this mechanism is regulated : for though not one 

 particle of the severed portion be injured by the 

 cutting off from the tree, it can exist no longer 

 than while it forms part of an individual ; and 

 the mechanism which nourished it is useless 

 when removed from the influence of that indi- 

 vidual principle : this principle is something dis- 

 tinct from mere tubes and fibres, and its operation 

 appears closely to resemble what is called life in 

 animals. Our inquirer therefore will soon re- 

 solve that the vegetable is more nearly allied to 

 the animal than to the rock, and he will ask 

 himself again, what is the difference between the 

 rooted animal and the rooted vegetable ? Is not 

 the vegetable, the lowest grade of living beings, 

 akin to the coral and other such tribes of animal 

 plants ? He will find an organism resembling 

 in many cases the lower kind of animals, vessels 

 transmitting moisture upwards, and carrying it 

 downwards, while others are charged with the 

 supply of air : and the fibres and cellular tissue 

 are formed from the circulating liquid, as the 

 muscle from the blood. The substance of the 

 vegetable, when examined chemically, affords 

 fibrine and albumen, the components of blood : 

 its ultimate elements are mainly the same as 

 those of animals, i. e. oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, 



