VAnil.TlES OF SECRETIONS. 75 



It is curious to observe, not only the vari- 

 ous secretions of different plants, or tanuiies 

 of plants, by which they ditier from each 

 other in taste, smell, qualities and medical 

 virtues, but also their great number, and 

 striking difference, frequently in the same 

 plant. Of this the Peach-tree offers a fdmiliar 

 example. The gum of this tree is mild and 

 mucilaginous. The bark, leaves and flowers 

 abound with a bitter secretion of a purgative 

 and rather dangerous quality, than which no- 

 thing can be more distinct from the gum. 

 The fruit is replete, not onl}^ with acid, mu* 

 cilage and sugar, but with its ov/n peculiar 

 aromatic and highly volatile secretion, elabo- 

 rated within itself, on which its fine flavour 

 depends. How far are we still from under- 

 standing the whole anatomy of the vegetable 

 body, which can create and keep separate 

 sucb distinct and discordant substances ! 



Nothing is more astonishing than the se- 

 cretion of flinty earth by plants, which, though 

 never suspected till within a few years, appears 

 to me well ascertained. A substance is found 

 in the hollow stem of the Bamboo, (ylrundo 

 Bambos of Linnapus, Castas of Tiieophrastus,) 



