PROCESS OF NUTRITION. CHAP. III. 



distance of five inches from the layer corresponding 

 to the length of wood left on the opposite side. 

 The buds on each end were by previous manage- 

 ment made to stand at equal distances from the 

 root, and an inch of wood was left at each end 

 beyond the buds. If Mr. Knight's hypothesis 

 was true it was to be expected that the proper juice 

 would be impelled less forcibly towards the extre- 

 mities that had originally formed the summit of 

 the shoots than towards the opposite extremities, 

 beyond which it was presumed that new wood 

 might even be formed. The result was as follows : 

 At the proper and natural extremities the wood 

 above the buds became dry and lifeless, while the 

 wood below increased as usual. But at the in- 

 verted extremities the result was also inverted, new 

 wood being accumulated above the buds, and even 

 numerous roots protruded, while no sensible aug- 

 mentation took place between them. Inverted 

 cuttings of Gooseberries and Currants were also 

 made the subject of experiment ; the former not 

 succeeding at all ; but the latter succeeding for the 

 most part, and exhibiting phenomena similar to that 

 of the inverted ends of the layers, with the ex- 

 ception of their not emitting roots. Whence Mr. 

 Knight concludes that the vessels of the bark 

 through which the proper juice descends are better 

 adapted by their structure to transmit their content* 

 towards the original root, than in any other direc- 

 tion ; by which means the motion of the returning 



