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60 Vegetable Organography and. Physiology. 
until its body was in a parallel line with the earth. The roots 
on the opposite side, having obtained a firmer hold, afforded suffi- 
cient nourishment to sustain the plant; although they could not, 
alone, retain it in its vertical position. In this condition of things, 
the tree, as if ‘conscious of its wants,” adopted (if the term may 
be used ) an ingenious process, in order to regain its former upright 
position. One of the most vigorous of the detached roots, sent 
out a branch from its side, which passing round a projection of 
the rock, again united with the parent stalk, and thus formeda 
perfect loop around this projection, which gave to the root an 
immovable attachment. — The tree now began to recover from its 
bent position. Obeying the natural tendency of all plants to 
grow erect; and sustained by t this root, which increased with 
unwonted vigor: in a few years, ‘it had entirely regained its ver 
tical position ; elevated, a no one could doubt, who saw it, by 
. « he atd oi he foot hich had formed this singular attachment. 
But this was not the only power exhibited by this remarkable tree. 
After its elevation it flourished vigorously for several y Some 
_ of its roots had traced the sloping side of the rock to the earth, 
and were buried in the soil below. Others, having imbedded 
_ themselves in its furrows, had completely filled these crevices with 
vegetable matter. The tree still continuing to grow, concentric 
_ layers of vegetable matter were annually deposited between the 
- alburnum and liber, until by the force of vegetable growth alone, 
the rock was split, from top to bottom, into three nearly equal di- 
visions, and branches of the roots were soon found, extending 
down, through the divisions into the earth below. On visiting 
the tree, a few months since, to take a drawing of it, we found 
that it had attained an altitude of fifty feet, and was four anda 
half feet in circumference at its base. Having overcome obsta- 
cles which do not ordinarily impede vegetable growth, by the 
'. manifestation of a principle, and a power, not ordinarily developed _ 
in vegetation, it was towering upwards, and stretching its branch- 
es about as if ambitious to take its place among the loftiest trees 
of the forest. 
As no trace of a nervous system has, as yet, been discovered _ 
an vegetables, the spontaneous motions which they occasionally _ 
exhibit, and the various changes produced by their functions, are 
generally referred, by naturalists, to the organic versitile 
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