Page images
PDF
EPUB

which so pre-eminently distinguishes his pictured visions of the | of Silesius' life and work, see Hoffmann von Fallersleben in Weidivine persons, the hierarchy of heaven and the glory of the

redeemed.

Books regarding Fra Angelico are numerous. We may mention those by S. Beissel, 1895; V. M. Crawford, 1900; R. L. Douglas, 1900; I. B. Supino, 1901; D. Tumiati, 1897; G. Williamson, 1901. (W. M. R.) ANGELL, GEORGE THORNDIKE (1823-1909), American philanthropist, was born at Southbridge, Massachusetts, on the 5th of June 1823. He graduated at Dartmouth in 1846, studied law at the Harvard Law School, and in 1851 was admitted to the bar in Boston, where he practised for many years. In 1868 he founded and became president of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, in the same year establishing and becoming editor of Our Dumb Animals, a journal for the promotion of organized effort in securing the humane treatment of animals. For many years he was active in the organization of humane societies in England and America. In 1882 he initiated the movement for the establishment of Bands of Mercy (for the promotion of humane treatment of animals), of which in 1908 there were more than 72,000 in active existence. In 1889 he founded and became president of the American Humane Education Society. He became well known as a criminologist and also as an advocate of laws for the safeguarding of the public health and against adulteration of food. He died at Boston on the 16th of March 1909.

ANGEL-LIGHTS, in architecture, the outer upper lights in a perpendicular window, next to the springing; probably a corruption of the word angle-lights, as they are nearly triangular.

ANGELUS, a Roman Catholic devotion in memory of the Annunciation. It has its name from the opening words, Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariae. It consists of three texts describing the mystery, recited as versicle and response alternately with the salutation" Hail, Mary!" This devotion is recited in the Catholic Church three times daily, about 6 A.M., noon and 6 P.M. At these hours a bell known as the Angelus bell is rung.

This

is still rung in some English country churches, and has often been mistaken for and alleged to be a survival of the curfew-bell The institution of the Angelus is by some ascribed to Pope Urban II., by some to John XXII. The triple recitation is ascribed to Louis XI. of France, who in 1472 ordered it to be thrice said daily.

ANGELUS

SILESIUS (1624-1677), German religious poet, was born in 1624 at Breslau. His family name was Johann Scheffler, but he is generally known by the pseudonym Angelus Silesius, under which he published his poems and which marks the country of his birth. Brought up a Lutheran, and at first physician to the duke of Württemberg-Oels, he joined in 1652 the Roman Catholic Church, in 1661 took orders as a priest, and became coadjutor to the-prince bishop of Breslau. He died at Breslau on the 9th of July 1677. In 1657 Silesius published under the title Heilige Seelenlust, oder geistliche Hirtenlieder der in ihren Jesum verliebten Psyche (1657), a collection of 205 hymns, the most beautiful of which, such as, Liebe, die du mich zum Bilde deiner Gottheit hast gemacht and Mir nach, spricht Christus, unser Held, have been adopted in the German Protestant hymnal. More remarkable, however, is his Geistreiche Sinn- und Schlussreime (1657), afterwards called Cherubinischer Wandersmann (1674). This is a collection of "Reimsprüche or rhymed distichs embodying a strange mystical pantheism drawn mainly from the writings of Jakob Böhme and his followers. Silesius delighted specially in the subtle paradoxes of mysticism. The essence of God, for instance, he held to be love; God, he said, can love nothing inferior to himself; but he cannot be an object of love to himself without going out, so to speak, of himself, without manifesting his infinity in a finite form; in other words, by becoming man. God and man are therefore essentially one. A complete edition of Scheffler's works (Sämtliche poetische Werke) was published by D. A. Rosenthal, 2 vols. (Regensburg, 1862). Both the Cherubinischer Wandersmann and Heilige Seelenlust have been republished by G. Ellinger (1895 and 1901); a selection from the former work by O. E. Hartleben (1896). For further notices

"

marsches Jahrbuch I. (Hanover, 1854); A. Kahlert, Angelus Silesius (1853); C. Seltmann, Angelus Silesius und seine Mystik (1896), and a biog. by H.. Mahn (Dresden, 1896).

ANGERMÜNDE, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Brandenburg, on Lake Münde, 43 m. from Berlin by the BerlinStettin railway, and at the junction of lines to Prenzlau, Freienwalde and Schwedt. Pop. (1900) 7465. It has three Protestant churches, a grammar school and court of law. Its industries embrace iron founding and enamel working. In 1420 the elector Frederick I. of Brandenburg gained here a signal victory over the

Pomeranians.

ANGERONA, or ANGERONIA, an old Roman goddess, whose name and functions are variously explained. According to ancient authorities, she was a goddess who relieved men from pain and sorrow, or delivered the Romans and their flocks from angina (quinsy); or she was the protecting goddess of Rome and the keeper of the sacred name of the city, which might not be pronounced lest it should be revealed to her enemies; it was even thought that Angerona itself was this name. Modern scholars regard her as a goddess akin to Ops, Acca Larentia and Dea Dia; or as the goddess of the new year and the returning sun (according to Mommsen, ab angerendo àñò тоû áναþéρeσðα τὸν ἥλιον). Her festival, called Divalia or Angeronalia, was celebrated on the 21st of December. The priests offered sacrifice in the temple of Volupia, the goddess of pleasure, in which stood a statue of Angerona, with a finger on her mouth, which was bound and closed (Macrobius i. 10; Pliny, Nat. Hist. iii. 9; Varro, L. L. vi. 23). She was worshipped as Ancharia at Faesulae, where an altar belonging to her has been recently discovered. (See FAESULAE.)

=

ANGERS, a city of western France, capital of the department of Maine-et-Loire, 191 m. S.W. of Paris by the Western railway to Nantes. Pop. (1906) 73,585. It occupies rising ground on both banks of the Maine, which are united by three bridges. The surrounding district is famous for its flourishing nurseries and market gardens. Pierced with wide, straight streets, well provided with public gardens, and surrounded by ample, treelined boulevards, beyond which lie new suburbs, Angers is one of the pleasantest towns in France. Of its numerous medieval buildings the most important is the cathedral of St Maurice, dating in the main from the 12th and 13th centuries. Between the two flanking towers of the west façade, the spires of which are of the 16th century, rises a central tower of the same period. The most prominent feature of the façade is the series of eight warriors carved on the base of this tower. The vaulting of the nave takes the form of a series of cupolas, and that of the choir and transept is similar. The chief treasures of the church are its rich stained glass (12th, 13th and 15th centuries) and valuable tapestry (14th to 18th centuries). The bishop's palace which adjoins the cathedral contains a fine synodal hall of the 12th century. Of the other churches of Angers, the principal are St Serge, an abbey-church of the 12th and 15th centuries, and La Trinité (12th century). The prefecture occupies the buildings of the famous abbey of St Aubin; in its courtyard are elaborately sculptured arcades of the 11th and 12th centuries, from which period dates the tower, the only survival of the splendid abbeychurch. Ruins of the old churches of Toussaint (13th century) and Notre-Dame du Ronceray (11th century) are also to be seen. The castle of Angers, an imposing building girt with towers and a moat, dates from the 13th century and is now used as an armoury. The ancient hospital of St Jean (12th century) is occupied by an archaeological museum; and the Logis Barrault, a mansion built about 1500, contains the public library, the municipal museum, which has a large collection of pictures and sculptures, and the Musée David, containing works by the famous sculptor David d'Angers, who was a native of the town. One of his masterpieces, a bronze statue of René of Anjou, stands close by the castle. The Hôtel de Pincé or d'Anjou (1523-1530) is the finest of the stone mansions of Angers; there are also many curious wooden houses of the 15th and 16th centuries. The palais de justice, the Catholic institute, a fine theatre, and

a hospital with 1500 beds are the more remarkable of the modern | frequently extending down the left arm. A feeling of constriction buildings of the town. Angers is the seat of a bishopric, dating and of suffocation accompanies the pain, although there is from the 3rd century, a prefecture, a court of appeal and a court seldom actual difficulty in breathing. When the attack comes of assizes. It has a tribunal of first instance, a tribunal of com- on, as it often does, in the course of some bodily exertion, the merce, a board of trade-arbitrators, a chamber of commerce, sufferer is at once brought to rest, and during the continuance a branch of the Bank of France and several learned societies. of the paroxysm experiences the most intense agony. The Its educational institutions include ecclesiastical seminaries, a countenance becomes pale, the surface of the body cold, the lycée, a preparatory school of medicine and pharmacy, a uni- pulse feeble, and death appears to be imminent, when suddenly versity with free faculties (facultés libres) of theology, law, letters the attack subsides and complete relief is obtained. The duraand science, a higher school of agriculture, training colleges, a tion of a paroxysm rarely exceeds two or three minutes, but it school of arts and handicrafts and a school of fine art. The may last for a longer period. The attacks are apt to recur on prosperity of the town is largely due to the great slate-quarries slight exertion, and even in aggravated cases without any such of the vicinity, but the distillation of liqueurs from fruit, cable, exciting cause. Occasionally the first seizure proves fatal; but rope and thread-making, and the manufacture of boots and shoes, more commonly death takes place as the result of repeated umbrellas and parasols are leading industries. The weaving of attacks. Angina pectoris is extremely rare under middle life, sail-cloth and woollen and other fabrics, machine construction, and is much more common in males than in females. It must wire-drawing, and manufacture of sparkling wines and preserved always be regarded as a disorder of a very serious nature. In the fruits are also carried on. The chief articles of commerce, treatment of the paroxysm, nitrite of amyl has now replaced all besides slate and manufactured goods, are hemp, early vegetables, other remedies. It can be carried by the patient in the form of fruit, flowers and live-stock. nitrite of amyl pearls, each pearl containing the dose prescribed by the physician. Kept in this way the drug does not lose strength. As soon as the pain begins the patient crushes a pearl in his handkerchief and holds it to his mouth and nose. The relief given in this way is marvellous and usually takes place within a very few seconds. In the rare cases where this drug does not relieve, hypodermic injections of morphia are used. But on account of the well-known dangers of this drug, it should only be administered by a medical man. To prevent recurrence of the attacks something may be done by scrupulous attention to the general health, and by the avoidance of mental and physical strain. But the most important preventive of all is bed," of which fourteen days must be enforced on the least premonition of anginal pain.

Angers, capital of the Gallic tribe of the Andecavi, was under the Romans called Juliomagus. During the 9th century it became the seat of the counts of Anjou (q.v.). It suffered severely from the invasions of the Northmen in 845 and the succeeding years, and of the English in the 12th and 15th centuries; the Huguenots took it in 1585, and the Vendean royalists were repulsed near it in 1793. Till the Revolution, Angers was the seat of a celebrated university founded in the 14th century.

See L. M. Thorode, Notice de la ville d'Angers (Angers, 1897). ANGERSTEIN, JOHN JULIUS (1735-1822), London merchant, and patron of the fine arts, was born at St Petersburg and settled in London about 1749. His collection of paintings, consisting" of about forty of the most exquisite specimens of the art, purchased by the British government, on his death, formed the nucleus of the National Gallery

ANGILBERT (d. 814), Frankish Latin poet, and minister of Charlemagne, was of noble Frankish parentage, and educated at the palace school under Alcuin. As the friend and adviser of the emperor's son, Pippin, he assisted for a while in the government of Italy, and was later sent on three important embassies to the pope, in 792, 794 and 796. Although he was the father of two children by Charlemagne's daughter, Bertha, one of them named Nithard, we have no authentic account of his marriage, and from 790 he was abbot of St Riquier, where his brilliant rule gained for him later the renown of a saint. Angilbert, however, was little like the true medieval saint; his poems reveal rather the culture and tastes of a man of the world, enjoying the closest intimacy with the imperial family. He accompanied Charlemagne to Rome in 800 and was one of the witnesses to his will in 814. Angilbert was the Homer of the emperor's literary circle, and was the probable author of an epic, of which the fragment which has been preserved describes the life at the palace and the meeting between Charlemagne and Leo III. It is a mosaic from Virgil, Ovid, Lucan and Fortunatus, composed in the manner of Einhard's use of Suetonius, and exhibits a true poetic gift. Of the shorter poems, besides the greeting to Pippin on his return from the campaign against the Avars (796), an epistle to David (Charlemagne) incidentally reveals a delightful picture of the poet living with his children in a house surrounded by pleasant gardens near the emperor's palace. The reference to Bertha, however, is distant and respectful, her name occurring merely on the list of princesses to whom he sends his salutation. Angilbert's poems have been published by E. Dummler in the Monumenta Germaniae Historica. For criticisms of this edition see Traube in Roederer's Schriften für germanische Philologie (1888). See also A. Molinier, Les Sources de l'histoire de France.

ANGINA PECTORIS (Latin for "pain of the chest "), a term applied to a violent paroxysm of pain, arising almost invariably in connexion with disease of the coronary arteries, a lesion causing progressive degeneration of the heart muscle (see HEART: Disease). An attack of angina pectoris usually comes on with a sudden seizure of pain, felt at first over the region of the heart, but radiating through the chest in various directions, and

Pseudo-angina.-In connexion with angina pectoris, a far more common condition must be mentioned that has now universally received the name of pseudo-angina. This includes the praecordial pains which very closely resemble those of true angina. The essential difference lies in the fact that pseudoangina is independent of structural disease of the heart and coronary arteries. In true angina there is some condition within the heart which starts the stimulus sent to the nerve centres. In pseudo-angina the starting-point is not the heart but some peripheral or visceral nerve. The impulse passes thence to the medulla, and so reaching the sensory centres starts a feeling of pain that radiates into the chest or down the arm. There are three main varieties:-(1) the reflex, (2) the vaso-motor, (3) the toxic. The reflex is by far the most common, and is generally due to irritation from one of the abdominal organs. An attack of pseudo-angina may be agonizing, the pain radiating through the chest and into the left arm, but the patient does not usually assume the motionless attitude of true angina, and the duration of the seizure is usually much longer. The treatment is that of the underlying neurosis and the prognosis is a good one, sudden death not occurring.

ANGIOSPERMS. The botanical term " Angiosperm" (¿yyéîov, receptacle, and oñéрμa, seed) was coined in the form Angiospermae by Paul Hermann in 1690, as the name of that one of his primary divisions of the plant kingdom, which included flowering plants possessing seeds enclosed in capsules, in contradistinction to his Gymnospermae, or flowering plants with achenial or schizo-carpic fruits-the whole fruit or each of its pieces being here regarded as a seed and naked. The term and its antonym were maintained by Linnaeus with the same sense, but with restricted application, in the names of the orders of his class Didynamia. Its use with any approach to its modern scope only became possible after Robert Brown had established in 1827 the existence of truly naked seeds in the Cycadeae and Coniferae, entitling them to be correctly called Gymnosperms. From that time onwards, so long as these Gymnosperms were, as was usual, reckoned as dicotyledonous flowering plants, the term Angiosperm was used antithetically by botanical writers, but with varying limitation, as a group-name for other

dicotyledonous plants. The advent in 1851 of Hofmeister's | underground bulb, green foliage-leaves and coloured floral brilliant discovery of the changes proceeding in the embryo-sac leaves are borne on one and the same axis. Generally, flowers of flowering plants, and his determination of the correct relationships of these with the Cryptogamia, fixed the true position of Gymnosperms as a 'class distinct from Dicotyledons, and the term Angiosperm then gradually came to be accepted as the suitable designation for the whole of the flowering plants other than Gymnosperms, and as including therefore the classes of Dicotyledons and Monocotyledons. This is the sense in which the term is nowadays received and in which it is used here.

The trend of the evolution of the plant kingdom has been in the direction of the establishment of a vegetation of fixed habit and adapted to the vicissitudes of a life on land, and the Angiosperms are the highest expression of this evolution and constitute the dominant vegetation of the earth's surface at the present epoch. There is no land-area from the poles to the equator, where plant-life is possible, upon which Angiosperms are not found. They occur also abundantly in the shallows of rivers and fresh-water lakes, and in less number in salt lakes and in the sea; such aquatic Angiosperms are not, however, primitive forms, but are derived from immediate land-ancestors. Associated with this diversity of habitat is great variety in general form and manner of growth. The familiar duckweed which covers the surface of a pond consists of a tiny green" thalloid "shoot, one, that is, which shows no distinction of parts-stem and leaf, and a simple root growing vertically downwards into the water. The great forest-tree has a shoot, which in the course perhaps of hundreds of years, has developed a wide-spreading system of trunk and branches, bearing on the ultimate twigs or branchlets innumerable leaves, while beneath the soil a widely-branching root-system covers an area of corresponding extent. Between these two extremes is every conceivable gradation, embracing aquatic and terrestrial herbs, creeping, erect or climbing in habit, shrubs and trees, and representing a much greater variety than is to be found in the other subdivision of seed-plants, the Gymnosperms.

Internal structure.

In internal structure also the variety of tissue-formation far exceeds that found in Gymnosperms (see PLANTS: Anatomy). The vascular bundles of the stem belong to the collateral type, that is to say, the elements of the wood or xylem and the bast or phloem stand side by side on the same radius. In the larger of the two great groups into which the Angiosperms are divided, the Dicotyledons, the bundles in the very young stem are arranged in an open ring, separating a central pith from an outer cortex. In each bundle, separating the xylem and phloem, is a layer of meristem or active formative tissue, known as cambium; by the formation of a layer of cambium between the bundles (interfascicular cambium) a complete ring is formed, and a regular periodical increase in thickness results from it by the development of xylem on the inside and phloem on the outside. The soft phloem soon becomes crushed, but the hard wood persists, and forms the great bulk of the stem and branches of the woody perennial. Owing to differences in the character of the elements produced at the beginning and end of the season, the wood is marked out in transverse section into concentric rings, one for each season of growth-the so-called annual rings. In the smaller group, the Monocotyledons, the bundles are more numerous in the young stem and scattered through the ground tissue. Moreover they contain no cambium and the stem once formed increases in diameter only in exceptional cases.

As in Gymnosperms, branching is monopodial; dichotomy or the forking of the growing point into two equivalent branches which replace the main stem, is absent both in the case Vegetative of the stem and the root. The leaves show a remarkorgans. able variety in form (see LEAF), but are generally small in comparison with the size of the plant; exceptions occur in some Monocotyledons, e.g. in the Aroid family, where in some genera the plant produces one huge, much-branched leaf each

season.

In rare cases the main axis is unbranched and ends in a flower, as, for instance, in the tulip, where scale-leaves, forming the

are formed only on shoots of a higher order, often only on the ultimate branches of a much branched system. A potential branch or bud, either foliage or flower, is formed in the axil of each leaf; sometimes more than one bud arises, as for instance in the walnut, where two or three stand in vertical series above each leaf. Many of the buds remain dormant, or are called to development under exceptional circumstances, such as the destruction of existing branches. For instance, the clipping of a hedge or the lopping of a tree will cause to develop numerous buds which may have been dormant for years. Leaf-buds occasionally arise from the roots, when they are called adventitious; this occurs in many fruit trees, poplars, elms and others. For instance, the young shoots seen springing from the ground around an elm are not seedlings but root-shoots. Frequently, as in many Dicotyledons, the primary root, the original root of the seedling, persists throughout the life of the plant, forming, as often in biennials, a thickened tap-root, as in carrot, or in perennials, a much-branched root system. In many Dicotyledons and most Monocotyledons, the primary root soon perishes, and its place is taken by adventitious roots developed from the stem.

The most characteristic feature of the Angiosperm is the flower, which shows remarkable variety in form and elaboration, and supplies the most trustworthy characters for the Flower. distinction of the series and families or natural orders, into which the group is divided. The flower is a shoot (stem bearing leaves) which has a special form associated with the special function of ensuring the fertilization of the egg and the development of fruit containing seed. Except where it is terminal it arises, like the leaf-shoot, in the axil of a leaf, which is then known as a bract. Occasionally, as in violet, a flower arises singly in the axil of an ordinary foliage-leaf; it is then termed axillary. Generally, however, the flower-bearing portion of the plant is sharply distinguished from the foliage leafbearing or vegetative portion, and forms a more or less elaborate branch-system in which the bracts are small and scale-like. Such a branch-system is called an inflorescence. The primary function of the flower is to bear the spores. These, as in Gymnosperms, are of two kinds, microspores or pollen-grains, borne in the stamens (or microsporophylls) and megaspores, in which the egg-cell is developed, contained in the ovule, which is borne enclosed in the carpel (or megasporophyll). The flower may consist only of spore-bearing leaves, as in willow, where each flower comprises only a few stamens or two carpels. Usually, however, other leaves are present which are only indirectly concerned with the reproductive process, acting as protective organs for the sporophylls or forming an attractive envelope. These form the perianth and are in one series, when the flower is termed monochlamydeous, or in two series (dichlamydeous). In the second case the outer series (calyx of sepals) is generally green and leaf-like, its function being to protect the rest of the flower, especially in the bud; while the inner series (corolla of petals) is generally white or brightly coloured, and more delicate in structure, its function being to attract the particular insect or bird by agency of which pollination is effected. The insect, &c., is attracted by the colour and scent of the flower, and frequently also by honey which is secreted in some part of the flower. (For further details on the form and arrangement of the flower and its parts, see FLOWER.)

Stamen

Each stamen generally bears four pollen-sacs (microsporangia) which are associated to form the anther, and carried up on a stalk or filament. The development of the microsporangia and the contained spores (pollen-grains) and pollen. is closely comparable with that of the microsporangia in Gymnosperms or heterosporous ferns. The pollen is set free by the opening (dehiscence) of the anther, generally by means of longitudinal slits, but sometimes by pores, as in the heath family (Ericaceae), or by valves, as in the barberry. It is then dropped or carried by some external agent, wind, water or some member of the animal kingdom, on to the receptive surface of

[ocr errors]

the carpel of the same or another flower. The carpel, or aggregate | male-cell, as the true or generative fertilization, and that of the of carpels forming the pistil or gynaeceum, comprises an ovary polar nuclei by the second male gamete as a vegetative fertilizacontaining one or more ovules and a receptive surface or stigma; tion which gives a stimulus to development in correlation with the the stigma is sometimes carried up on a style. The mature pollen- other. If, on the other hand, the endosperm is the product grain is, like other spores, a single cell; except in the case of of an act of fertilization as definite as that giving rise to the some submerged aquatic plants, it has a double wall, a thin embryo itself, we have to recognize that twin-plants are produced delicate wall of unaltered cellulose, the endospore or intine, within the embryo-sac-one, the embryo, which becomes the and a tough outer cuticularized exospore or extine. The exo- angiospermous plant, the other, the endosperm, a short-lived, spore often. bears spines or warts, or is variously sculptured, undifferentiated nurse to assist in the nutrition of the former, and the character of the markings is often of value for the even as the subsidiary embryos in a pluri-embryonic Gymnodistinction of genera or higher groups. Germination of the sperm may facilitate the nutrition of the dominant one. If this is microspore begins before it leaves the pollen-sac. In very few so, and the endosperm like the embryo is normally the product cases has anything representing prothallial development been of a sexual act, hybridization will give a hybrid endosperm as observed; generally a small cell (the antheridial or generative it does a hybrid embryo, and herein (it is suggested) we may have cell) is cut off, leaving a larger tube-cell. When placed on the explanation of the phenomenon of xenia observed in the the stigma, under favourable circumstances, the pollen-grain mixed endosperms of hybrid races of maize and other plants, puts forth a pollen-tube which grows down the tissue of the style regarding which it has only been possible hitherto to assert to the ovary, and makes its way along the placenta, guided by that they were indications of the extension of the influence of projections or hairs, to the mouth of an ovule. The nucleus of the pollen beyond the egg and its product. This would not, the tube-cell has meanwhile passed into the tube, as does also the however, explain the formation of fruits intermediate in size and generative nucleus which divides to form two male- or sperm-colour between those of crossed parents. The signification of cells. The male-cells are carried to their destination in the tip the coalescence of the polar nuclei is not explained by these new of the pollen-tube. facts, but it is noteworthy that the second male-cell is said to The ovary contains one or more ovules borne on a pla- unite sometimes with the apical polar nucleus, the sister of the centa, which is generally some part of the ovary-wall. The egg, before the union of this with the basal polar one. The idea development of the ovule, which represents the of the endosperm as a second subsidiary plant is no new one; Pistil and macrosporangium, is very similar to the process in it was suggested long ago in explanation of the coalescence of embryoGymnosperms; when mature it consists of one or two the polar nuclei, but it was then based on the assumption that coats surrounding the central nucellus, except at the these represented male and female cells, an assumption for which apex where an opening, the micropyle, is left. The nucellus is a there was no evidence and which was inherently improbable. cellular tissue enveloping one large cell, the embryo-sac or The proof of a coalescence of the second male nucleus with the macrospore. The germination of the macrospore consists in definitive nucleus gives the conception a more stable basis. the repeated division of its nucleus to form two groups of four, The antipodal cells aid more or less in the process of nutrition one group at each end of the embryo-sac. One nucleus from each of the developing embryo, and may undergo multiplication, group, the polar nucleus, passes to the centre of the sac, where though they ultimately disintegrate, as do also the synergidae. the two fuse to form the so-called definitive nucleus. Of the As in Gymnosperms and other groups an interesting qualitative three cells at the micropylar end of the sac, all naked cells change is associated with the process of fertilization. The (the so-called egg-apparatus), one is the egg-cell or oosphere, number of chromosomes (see PLANTS: Cytology) in the nucleus the other two, which may be regarded as representing abortive of the two spores, pollen-grain and embryo-sac, is only half the egg-cells (in rare cases capable of fertilization), are known as number found in an ordinary vegetative nucleus; and this synergidae. The three cells at the opposite end are known reduced number persists in the cells derived from them. The as antipodal cells and become invested with a cell-wall. The full number is restored in the fusion of the male and female nuclei gametophyte or prothallial generation is thus extremely reduced, in the process of fertilization, and remains until the formation of consisting of but little more than the male and female sexual the cells from which the spores are derived in the new generation. cells the two sperm-cells in the pollen-tube and the egg-cell In several natural orders and genera departures from the course (with the synergidae) in the embryo-sac. At the period of of development just described have been noted. In the natural fertilization the embryo-sac lies in close proximity order Rosaceae, the series Querciflorae, and the very anomalous Fertiliza tion. to the opening of the micropyle, into which the pollen-genus Casuarina and others, instead of a single macrospore a tube has penetrated, the separating cell-wall becomes more or less extensive sporogenous tissue is formed, but only one absorbed, and the male or sperm-cells are ejected into the embryo-cell proceeds to the formation of a functional female cell. In sac. Guided by the synergidae one male-cell passes into the oosphere with which it fuses, the two nuclei uniting, while the other fuses with the definitive nucleus, or, as it is also called, the endosperm nucleus. This remarkable double fertilization as it has been called, although only recently discovered, has been proved to take place in widely-separated families, and both in Monocotyledons and Dicotyledons, and there is every probability that, perhaps with variations, it is the normal process in Angiosperms. After impregnation the fertilized oosphere immediately surrounds itself with a cell-wall and becomes the oospore which by a process of growth forms the embryo of the new plant. The endosperm-nucleus divides rapidly to produce a cellular tissue which fills up the interior of the rapidly-growing embryosac, and forms a tissue, known as endosperm, in which is stored a supply of nourishment for the use later on of the embryo. It has long been known that after fertilization of the egg has taken place, the formation of endosperm begins from the endosperm nucleus, and this had come to be regarded as the recommencement of the development of a prothallium after a pause following the reinvigorating union of the polar nuclei. This view is still maintained by those who differentiate two acts of fertilization within the embryo-sac, and regard that of the egg by the first

Casuarina, Juglans and the order Corylaceae, the pollen-tube does not enter by means of the micropyle, but passing down the ovary wall and through the placenta, enters at the chalazal end of the ovule. Such a method of entrance is styled chalazogamic, in contrast to the porogamic or ordinary method of approach by means of the micropyle.

Embry ology.

The result of fertilization is the development of the ovule into the seed. By the segmentation of the fertilized egg, now invested by cell-membrane, the embryo-plant arises. A varying number of transverse segment-walls transform it into a pro-embryo-a cellular row of which the cell nearest the micropyle becomes attached to the apex of the embryo-sac, and thus fixes the position of the developing embryo, while the terminal cell is projected into its cavity. In Dicotyledons the shoot of the embryo is wholly derived from the terminal cell of the pro-embryo, from the next cell the root arises, and the remaining ones form the suspensor. In many Monocotyledons the terminal cell forms the cotyledonary portion alone of the shoot of the embryo, its axial part and the root being derived from the adjacent cell; the cotyledon is thus a terminal structure and the apex of the primary stem a lateral one-a condition in marked contrast with that of the Dicotyledons. In some Monocotyledons,

however, the cotyledon is not really terminal. The primary root | the embryo-sac, its wall enlarges and commonly absorbs the of the embryo in all Angiosperms points towards the micropyle. The developing embryo at the end of the suspensor grows out to a varying extent into the forming endosperm, from which by surface absorption it derives good material for growth; at the same time the suspensor plays a direct part as a carrier of nutrition, and may even develop, where perhaps no endosperm is formed, special absorptive "suspensor roots" which invest the developing embryo, or pass out into the body and coats of the ovule, or even into the placenta. In some cases the embryo or the embryo-sac sends out suckers into the nucellus and ovular integument. As the embryo develops it may absorb all the food material available, and store, either in its cotyledons or in its hypocotyl, what is not immediately required for growth, as reserve-food for use in germination, and by so doing it increases in size until it may fill entirely the embryo-sac; or its absorptive power at this stage may be limited to what is necessary for growth and it remains of relatively small size, occupying but a small area of the embryo-sac, which is otherwise filled with endosperm in which the reserve-food is stored. There are also intermediate states. The position of the embryo in relation to the endosperm varies, sometimes it is internal, sometimes external, but the significance of this has not yet been established.

The formation of endosperm starts, as has been stated, from the endosperm nucleus. Its segmentation always begins before that of the egg, and thus there is timely preparation for the nursing of the young embryo. If in its extension to contain the new formations within it the embryo-sac remains narrow, endosperm formation proceeds upon the lines of a cell-division, but in wide embryo-sacs the endosperm is first of all formed as a layer of naked cells around the wall of the sac, and only gradually acquires a pluricellular character, forming a tissue filling the sac. The function of the endosperm is primarily that of nourishing the embryo, and its basal position in the embryo-sac places it favourably for the absorption of food material entering the ovule. Its duration varies with the precocity of the embryo. It may be wholly absorbed by the progressive growth of the embryo within the embryo-sac, or it may persist as a definite and more or less conspicuous constituent of the seed. When it persists as a massive element of the seed its nutritive function is usually apparent, for there is accumulated within its cells reserve-food, and according to the dominant substance it is starchy, oily, or rich in cellulose, mucilage or proteid. In cases where the embryo has stored reserve food within itself and thus provided for self-nutrition, such endosperm as remains in the seed may take on other functions, for instance, that of water-absorption.

Some deviations from the usual course of development may be noted. Parthenogenesis, or the development of an embryo from an egg-cell without the latter having been fertilized has been described in species of Thalictrum, Antennaria and Alchemilla. Polyembryony is generally associated with the development of cells other than the egg-cell. Thus in Erythronium and Limnocharis the fertilized egg may form a mass of tissue on which several embryos are produced. Isolated cases show that any of the cells within the embryo-sac may exceptionally form an embryo, e.g. the synergidae in species of Mimosa, Iris and Allium, and in the last-mentioned the antipodal cells also. In Coelebogyne (Euphorbiaceae) and in Funkia (Liliaceae) polyembryony results from an adventitious production of embryos from the cells of the nucellus around the top of the embryo-sac. In a species of Allium, embryos have been found developing in the same individual from the egg-cell, synergids, antipodal cells and cells of the nucellus. In two Malayan species of Balanophora, the embryo is developed from a cell of the endosperm, which is formed from the upper polar nucleus only, the egg apparatus becoming disorganized. The last-mentioned case has been regarded as representing an apogamous development of the sporophyte from the gametophyte comparable to the cases of apogamy described in Ferns. But the great diversity of these abnormal cases as shown in the examples cited above suggests the use of great caution in formulating definite morphological theories upon them.

As the development of embryo and endosperm proceeds within

substance of the nucellus (which is likewise enlarging) to near its outer limit, and combines with it and the integument Fruit and to form the seed-coat; or the whole nucellus and even seed. the integument may be absorbed. In some plants the nucellus is not thus absorbed, but itself becomes a seat of deposit of reserve-food constituting the perisperm which may coexist with endosperm, as in the water-lily order, or may alone form a food-reserve for the embryo, as in Canna. Endospermic food reserve has evident advantages over perispermic, and the latter is comparatively rarely found and only in non-progressive series. Seeds in which endosperm or perisperm or both exist are commonly called albuminous or endospermic, those in which neither is found are termed exalbuminous or exendospermic. These terms, extensively used by systematists, only refer, however, to the grosser features of the seed, and indicate the more or less evident occurrence of a food-reserve; many so-called exalbuminous seeds show to microscopic examination a distinct endosperm which may have other than a nutritive function. The presence or absence of endosperm, its relative amount when present, and the position. of the embryo within it, are valuable characters for the distinction of orders and groups of orders. Meanwhile the ovary wall has developed to form the fruit or pericarp, the structure of which is closely associated with the manner of distribution of the seed. Frequently the influence of fertilization is felt beyond the ovary, and other parts of the flower take part in the formation of the fruit, as the floral receptacle in the apple, strawberry and others. The character of the seed-coat bears a definite relation to that of the fruit. Their function is the twofold one of protecting the embryo and of aiding in dissemination; they may also directly promote germination. If the fruit is a dehiscent one and the seed is therefore soon exposed, the seed-coat has to provide for the protection of the embryo and may also have to secure dissemination. On the other hand, indehiscent fruits discharge these functions for the embryo, and the seed-coat is only slightly developed. Dissemination is effected by the agency of Dissemin water, of air, of animals-and fruits and seeds are ation. therefore grouped in respect of this as hydrophilous, anemophilous and zooidiophilous. The needs for these are obvious-buoyancy in water and resistance to wetting for the first, some form of parachute for the second, and some attaching mechanism or attractive structure for the third. The methods in which these are provided are of infinite variety, and any and every part of the flower and of the inflorescence may be called into requisition to supply the adaptation (see FRUIT). Special outgrowths, arils, of the seed-coat are of frequent occurrence. the feature of fruit and seed, by which the distribution of Angiosperms is effected, we have a distinctive character of the class. In Gymnosperms we have seeds, and the carpels may become modified and close around these, as in Pinus, during the process of ripening to form an imitation of a box-like fruit which subsequently opening allows the seeds to escape; but there is never in them the closed ovary investing from the outset the ovules, and ultimately forming the ground-work of the fruit.

tion of

In

Their fortuitous dissemination does not always bring seeds upon a suitable nidus for germination, the primary essential of which is a sufficiency of moisture, and the duration of Germinavitality of the embryo is a point of interest. Some seeds retain vitality for a period of many years, though seed. there is no warrant for the popular notion that genuine “mummy wheat" will germinate, on the other hand some seeds lose vitality in little more than a year. Further, the older the seed the more slow as a general rule will germination be in starting, but there are notable exceptions. This pause, often of so long duration, in the growth of the embryo between the time of its perfect development within the seed and the moment of germination, is one of the remarkable and distinctive features of the life of Spermatophytes. The aim of germination is the fixing of the embryo in the soil, effected usually by means of the root, which is the first part of the embryo to appear, in preparation for the elongation of the epicotyledonary portion of the shoot, and there is infinite variety in the details of the process. In

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »