Capsule

“ The capsules or thécæ (θἡκη, a case) , a magnified group of which is represented in fig. 11, consist each of an aggregation of cells, fixed to a stalk (fig. 12) ; and along the back of the capsule is a close row of thicker cells, forming an elastic ring, the an ́nulus. When the seed-like bodies or spores (σπορἁ, a seed) are ripe, the annulus becomes straightened from its elastic power, and tears the capsule open, so that the spores are set free and scattered. ”

“ In other words, the capsule would become a vacuum in which nothing on Earth could live. The astronaut would then have to depend upon his spacesuit which, being pressurized, and being really a capsule within a capsule, with its own supply of oxygen, would be the one hope of survival.
That day, the test had consisted of the "puncturing" of the capsule. At a given signal, the pressure inside it had been reduced to that of fifty miles above the Earth's surface—in other words, to zero—by pumping out the air inside it. Richardson, the ace of the astronauts, had been chosen for this important test. ”

“ I have, however, no evidence that the fibers from the prism cells extend beyond the prisms in whose axis they lie. The capsule lies very closely applied to the lens, never becoming separated from it in sections, and is, hence, regarded as a secretion from the lens cells. Just what its function may be is difficult to surmise. The proximal complex eye possesses no capsule. I have thought, however, that if the lens should be adjustable, the capsule might [45] serve as a protection to the prisms of the vitreous portion of the retina during the adjusting movements of the lens. ”

“ A fruit with a dry pericarp, which opens of itself when the seeds are ripe, is called a capsule. This particular kind of capsule—consisting of two carpels which come apart at maturity, leaving a central partition bearing seeds—is known as a siliqua. When it is short in proportion to its length, as in the shepherd’s purse (Fig. 62) and penny cress (Fig. 132) , it is distinguished as a silicula.
The fruits of the pea tribe.—The pod of the pea (Fig. 3) and its relatives is a capsule of another kind. ”

“ THE CAPSULE OF TENON
To dissect the capsule of Tenon, it is necessary to carefully remove the superficial fat and connective tissue. In text-books and illustrations, the capsule is usually shown as a definite sac-like membrane of considerable thickness, with all its parts well defined. The [116] dissector will soon find that the capsule is not discerned so easily. It will be found to be the thin, semi-transparent, fibrous membrane that surrounds each muscle, as well as the “posterior two-thirds of the eye,” and is continuous anteriorly with the ocular conjunctiva. ”

“ The reproductive organs of mosses are of two kinds; the capsule containing minute spores, archegonia, and the antheridia, or male efflorescence. The capsule, theca, or sporangium, is lateral or terminal, sessile, or on a fruit stalk (seta) of various shapes, indehiscent, or bursting by four valves at the sides, or more commonly by a deciduous cup, operculum. When this falls the mouth of the capsule becomes exposed. The rim is crowned with tooth-like or 446 cilia-like appendages in sets of four or multiples of that number—peristome. These are often brightly coloured and hydroscopic. ”

“ And now let us return to the city that is being repeopled, where myriad cradles are incessantly opening, and the solid walls even appear to be moving. But this city still lacks a queen. Seven or eight curious structures arise from the centre of one of the combs, and remind us, scattered as they are over the surface of the ordinary cells, of the circles and protuberances that appear so strange on the photographs of the moon. They are a species of capsule, contrived of wrinkled wax or of inclined glands, hermetically sealed, which fills the place of three or four workers' cells. ”

“ The petals are connected with the ring formed by the united filaments,295 and sometimes the petals themselves grow slightly together at the base. The capsule consists of five two-celled carpels, grown together; each cell containing one seed, and each carpel terminating in a rather slender style, tipped with a ball-like stigma. When ripe, the capsule opens naturally, by dividing into ten valves, to discharge the seeds; which are flat and shining, with a large embryo. These seeds are called Linseed in the shops, from Linum, the botanical name of the plant ”

“ In some species, however, the membrane only appears later, immediately before the formation of the spores, and hence is absent for a considerable period. Regarded as a whole, then, the capsule consists of the following parts:— (1) the capsule-membrane; (2) the enclosed endoplasm, or intracapsular protoplasm; (3) the nucleus. But in addition, many other non-essential structures may be enclosed in the central capsule, especially hyaline spheres (vacuoles) , fatty spheres, pigment granules, crystals, &c. ”

“ They are narrow and slender, and each is composed of two longitudinal portions (fig. 18 a) , one of which is pale yellow, the other reddish brown, like the capsule, and both are fringed and covered with very minute papillæ. The capsule (fig. 18) is oblong, the ring or annulus remaining for some time. The lid is conical (fig. 19) , with a longish somewhat oblique beak, and the calyptra is dimidiate (fig. 20) . The stems are very short; the leaves (fig. 17) are oblong, obtuse; the nerve strong, and projecting as a colourless spirally striated bristle. ”

“ Cladococcus abietinus, n. sp., × 300 226 The central capsule, enclosed originally in the shell, sends out numerous club-shaped apophyses through the pores of the lattice-sphere. The central spherical nucleus fills up half the shell-cavity. ”

“ Botanical Origin—Colchicum autumnale L., see page 699. The inflated capsule, which grows up in the spring after the disappearance of the flower in the autumn, is three-celled, dehiscent towards the apex by its ventral sutures, and contains, attached to the inner angle of the carpels, numerous globular seeds, which arrive at maturity in the latter part of the summer. ”

“ With the domed top, the internal capsule can be difficult to fit into standard sample digestion vessels. One way to achieve this is to place the samplers into the vessels by bending them slightly inward (using coated forceps) and to push them into the bottom of the vessel to ensure they are covered with the digestion acids. Care must be taken to ensure that sample is not lost in this process. Additional guidance is available from the internal capsule manufacturer [19] . ”

“ In the Lithocyclida and the Stylocyclida, where there are no chambered arms, the central capsule remains a simple circular lens or disk; in the Astracturida, where chambered radial arms surround the margin of the circular central disk, the capsule enters also into these arms and fills out the greatest part of their chambered cavities. ”

“ The cells of the capsule wall have incomplete, brown, thickened rings on their walls, and the capsule opens by splitting into four valves, which bend away from one another, allowing the loose spores to be readily dispersed by the wind, assisted by the hygroscopic movements of the elaters. On falling upon damp soil the spores germinate, growing into a thallus, which gradually attains its full size and bears sexual organs. ”

“ In performing this operation, hold the capsule by the edge with your pincers, and employ a piece of metal to press the glass together and make it close the hole and form the flat bottom of the capsule. See pl. ”

“ Spicula long and thin, cylindrical, smooth, more or less bent, pointed at both ends, similar to those of Thalassoplancta cavispicula. Central capsule thin-walled, without oil-globules, four times as broad as the nucleus, which encloses one single nucleolus. ”

“ The heart is surrounded by a firm and nervous membrane, like a little house in which it is placed as in a tabernacle to defend it from accidents. This capsule is very dilated, that the heart in its dilations and movement may not be impeded thereby, and therefore nature made this capsule so that it should contain a certain dewy moisture with which the heart is bathed and moistened so that in its continual movement it should not become dry. For when this water be dried up, then the heart itself is desiccated, and emaciates and dries up all the body. ”

“ Heated in a capsule with water, a transparent fat floats melted on the surface; heated alone in a platinum crucible, it melts and burns with a smoky flame, leaving a slight residue, which effervesces with hydrochloric acid, and contains beside sand and a little iron, principally lime. Under the microscope with moderate powers, it is white, fatty, and granular, disappearing with Canada balsam; with higher powers it is amorphous: melted on the glass slide covered with thin glass, is crystalline on cooling, in groups of plumose crystals, which give a beautiful play of colours with polarized light ”

“ Each man was packed into a break-proof, shock-proof, water-proof, wind-proof plastic capsule, and ejected safely beyond the slipstream area of the carriers, at which point, each capsule sprouted a silken chute that lowered the enclosed men gently down into range of the enemy's rocket-fire ... ”

“ In fig. 34 the calyptra has separated from{63} the vaginule, and contains the stalk-like body, which is represented alone in fig. 32, the dark summit indicating the commencing formation of the capsule. Fig. 35 represents the young capsule, in which all the parts are more advanced in growth.
When the seeds of mosses germinate, they produce at first a green Conferva-like filament, which branches at one end, the cells containing green endochrome, while brownish little roots are given off from the other end. The young leafy buds or young stems arise from these confervoid filaments. ”

“ It grew on moist, vertical faces of rock forming large patches.
Description of the Fruit.--Capsule terminal, pendent, pyriform, 1mm. long and about half as broad when moist, noticeable by its yellow color, supported on a curved pedicel which slightly exceeds the length of the capsule; teeth none in the specimens collected, their place being occupied by a thin, transparent membrane; columella a straight rod persistently attached to the operculum ”

“ The cellular contents of the capsule consist mainly of a mass of cells packed with food-material in a granular form, the whole enclosed in a delicate membrane formed of flat cells. When conditions become favourable for development a cavity appears near one end of the mass and the cells that form its walls assume a columnar form in vertical section. The cavity increases rapidly in size, and, as it does so, a young polypide is budded off from its walls. Another bud may then appear in a similar fashion, and the zoœcium of the first bud assumes its characteristic features. ”

“ Put the lard into a porcelain capsule, gently heated upon a sand-bath, stirring it constantly with a wooden spatula; and when it is half melted, and has a milky appearance, pour into it only one-half of the lye, still stirring, and keeping up the same temperature, with as little variation as possible. While the saponification advances gradually, we shall perceive, after an hour, some fat floating on the surface, like a film of oil, and at the same time the soapy granulations falling to the bottom. ”

“ Since his capsule, like all heavenly bodies, was stable in position with respect to the entire universe and, thanks to Sir Isaac Newton and his laws, never changed, the Earth and the stars alternated over his head during each orbit. ”

“ These spherules have usually a diameter of 0.01 to 0.015, rarely more than 0.02 or less than 0.005 mm.; their size is generally equal in each capsule. They have been already described and figured in my Monograph, as "wasserhelle kugelige Bläschen," and are probably vacuoles or small vesicles filled up by jelly or by a clear fluid. ”