LKCT. VIII.] ORIGIN OF BRANCHES. 397 



The ingenious Bradley supposed that a bud 

 takes root in the body of a tree in the same 

 manner as a seed takes root in the earth * ; an 

 idea which evidently suggested Darwin's theoiy of 

 the individuality of buds, and the augmentation of 

 the diameter of the trunk and branches by the 

 extension of their radicles, as has been already 

 noticed ; and which has since been illustrated, and 

 given to the world as his own, by a celebrated 

 French phytologist, M. Aubert Du Petit-Thouars-f-. 

 But, although a bud will send out roots and grow 

 if planted in the ground, the analogy does not 

 apply to the bud attached to the original parent, 

 nor even to that which is budded. 



Before organization commences in the germ, 

 it is, as we have seen, an insulated speck, covered 

 by the epidermis only, and connected with the 

 other parts of the stem or branch, in which it is 

 seated, merely by cellular matter. The effect of 

 the organic power on it is the addition of new 

 matter, and the consequent evolution of its parts; 

 till gradually extending in the direction of its 

 axis, it unites with and becomes a permanent part 



* Discourses on the Growth of Plants, 1727, p. 56. 



f This is rendered evident by comparing the theory de- 

 livered in his work, entitled Essais sur la Vegetation consideree 

 dans le Developpement des Bourgeons; which was published in 

 1809, with that in the Phytologia of Darwin, which appeared 

 in 1800. 



