120 Conjectures rcspectiyig the Causes of double Flo'wers, 



mutilations may be healed or replaced ; wounds and bruises 

 may be cured by applications similar to those remedies resorted 

 to in cases of fractures of the animal frame. Cancerous sub- 

 stances and tumorous excrescences may be excavated from 

 trees as from animals; and counter- irritations are successfullj' 

 employed by gardeners, many of whom well know the advan- 

 tage of this process on trees technically termed hide-bound. 

 Slitting open the bark, in such cases, produces effects on trees 

 similar to that of the blister on animals. It has likewise been 

 affirmed that excrementitious matter is emitted from the roots ; 

 and scrofulous-looking tumours, on some trees at least, are 

 common. 



If due consideration be allowed to all these close resem- 

 blances which the vegetable creation bears to the animal, I trust 

 I shall not be thought extravagant in my ideas, if I endeavour to 

 account for the phenomena of vegetable variation by tracing that 

 analogy a step farther, and assign to plants, as in animals, a 

 plurality of fluidal systems. In animals, the diiferent fluids 

 and humours originate in one common source, the blood ; in 

 plants, each system seems to have a direct communication with 

 the elements, and in their operations are independent of each 

 other. It is evident, from the manner in which its operations 

 are conducted, that there is one grand system employed in form- 

 ing the bark, leaves, and woody fibre; viz., the albuminous 

 current: it is also apparent that a separate system exists in 

 plants for the perfecting of the fruit, which may be denominated 

 the seminal fluid; and it is highly probable that these systems 

 are of a compound nature, each, perhaps, furnished with organs 

 for producing the properties of colour, taste, and smell, peculiar 

 to each division. If the progress of vegetation is watched closely, 

 we find that every tree, according to its kind, if raised in the 

 natural way (that is, from the seed), has its whole powers directed 

 to the accumulation of wood, bark, and leaves, for a series of 

 years. Twelve years commonly elapse before the fruit-buds 

 appear on the apple. In form and size, these buds differ so 

 widely in appearance from the buds which produce the annual 

 spray, that the most partial observer must conclude that they 

 cannot be the work of one and the same agent : if it were so, 

 the fruit-buds, of course, would be contemporary with those that 

 produce wood ; this is sometimes the case with grafted trees, 

 but never with such as are raised from the seed. If one univer- 

 sal system of fluid in plants (a servant of all-work) is contended 

 for, viz. the albuminous current, how are we to account for its 

 extremely eccentric nature ? To suppose that it possesses the 

 faculty of communicating colour, taste, and smell to the wood, 

 bark, and leaves, of a peculiar description, whilst it supplies the 

 flower and fruit with these properties of a totally different de- 

 scription, is preposterous. In its journey through the leaves, the 



