A history of British ferns, and allied plants / By Edward Newman.

  • Edward Newman
Date:
1844
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A history of British ferns, and allied plants / By Edward Newman. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    23/472 page 19
    might be removed, and a little water added, if there ap- peared a necessity for it. Ferns, mosses, and all kinds of cryptogamous plants, seem to spring up spontaneously in these cases ; and the surface of the earth speedily becomes clothed not only with a beautiful but a highly interesting vegetation. The rais- ing of ferns from seed, in the manner hereafter described, offers a ready way of ascertaining beyond question the value and limits of each species. It has often been considered somewhat unaccountable that plants should thrive when deprived of air. I believe a philosopher would smile at the idea of a vacuum existing in a vessel containing abundance of earth, water, and living vegetables ; but let us consider the subject without refe- rence to any philosophical inquiry. It must, then, be understood as an unquestionable fact, that in closing the vessel no attempt is ever made to exclude the air which it contains, or even by any experiment to diminish its quan- tity ; therefore, admitting the property of air to press equally in all directions, we must take it for granted that there is as much air in the vessel as in an equal space out- side the vessel ; and so, the idea that the ferns are living without air not being based on fact, requires no refutation. The next source of wonder is, that a fern should thrive deprived of that fresh air, or that change of air, which, in a state of nature, it is constantly enjoying. The term fresh air, though so continually used, has no very definite meaning. If it applies to air that has not been breathed by animals, I believe we shall find that animals alone are b 2
    No text description is available for this image
    No text description is available for this image
    No text description is available for this image