528 THE REPRODUCTIVE FUNCTIONS. 



When we advert to the numberless instances of the 

 reparation of injuries happening to various parts of 

 our own frame, we have abundant reason to admire 

 and be grateful forthe wise and bountiful provisions 

 which Nature has made for meeting these con- 

 tingencies. 



The multiplication of the species by buds, or 

 Gemmipajous reproduction, is exemplitied on the 

 largest scale in the vegetable creation. Almost 

 every point of the surface of a plant appears to be 

 capable of giving rise to a new shoot, which, when 

 fully developed, exactly resembles the parent stock, 

 and may, therefore, be regarded as a separate 

 organic being. The origin of buds is wholly be- 

 yond the sphere of our observation; for they arise 

 from portions of matter too minute to be cognizable 

 to our organs, with every assistance which the most 

 powerful microscopes can supply. These imper- 

 ceptible atoms, from which organic beings take 

 their rise, are called germs. 



Vegetable germs are of two kinds ; those which 

 produce stems, and those which produce roots ; and 

 although both may be evolved from every part of 

 the plant, the former are usually developed at the 

 axillcB of the leaves ; that is, at the angles of their 

 junction with the stem ; and also at the extremities 

 of the fibres of the stems ; their developement being 

 determined by the accumulation of nourishment 

 around them. They first produce buds, which ex- 

 panding, and putting forth roots, assume the form 

 of shoots ; and the successive accumulation of 

 shoots, which remain attached to the parent plant,* 



* In some rare instances the shoots are removed to a distance from 

 the parent plant, by a natural process : this occurs in some creeping 

 plants, which propagate themselves by the horizontal extension of 



