LECT. VIII.] ORIGIN OF BRANCHES. 393 



the fact, I have no doubt that each could be 

 traced to the centre of the trunk ; as I have found 

 to be the case in the Willow and some other soft- 

 wooded trees, which after being cut down, have 

 displayed the same appearances as the Oak ; and 

 although I have had no opportunity of examining 

 the Oak, yet, there is no reason for supposing it 

 an exception. If buds, therefore, be pre-organ- 

 ized germs, they can be deposited only in the first 

 year's growth of the stem or branch, the admission 

 of which would defeat the object of Du Hamel's 

 hypothesis. 



These facts, also, render less tenable the 

 doctrine of Mr. Knight, that buds proceed from 

 the alburnous vessels, which he supposes have 

 the power to generate central vessels *: for, if 

 this were the case, buds could be traced no 

 deeper than the alburnum of the season in which 

 they appear. Neither is the opinion strengthened 

 by the fact, that if buds be destroyed in early 

 spring, others appear ; for, in this case, either the 

 buds are such as have not been cut or rubbed off 

 at a depth sufficient to extinguish their vitality, 

 and prevent them from shooting forth again la- 

 terally, or by destroying the already protruded 

 buds, those that remain latent, two or more germs 

 being often present in the same vital stream, if I 



* Phil. Transactions, 1805. 



