30 ON ROOTS. 



moisture when the plants are dead, as well as when they 

 are living. A sponge, or a lump of sugar, have no vital 

 principle to stimulate them to draw up liquids ? 



Mrs. B. Neither does absorption immediately cease 

 upon the death of a plant, as the blood ceases to circulate 

 upon the expiration of animal life ; but when the vessels 

 through which the fluid should pass have lost their vital 

 energy, that susceptibility of irritation and of contraction, 

 which enabled them to propel the fluid upwards, ceases, 

 and it can no longer ascend into the roots, but remains 

 stagnant in the spongioles, which soon become saturated. 

 Disease and putrefaction follow ; and that nourishment, 

 which was designed to sustain life, now serves only to ac- 

 celerate disorganization. The fluid is, however, still per- 

 forming the part assigned to it by Nature ; for if it be ne- 

 cessary to supply living plants with food, it is also neces- 

 sary to destroy those which have ceased to live, in order 

 that the earth may not be incumbered with bodies become 

 useless, and that their disorganized particles may con- 

 tribute to the growth of living plants. Thus the putre- 

 faction of dead leaves, straw, &c. which reduces these 

 bodies to their simple elements, prepares them to become 

 once more component parts of living plants. 



Caroline. What a beautiful provision for the vegetable 

 economy ! I know not whether you call this botany, 

 Mrs. B. ; but it is totally different from the dry classifica- 

 tion of flowers. It elevates the heart while it enlightens 

 the mind, and bears more resemblance to lessons of mo- 

 rality and religion than to botany. 



JWrs, -B. The physiology of plants, of which we are 

 , now treating, forms one branch of the science of botany, 

 and one which is certainly replete with interest ; but from 

 every natural science, and every branch of it, from the ar- 

 rangement and classification of the organs of the flower 

 as well as from the history of vegetation, the well-disposed 

 mind will draw lessons of piety ; and he must study Nature 

 with very contracted views, who does not raise his 



109. And, if so, why do not the roots continue to absorb moisture 

 when the plants are dead 1 ? 110. After the plant is dead, in what 

 way is the fluid absorbed by the spongioles, performing the parts assign- 

 ed it by Nature! 111. Why is it necessary that disorganization 

 should take place in dead vegetables'? 112. What is mentioned in il- 

 lustration of this beautiful subserviency in nature! 113, What effect 

 may such considerations have on the heart! 



