156 



ON THE RUST OR BLACK BLIGHT IN WHEAT. 



According to our understanding of the prin- 

 ciples, which regulate and determine the prepara- 

 tion and application of the food of plants ; must 

 be our notions of the diseases of plants, and our 

 ideas of the best mode or course of cultivating 

 them. 



A wide difference undoubtedly exists in the for- 

 mation, functions, and peculiar nature of animals 

 and vegetables j but yet they may, in many res- 

 pects, be assimilated ; and thus, by comparison, 

 the proper treatment of plants be simplified, and 

 rendered more easy of explanation and comprehen- 

 sion. I shall take leave to state, that the observa- 

 tion and experience of many years have convinced 

 me, that the opinions of the great reformer of the 

 medical profession, Mr. Abernethy — that the most 

 afflicting diseases to which the human species 

 are subjected, are generated in the stomach, and 

 consequently are to be remedied by the stomach 

 — are perfectly just and well founded : and I am 

 also convinced, that most of the diseases of ani- 

 mals and of plants, may be accounted for and 

 remedied, on the same principles. From what 

 has been said, it is clear, that vegetables cannot 



