838 



diligently studied his subject with a view to self-inforraation, than as 

 one who would dictate, or dogmatize, or enforce his own conclusions : 

 everything is stated with the utmost candour ; and there is no appa- 

 rent crotchet or hypothesis in the author's brain that leads him astray 

 from the straightforward path of inquiry into his interesting, but rather 

 recondite, subject. The translation affords yet another proof of Mr. 

 Henfrey's untiring industry ; and in the present instance the subject 

 is one in which, by praiseworthy assiduity, he has made himself per- 

 fectly at home. 



Author's Preface. — " Mr. Arthur Henfrey having informed me that 

 he intends publishing an English translation of the present treatise, I 

 take this opportunity of making known to the English reader the pur- 

 pose I had in view in the preparation of the book. The following 

 pages were not originally intended to appear as an independent work, 

 or to give a summary of the wide subject of the Anatomy and Physio- 

 logy of Plants, but appeared as an article, in the ' Cyclopedia of Phy- 

 siology ' published by Dr. Rudolph Wagner, of Gottingen, drawn up 

 to furnish students of Animal Physiology, and more particularly the 

 Medical Profession, with a review of the Anatomical and Physiologi- 

 cal conditions of Vegetables (of the Cell), in order to enable them to 

 form a definite judgment upon the analogies which might be drawn 

 between the structure and vital functions of animals and plants. 

 This intention, together with the circumstance that I was compelled 

 to crowd the whole exposition into the space of a few sheets, ren- 

 dered it necessary to direct especial attention to the individual cell, 

 as the fundamental organ of the Vegetable Organism. Since, how- 

 ever, the cell only presents itself in anatomical and physiological 

 independence in the lowest plants, and since, in the more highly 

 organized plants, both the structure and the physiological functions 

 of the individual cells become subject to greater dependence upon 

 the other parts of the plant, in proportion as the collective organiza- 

 tion of the vegetable is more complex ; moreover, since functions 

 then present themselves, of which no trace can be found in the lower 

 plants, it became requisite to take account of the plants of higher 

 rank, and of the various organs which these possess. The treatise 

 therefore, contains if an imperfect, still, in many respects, a more 

 extensive resume of Vegetable Physiology, than might be conjectured 

 from the title. 



" Unhappily, the Physiology of Plants is a science which yet lies in 

 its earliest infancy. Few of its dogmas can be regarded as settled 

 beyond doubt ; at every step we meet with imperfect observations, 



