ANIMALS AND VEGETABLES. 47 



in water, and performs all its locomotive evolutions with 

 considerably rapidity. The Oyster, on the other hand, in 

 which a heart, bloodvessels, brain, gills, and stomach, may 

 be easily observed, has one valve of its shell cemented to 

 the rock, and depends on the bounty of the waves for 

 all the objects of its sensation and nourishment. 



Plants are destitute of sensation, voluntary motion, and 

 locomotion. They live and die in the same spot. Where 

 the seed first strikes root, there the plant continues, unless 

 transported by some foreign power, and passes through the 

 various stages of growth, maturity and decay. Plants 

 have been found alive, even when detached from the soil ; 

 but such plants possess true roots, either as organs of sup- 

 port or nourishment ; and only quit their first station by 

 force. This is frequently the case with the floating duck- 

 weed, and with the fuci which form the celebrated Mar do 

 Sargasso, or sea of sea- weeds, in the great ocean. 



4. Animals differ from Plants in their Nutrition. If 

 we attend to the organs of nourishment in the perfect ani- 

 mals, we perceive that there is an alimentary canal, situat- 

 ed towards the centre of the body, and exhibiting in some 

 part of its course an enlargement, termed a Stomach. As 

 we descend in the scale of animal life, this tube experiences 

 remarkable changes in form and position, but continues so- 

 litary in each individual. When all the other vessels of 

 the body cease to be conspicuous, by reason of the diminu- 

 tive size of the animal under examination, this organ may 

 often be perceived. Indeed, judging from analogy, we 

 have reason to conclude, that in every individual of the 

 Animal Kingdom, there is a particular cavity destined for 

 the reception of the food. 



In the most perfect vegetables, on the other hand, we 

 find the alimentary tubes so numerous, that we are unable 

 to count them ; and in no case do we observe any common 



