1825.] 
the propagation of plants, and consists 
of four parts—the calyx, the corolla, 
the stamen, and the pistillum. The 
calyx, or flower-cup, is usually of a 
green colour, and is that part which 
supports and surrounds all the other 
portions of the flower. The corolla is 
of different colours and shapes, and is 
that part which constitutes the most 
conspicuous portion of the flower. It 
sometimes consists. of only one entire 
substance, but more frequently of seve- 
ral portions, each of which is denomi- 
nated a petal. The stamen is supposed 
to be the male, and the pistil/wm the 
female part of the flower. They are 
both minutely described by Linnzus in 
his beautiful Sexual System of Plants. 
It is a curious fact, that every flower 
is formed many months before it makes 
its appearance. Thus many flowers 
are not the produce of that same year 
in which they blossom. The mezereon 
blossoms in January, but the flowers 
were ccempletely formed in the bud in 
the preceding autumn. Ifthe coats of 
a tulip-root be carefully separated about 
the beginning of September, the nascent 
flower, which is to come forth in the 
subsequent spring, will be found in a 
small cell,. formed -by the innermost 
coats of the root. 
5. The fruit consists of nearly the 
same parts as the stem of its parent 
tree, namely, of two skins or cuticles, 
which are productions, or rather con- 
tinuations of the skins of the bark, and 
furnished with large succulent vessels. 
Next to the core there is commonly 
an internal pulpy matter; and the core 
itself is nothing more than a tough and 
finer membrane for the protection of the 
seed. It is to be: observed, however, 
that the organization of fruit is very 
various. In some, the seeds are dis- 
persed throughout the pulpy matter ; 
in some, instead of the core, we find a 
hard substance, inclosing the seed or 
kernel, which, from its great durity, is 
termed the stone ; in some, there are 
many seeds,—and in others only one, 
inclosed in a large mass of pulpy matter. 
6. The seed has been described by 
botanists as “a deciduous part of a 
vegetable, containing the rudiments of a 
new one;” its essence consisting in the 
corculum, or little heart.*. On its exter- 
* “Yn the seed ofa plant,” observes Sir 
Thos. Browne, “ to the eyes of God, and to 
the understanding of man, there exists, 
though in an invisible way, the perfect 
leaves, flowers and fruit thereof.”’—Religio 
Medici: 
Gradation of Universal Being. 423 
nal surface, are numerous absorbent 
vessels, that attract the moisture of the 
soil, by which a degree of fermentation 
is produced; and thus a fluid is pre- 
pared by a natural process, in every 
respect calculated for the nourishment 
of the plant, in its first efforts to extend 
its tender frame. And it is probable, 
that the stimulus occasioned by the fer- 
mentative process (like that which the 
ova of animals receive from the pre- 
sence of the semen masculinium) endues 
the seed with its first faint principles of 
vitality. 
I have thus enumerated concisely 
the component parts of the vegetable 
system: and have, I trust, been suffi- 
ciently intelligible in pointing out the 
wonderful and regular gradation which 
exists in nature. It is, mdeed, beauti- 
ful to observe how every thing has 
its use; and every element—whether 
in mildness or in fury, produces 
its benefit. A view of the vegetable 
kingdom alone will plainly illustrate 
the truth of this position. We are 
assured (to borrow the words of Sir 
John Pringle) that no vegetable grows 
in vain; but that, from the oak of the 
forest to the grass in the field, every 
individual plant is serviceable to man- 
kind; if not always distinguished by 
some private virtue, yet making a part 
of the whole, and thereby conducing to 
the purification of our atmosphere. In 
this, the fragrant rose and deadly night- 
shade equally co-operate ; nor is the 
herbage, nor are the woods which flourish 
in the most remote and unpeopled 
regions, unprofitable to us, nor we to 
them, considering how constantly the 
winds convey to them our vitiated air, 
for our relief, and for ‘ their: nourish-' 
ment. And if ever the salutary gales” 
which effect this purpose’ rise to storms 
and hurricanes, let us still trace in them, 
and revere the ways of a beneficent 
Being, who, not fortuitously, but with 
design,—not in wrath, but in mercy, 
thus agitates the water and the air, to 
hurry into the deep those putrid and 
pestilential efluvia, which the vegeta- 
bles on the face of the earth had been 
insufficient to consume. 
The works of the Creator are, in- 
deed, full of magnificence and wonder. 
When we attempt to discover the com-' 
ponent principles of the objects around 
us, and the sources whence they are 
derived and supported, we are lost in 
the greatness and diversity of the scenes 
presented to us. We see animals nou- 
rished by vegetables—vegetables, appa- 
rently, 
