It GENERAL TiXTURE OF PLANTS, 



advantage over many other useful and neccs- 

 ^ry studies, that even its first beginnings are 

 pleasing and profitable, though pursued to 

 ever so small an extent; 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 sense, 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 

 with life, and consequently able not only to 

 imbibe particular fluids, but to alter their 

 nature according to certain laws, that is, to 

 fonn 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 sub- 

 stances from the uniform juices of the earth, 

 or perhaps from mere water and air. Tiie 



