220 THE PHILOSOPHY 



branch, buds are iikewiie formed, which contain, in minia- 

 ture, trees limilar to that of the firft year. From thefe, and 

 iimilar fach, it is concluded, that all thefe germs were con- 

 tained in the original feed ; for the firfr bud was fucceeded 

 by a fimilar bud, which was not unfolded till the fecond 

 year, and the third bud was not expanded till the third year ; 

 and, of courfe, the feed may be faid to have contained not 

 only the v/hole buds which would be formed in a hundred 

 years, but all the feeds, and all the individuals, which 

 weald fucceiTively arrive till the final deftruclion of the 

 fpecles. 



Thefe fa£ls are known and eftablifhed ; but the reafoning 

 deduced from them is fallacious, or, what amounts to the 

 f^ime thing, is perfectly incomprehenfible. The feed is un- 

 queftionably the origin or caufe of all future individuals, 

 which may be infinite. But the idea that it really contained 

 the germs of all the individuals, which v/ere to fpring from 

 it as a fource, is not only abfurd, but exceeds all the powers 

 of human imagination to conceive. Theories of this kind, 

 of v»^hich there are too many in almoft every department of 

 fcience, hardly merit examination. Every feed, and every 

 animal, according to this doctrine, includes in its own body 

 an infinite pofterity ! If we aflent to reafonings of this kind, 

 we muftlofe ourfelves in the labyrinths of infinity ; and, in- 

 ftead of throwing light upon the fubjedt, we fhall involve it 

 in tenfold darknefs. All we know concerning the nature 

 of growth and nutrition is extremely limited. We know 

 that, in the animal kingdom, nutrition is performed by means 

 of the blood, which is forcibly propelled through every part 

 j6f the body by the adlion of the heart and arteries ; and that 

 vegetables, in a fimilar manner, are nourifhed by the afcen- 

 {ion and didribution of the fap. But, how the nutritive 

 particles are applied to the various parts of organized bodies, 

 and how they expand the organs, or repair their continual 



