jmces'^when we mix them all together. As to the! leaf bud, 



I have in my last letter said, it is begun and finished in the 



bark* It is indeed a history in itaeU", and one ojf the most 



wonderful I know. There is so much pressinj^, rolhno:,an<l 



weav-ng;, that | have constantly viewea it with fresh astonish* 



roent; tor after being woven with all its parts loose and Formatiortu of 



open, and all the ends hanging to it, like a piece of cloth ^*^e 1^*^ *>ud. 



fresh from the loom, it is folded anew, rolled in a particular 



manner, and laid in a liquid; then unrolled, and again 



folded in another manner, and pressed in the bud; and this 



19 repeated several times, till by degrees losing alf its ends, it 



is prepared i'or making the edges, which is the most curious 



part of all. I have already detailed this in my first letter, 



and shall not therefore repeat it, but only say, that the leaf 



buds of those plants, which have no stem, are formed within 



the bosom of the othe^ leaves, joined to one end of the cu- ' , 



ti( le, not in the root. 1 have much to say on this subject, 



bot it must be in another letter, and one which is restrained 



to leaves alone. 



I must now say a f?w words on a subject I have long de- WhetTicrthMe 

 ferred touching upon, but which I have i.ot the less studied ; ^^slg^s7o"r^"he 

 indeed I hardly know one that has lately engrossed so much sap or not? 

 of my thoughts; 1 mean, *' whether there is, pr is not, nrir^ 

 culation of sap through plants." After tht'most mature in- 

 quiry, the most exact resebrch, 1 cannot dife<*over the slightest 

 reason for believing, that it taVes place even in trees; on the 

 contrary, the most potent arguments, drawn from the very 

 nature of the vegetable tribe, militate against it. That there 

 IB a regular passage upwards for the rise of thesap, no one de- 

 pies; but returning vt-ssels from the head of the plant to the 

 Toot 1 must think a fallacy; arising from that unfortunate 

 comparison established between the animal and vegetable 

 world, which was well enough in the first birth (jf both, but 

 has been carried in my opinion to a false and blatnable ex- 

 tent. Can any thing be more unlike Hnimal' life, than the 

 shooting of the buds? Thife will, I think, mbtfe plainly ap- 

 pear, in drnwing a comparison betweeii the functions of both 

 — in an animal constant motion is neressnry to circulate the Sap too much 



blood; its juices, formed in the body itself, from the dif- ^'^^^"'^"^ ?^ 



•^ , r 1 • ^^^ various, for- 



ferent secretions I believe, (bqt I do not understand ana- tnation*. 



tomy,) 



