GENERAL TEXTURE OF PLANTS, J 3 



most different and discordant fluids, sepa- 

 rated only by the finest film or membrane, 

 are, as we have already observed, kept per- 

 fectly distinct, while life remains ; but no 

 tsooner does the vital principle depart, than 

 secretion, as well as the due preservation of 

 what has been secreted, are both at an end, 

 and the principle of dissolution reigns abso- 

 lute. 



Before we can examine the physiology of 

 veo-etables, it is necessary to acquire some 

 idea of their structure. 



Much light has been thrown upon the 

 general texture of Vegetables by the micro- 

 scopic figures of Grew, Malpighi and others, 

 Tepeated by Dr. Thornton in his Illustration 

 of the Linnaean System, but more especially 

 by the recent observations and highly mag- 

 nified dissections of M. Mirbel. See his 

 Table of Vegetable Anatomy in the work 

 already mentioned. From preceding v*riters 

 we had learned the general tubular or vas- 

 cular structure of the vegetable body, and 

 the existence of some peculiar spirally-coated 

 vessels in many plants. On these slender 

 foundations physiologists have, at their plea- 



