ON THE STEM Of TRIES. 349 



must nrit impede the belief that it does so, when we con- 

 sider the circulation of blood in the diminutiTe animal that 

 torments the body of the flea and louse. I have seen the 

 liquor run up with the utmost celerity through the upper 

 cuticle of a very small seed of the syngenesian order, till 

 it met the male anil continued its course. It must be under- 

 stood, that the juice from the corolla flows in the rest of the 

 cuticle, and the largest vessels are those for the male liquor. 

 The production of these little floscules, and the curious ar- 

 rangement for the vessels, and for the nourishment of each *i 

 separate part, is so wonderful, that I hardly know an 

 object that has given me more delight than the contrivance 

 manifested in them, or a sight more formed to strike with 

 wonder, when seen in the microscope : and how wholly is 

 this beautiful order of arrangement counteracted by a 

 double flower; that is by finding none of these peculiar 

 vessels, but a general confusion, that seems to make a mix- 

 ture of the whole ! I never permit myself to form any 

 opinion what the thing is to be, before I have dissected it : 

 my opinions are wholly taken from what I do see, which 

 on this subject I have here given. The person who doubts 

 need only dissect a lily, a violet, or any flower, below the 

 seed vessel or above it, and, I fancy, he will be satisfied. 



In detailing the reasons I had to believe that the circle of The line of life 

 life formed the pistil, and that it is the life of the plant, or *™** ^^ 

 rather may be better compared to the spinal marrow and the flowers. 

 brain of the animal frame, I forgot one of the strongest 

 proofs, which is, " that, though the circle of life never 

 runs into any other leaf, it is to be found in all those 

 leaves that have the jiower either on the middle or on the 

 side of the leaf, &c. I first to my great astonishment 

 perceived it in the butcher's broom, where it leads directly 

 up to the flower: then in scolopendrums, and afterward 

 ii\ the xylophyllas, &c. Besides that there is vastly, more 

 wood than in any other kind of leaves, as every one will 

 feel on breaking them, the circle of life may easily be 

 traced, as leading from one flower to the other. But I 

 shall detain the reader no longer than to say, that these ideas 

 and discoveries are not the hasty productions of momentary 

 -examination, but the result of many years of study; I may 



2 say 



