Prof. Goodall in a recent lecture, says: "Aquatic plants absorb water through the surface of all submerged parts. Plants fixed in the soil absorb water through the superficial tissues of the youngest roots; and chiefly through root-hairs. Leaves of such plants absorb no moisture, even when wet by rain. When a plant is torn roughly from the soil, nearly all these root-hairs (which are delicate, elongated cells, thickly clothing a short portion of the youngest roots just behind the root tip), are left behind, and the power of the plant to absorb water is ended. The idea that the tip or spongiole absorbs water has been exploded by experiments, as also the idea that when these root-hairs, or the portions of the root which bear them, are torn off, water is absorbed by the wounded part. The whole work (except in the case of coniferous trees, which have no root-hairs, and absorb water by the newer parts of the root, but never by the tip) of forcing water into the plant, against a pressure of 3 to 5 atmospheres, is done by these minute and delicate root-hairs.