Croonian lecture. - The cosmical function of the green plant

Abstract

The first object which attracted Gulliver’s notice when on his visit to the Academy of Lagado was a man of “meagre appearance,” his eyes fixed on a cucumber sealed in a phial. On Gulliver’s questioning him, the strange personage explained that for more than 8 years he had been absorbed in the contemplation of this bit of apparatus, trying in vain to solve the problem of the storage of the sun’s rays in this recipient and their possible utilisation.