12 <GENERAL TEXTURE OF PLANTS. 



with this delightful science. Botanv has one 

 advantage over many other useful and neces- 

 sary studies, that even its first beginnings are 

 pleasing and profitable, though pursued to 

 ever so small an exient ; the objects with 

 which it is conversant are in themselves 

 charming, and they become doubly so to 

 those who contemplate them with the addi- 

 tional s^nse, as it were, which science gives ; 

 the pursuit of these objects is an exercise no 

 less healthful to the body, than the observa- 

 tion of their laws and characters is to the 

 mind. 



In studying the functions of the Vegetable 

 frame, we must constantly remember that it is 

 not merely a collection of tubes or vessels 

 holding: different fluids, but that it is endowed 

 h life, and consequently able not only to 

 imbibe particular fluids, but to alter their 

 nature according to certain laws, that is, to 

 form peculiar secretions. This is the exclusive 

 property of a living being. Animals secrete 

 milk and fat from food which has no resem- 

 blance to those substances; so Vegetables 

 secrete gum, sugar, and various resinous suh- 

 stances from the uniform juices of the earth, 



