Hypocotyl

“ In other cases the root structure of the stele continues up to the cotyledonary node, though the hypocotyl is still to be distinguished from the primary root by the character of its epidermis. On germination of the seed the radicle first grows out, increasing in size as a whole, and soon adding to its tissues by cell division at its apical growing-point. The hypocotyl usually elongates, by its cells increasing very greatly in the longitudinal direction both in number and size, so that the cotyledons are raised into the air as the first foliage-leaves. ”

“ Ipomœa leptophylla.—In most of the species of this genus the hypocotyl is well developed, and breaks through the ground as an arch. But the seeds of the present species in germinating behave like those of Megarrhiza, excepting that the elongated petioles of the cotyledons are not confluent. After they have protruded from the seed, they are united at their lower ends with the undeveloped hypocotyl and undeveloped radicle, which together form a point only about .1 inch in length. They are at first highly geotropic, and penetrate the ground to a depth of rather above half an inch. ”

“ Cassia tora [1] (Leguminosae) .—A seedling was placed before a north-east window; it bent very little towards it, as the hypocotyl which was left free was rather old, and therefore not highly heliotropic. A filament had been fixed to the midrib of one of the cotyledons, and the movement of the whole seedling was traced during two days. The circumnutation of the hypocotyl is quite insignificant compared with that of the cotyledons. These rise up vertically at night and come into close contact; so that they may be said to sleep. ”

“ The cotyledons can now assume the function of leaves, and decompose carbonic acid; they also yield up to other parts of the plant the nutriment which they often contain. When they contain a large stock of nutriment they generally remain buried beneath the ground, owing to the small development of the hypocotyl; and thus they have a better chance of escaping destruction by animals. From unknown causes, nutriment is sometimes stored in the hypocotyl or in the radicle, and then one of the cotyledons or both become rudimentary, of which several instances have been given. ”

“ H. Gressner [2] has shown that a second one is developed after a long interval of time. The hypocotyl is converted into a globular corm, even before the first cotyledon has broken through the ground with its blade closely enfolded and with its petiole in the form of an arch, like the arched hypocotyl or epicotyl of any ordinary dicotyledonous plant. A glass filament was affixed to a cotyledon, .55 of an inch in height, the petiole of which had straightened itself and stood nearly vertical, but with the blade not as yet fully expanded. ”

“ These differentiations are shown in a striking manner by certain Paniceae, Setaria for example. In this seedling the tapering sheathing leaf or cotyledon is about 5 mm. in length, and it is the upper part of the cotyledon that is most sensitive to light. Below the sheathing leaf is a narrow length which will be distinguished as the hypocotyl, and where growth is very active. The apex of the leaf perceives the stimulus, [Pg 363] and the effect is transmitted to the hypocotyl, which responds by becoming curved so that the seedling bends towards light. ”

“ The hypocotyl may therefore be said to sacrifice itself for the good of the cotyledons, or rather of the whole plant. But if it be prevented from bending, as must sometimes occur with seedlings springing up in an entangled mass of vegetation, the cotyledons themselves bend so as to face the light; the one farthest off rising up, and that nearest to the light sinking down, or both twisting laterally. ”

“ Brassica oleracea: circumnutating movement of the crown of a buried and arched hypocotyl, with the two legs tied together, traced on a horizontal glass during 23 hours. Movement of the bead of the filament magnified about 58 times, and here reduced to one-half original scale.
As soon as the cotyledons have been naturally dragged from beneath the ground, and the hypocotyl has straightened itself by growth along the inner or concave surface, there is nothing to interfere with the free movements of the parts ”

“ Nevertheless, the cotyledons have little or no power of bending towards a lateral light, although the hypocotyl is strongly heliotropic. They are not provided with a pulvinus, but continue to grow for a long time. ”

“ Thin and translucent. Hypocotyl. The rudimentary stem of the embryo; also termed radicle. Hypogynium. Organ supporting the ovary in some sedges. Hypogynous. Borne at the base of the ovary, or below. Hyponym. A generic or specific name untypified. I Imbricated. Overlapping. Imperfect. Flowers with either stamens or pistils, not with both. Incised. Cut into sharp lobes. ”

“ The actual extreme distance from side to side over which the summit of the tall hypocotyl passed in the course of 12 h. was .28 of an inch. The original figure was traced on a large scale, and from the obliquity of the line of view the outer parts of the diagram are much exaggerated.
Cotyledons.—On two occasions the movements of the cotyledons were traced on a vertical glass, and as the ascending and descending lines did not quite coincide, very narrow ellipses were formed; they therefore circumnutated. Whilst young they rise vertically up at night, but their tips always remain reflexed ”

“ When studying the germination of the American and Asiatic Rhizophoras in Fiji, I observed that the neck of the cotyledonary body did not begin to form, nor the inclosed plumular bud to show signs of differentiation, until the hypocotyl had protruded about 41⁄2 inches with R. mangle, and between 6 and 7 inches with R. mucronata. The neck of the cotyledonary body then proceeds to grow in length, pushing before it the plumular end of the embryo-seedling, which it surrounds as a sheath. ”

“ In man, given ingestion of hypoxanthine as such, only one half thereof appears as uric acid in the urine. It may here be mentioned that not all the purin bases ingested exist bound up in the nuclein substances. An appreciable amount is present in the tissues in a free state, e.g., hypoxanthine in the muscles; consequently, a moiety of the intake of purin bodies, especially in the animal constituents of the food, is to hand ready formed, and does not require the disruption of nucleic acid for its liberation. ”

“ And if there be also pulsation in the hypochondrium, it indicates perturbation or delirium; and the physician should examine the eyes of such persons; for if their pupils be in rapid motion, such persons may be expected to go mad. A swelling in the hypochondrium, that is hard and painful, is very bad, provided it occupy the whole hypochondrium; but if it be on either side, it is less dangerous when on the left. Such swellings at the commencement of the disease prognosticate speedy death; but if the fever has passed twenty days, and the swelling has not subsided, it turns to a suppuration. ”

“ If, however, depression of the oxydative processes is founded neither on the seizure of oxygen by the narcotic nor the fixation of oxydable substances by the former, there remains the possibility that the narcotic suppresses the transmission of oxygen to these points of consumption. We assume that the oxygen transmission to those points where its consumption takes place is carried out by special substances, the existence of which has been established in the most varied vegetable and animal cell forms. ”

“ But in cases of fever attended with nausea, or distention of the hypochondria, when the patients cannot lie reclined in the same position, and the extremities are cold, the greatest care and precaution are necessary; nothing should be given to them, except oxymel diluted with water; no draught should be administered, until the fever abate and the urine be concocted; the patient should be laid in a dark apartment, and recline upon the softest couch, and he should be kept as long as possible in the same position, so as not to toss about, for this is particularly beneficial to him. ”

“ They know that in acute diseases especially, there is sometimes pressing need of something more than the tiny doses, and they resort for the moment to their old mode of practice. And it is easy to do this secretly if they wish, for calomel, morphine, &c. are not very bulky medicines, and a good dose of them can easily be put into a very few little globules. Many a Homœopathic patient is thus saved from death by the ‘old practice,’ while Homœopathy gets all the credit of it. ”

“ Persons who gradually acquire tolerance go through the stage of anæmia without exhibiting any symptoms of colic or paresis, and without any treatment the hæmoglobin and the number of red cells gradually pass back to a more or less normal condition. During this period—that is, whilst the blood shows signs of a diminution in its corpuscular and colour content—basophile granules may always be found if sought for, but disappear as a rule when the blood-count has returned to about 4,000,000 per c.c. ”

“ Similar tissue alterations were noted by Walker Hall in rabbits, after injection with hypoxanthine, while the same was observed by Kionka in mice. These findings suggest that, although anatomical lesions are not apparent in the livers of “gouty” men, it is at least probable that functional damage results from the overeating of meat.
Now, if glycocoll be added to a solution of (neutral) dialkali-urate, it expedites the appearance of the (acid) mono-alkali-urate, a reaction more noticeable with the sodium salt. Urea, in contrast to glycocoll, markedly inhibits the formation of the acid salt. ”

“ Pain on percussion of the right hypochondrium would be an additional feature.
Treatment can rarely be adopted because of the uncertainty of the diagnosis. It would proceed on general principles, antithermics, eliminants, antiseptics, and counter-irritants being resorted to as the conditions seem to demand. Alkaline laxatives and diuretics, salicylates of soda or potash, and guarded doses of sulphuric ether to solicit the action of the pancreas, might be resorted to. The disorder of the liver would require attention along the lines indicated under catarrh of that organ. ”

“ It is proper to remark here, that some, who at first adopted Homœopathy from mere pecuniary considerations, may afterwards have come to a full belief in it. For if, previous to their adoption of this practice, they were undiscriminating over-dosers, as most of those physicians who have turned Homœopathists once were, they find themselves actually more successful in the treatment of disease than they were before their conversion. This is owing only to the discontinuance of their over-dosing, but they of course refer it to the “dynamic power” of their globules. ”

“ Insensibility is not caused so much by giving a dose as by performing a process. Nature supplies but one mixture of diluted oxygen, from which each creature draws as much as it requires, and so, in causing narcotism by inhalation, if a proper mixture of air and vapour is supplied, each patient will gradually inhale the requisite quantity of the latter to cause insensibility, according to his size and strength. ”

“ Despite the plethora of materia scripta on the subject it makes sense to reprint Hill's Hypochondriasis, because it is indeed a "practical treatise" and because it offers the modern student of neoclassical literature a clear summary of the best thoughts that had been put forth on the subject, as well as an explanation of the causes, symptoms, and cures of this commonplace malady.
[Pg ii] No reader of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century English literature needs to be reminded of the interest of writers of the period in the condition—"disease" is too confining a term—hypochondriasis. ”

“ In the first four sections almost every statement is commonplace and requires no commentary (for example, Hill's opening remark: "To call the Hypochondriasis a fanciful malady, is ignorant and cruel. It is a real, and a sad disease: an obstruction of the spleen by thickened and distempered blood; extending itself often to the liver, and other parts; and unhappily is in England very frequent: physick scarce knows one more fertile in ill; or more difficult of cure.") ”

“ He reminds us that the oxidation and deaminisation of the nuclein derivatives, nucleins, nucleotides and nucleosides, is never complete. For purin bases and pyrimidin bases run side by side in the blood-stream together with uric acid. Also, that the unstable but soluble biurate is constantly changing into a less soluble type, viz., from one isomer to another. Moreover, since the red blood corpuscles abound in potassium, urates of potassium must also occur, and to these may be added, too, ammonium and calcium compounds in small quantities. ”

“ Most homoeopathists believe more or less in the action of minute doses of medicine, but it must not be considered as an integral part of the system. The dose is the corollary, not the principle. Yet in the minds of many, infinitesimal doses of medicine stand for homoeopathy itself, the real law of cure being completely put into the background. The question of dose has also divided the members of the homoeopathic school into bitter factions, and is therefore a matter for careful consideration. Many employ low potencies, [3] i.e. ”

“ If a small quantity of an ammoniacal solution of ferrous tartrate or citrate be added to blood containing carbon oxide, the bands do not wholly fade, but persist more or less distinctly; whereas, if the same solution is added to bright red normal blood, the two bands vanish instantly and coalesce to form the spectrum of reduced hæmoglobin. When either a solution of hæmoglobin or blood is exposed to the air for some time, it loses its bright red colour, becomes brownish-red, and presents an acid reaction. ”