. The. vessels In all ami
mails may be divided into three sets
the arteries, the veins, and the cap
illaries, and to all these may be ad-
ded system Of vessels lately dlscov-
cred, called the perivascular canals.
The arteries conduct from the heart
to the periphery the veins from the
periphery to the center or heart the
capilIaries connecting the veins and
arteries, and between the espilIsries
OF the arteries and the espillaries
OF the veins are the peTivascular ca
nails connecting the capillary circula-
ton. In like manner, plants may
be said to have three sets of vessels,
an ascending and q descending set.
They have what may be regarded as
a capillary system in their leaves, and
also in their stem and branches. The
walls OF the vessels in plants are fiex-
ible and elastic when young only
and those OF animals being perma-
nently so, the vessels OF plants and
the capillaries OF animals are per-
meable by liquids and gases. In the
young cells of plants the cell walls
consist apparently Of a homogeneous
membrane which Is elastic and
flexible, and allows water to pene-
trate freely, but when the cells be-
come older, the cell wall becomes
firmer, and must OF necessity oppose
to greater or less extent the en-
trance Of water into Its substance
This leaves me to conclude that the
cell wall is porous, q point difficult 70
determine, as the most powerful mi
croscope fails to detect the pores.
When leaves are so old as TO have
lost the power OF absorbing water
they can still take up carbOnic acid
The veins of animals carry impure
blood corresponding vessels o.
plants crude sap. The arteries OF ami
mails convey pure blood correspond
ing vessels Of plants elaborated sap
The capillsries OF animals expose the
impure blood to the influence Of th'
air the cspillaries in the leaves and
other parts precisely the same thing
for the plant. 1t has been said by
some modern writer that an anima
hreathes at every pore Of the plant
and so DR.. NJ. Paul Bert, In Paris, II