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Article VIII. 



Contributions to our Knowledge of Phytogenesis ; by 



Dr. M. J. SCHLEIDEN*. 



[From Miiller's Archiv fiir Anatomie und Physiologie, Part II., 1838.] 



X HE universal fundamental law of human reason, its undevia- 

 ting tendency to unity in its acquirements, has from the first 

 been e%dnced in the department of organized bodies as in all 

 branches of science, and various attempts have been made to 

 estabUsh the analogies between the two great divisions, the 

 animal and vegetable kingdoms. But although so many emi- 

 nent men have devoted their attention to this subject, it can- 

 not be denied, that all attempts hitherto made with this view 

 must be considered as entirely unsuccessful. If, indeed, the 

 fact has been of late generally admitted, still the reason of 

 this circumstance has not always been correctly conceived and 

 stated in its full clearness and precision. The cause, however, 

 lies in this ; that the idea of individual in the sense in which 

 it occvu-s in the animal nature, cannot in the least be appUed to 

 the vegetable creation. At the most we can speak of an in- 

 dividual in its true sense only in some of the lowest orders of 

 plants, in some Algse and Fungi, which consist only of a single 

 cell. But every plant developed to a somewhat higher degree, 

 is an aggregate of fully individualized independent beings, even 

 the very cells. 



Each ceU leads a double life : an entirely independent one, 

 belonging to its own development alone ; and an incidental one, 

 in so far as it has become the constituent part of a plant. But 

 it is easy to perceive that, as regards vegetable physiology as 

 well as comparative anatomy in general, the vital process of the 

 single cells must form the very first, absolutely indispensable 

 fundamental base; and, therefore, at the very outset this 

 question especially presents itself : how does this peculiar small 

 organism, the cell, originate ? 



The great importance of this subject may, perhaps, be a 

 sufficient excuse for my venturing at present to publish the fol- 

 lowing remarks, feehng as I do only too well that more extended 



* Translated and communicated by Mr. William Francis. — The Editor is 

 indebted to J. J. Bennett, Esq. for his assistance in revising the Translation. 



