2 INTRODUCTION. 



be useful in enabling the practitioner to account 

 for many circumstances which will occur in the 

 course of his practice. 



Botanists have classed bulbs into the different 

 distinctions of scaly, coated, solid, and caulinar. 

 A scaly bulb is such as the common white lily. 

 It consists of a vital membrane, called the radical 

 plate or basis. This member appears to consist 

 of an indefinite series of dividual germs, which 

 are annually brought forth in succession. The 

 first, or highest in order, is, in the autumn before 

 it is developed, composed of a surrounding en- 

 velope of thick fleshy bodies, like scales. These 

 scales are abbreviated leaves ; the outer ones are 



stationary, doing the office of hybernacla ; while 



the inner are attached to the flower-stem, rise 

 therewith, and are expanded into full form dur- 

 ing the spring and summer. From the lower 

 part of the radical plate, and particularly from 

 its edges, the roots are produced ; which descend 

 into the earth in search of the nutriment required 

 for the expansion of the plant, and which mostly 

 die off during the repose of the bulb. 



