190 THE DEATH OP THE TKEE. 



cases the death of the tree is brought about by violent in- 

 terruptions to the natural life-processes, or a want of those 

 conditions which are necessary to their continuance, yet 

 we do not altogether agree with the views of these distin- 

 guished physiologists, for the reasons we have already 

 assigned. 



The growth of the tree in the air, and that of the coral- 

 reef in the ocean, is somewhat analogous. The first is 

 built up by a community of plants, the last by a society of 

 animals ; leaves are the architects in the former, and polypi 

 in the latter instance. Both are equally substantial and 

 enduring monuments of the skill of architects alike perish- 

 able and insignificant, capable of withstanding the storms 

 of the elements from which they draw their life, and which 

 thus rage for hundreds and thousands of years harmlessly 

 around them. The dead individuals of the coral-reef serve 

 as a firm foundation for succeeding generations of work- 

 men or polypi, who continue their labors at the same 

 structure. So is it with the tree. What is the dead, fis- 

 sured bark on the outside of yonder old tree-stem, and the 

 dead wood in its inside, but matter which was formed by 

 the labors of generations of shoots and leaves which have 

 preceded the present generation, which still continues to 

 cover its venerable stem and branches with the renewed 

 verdure and beauty of the spring-time of its life ? 



