ELEMENTS OF BOTANY; 



STRUCTURAL, PHYSIOLOGICAL, SYSTEMATICAL, 

 AND MEDICAL. 



I. STRUCTURAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL 

 BOTANY. 



1. PLANTS are not separable from animals by any absolute 

 character; the simplest individuals of either kingdom not 

 being distinguishable by our senses. 



2. Animals are for the most part incapable of multiplying 

 by mechanical or spontaneous division of their trunk, and are 

 supported by nutritious matter, carried into their system from 

 an internal bag or stomach. 



3. Plants are for the most part congeries of individuals, 

 multiplying by spontaneous or artificial division of their trunk 

 or axis, and are supported by nutritious matter conveyed into 

 their system by the absorption of their lower extremities 

 or roots, or by their surface. 



4. Generally speaking, the latter are fixed to some sub- 

 stance from which they grow, are destitute of locomotion, and 

 are enabled to digest their food by the action of light upon 

 their epidermis. 



5. Plants consist of a hygrometrical membranous trans- 

 parent tissue, chemically composed of oxygen, hydrogen, and 

 carbon, to which nitrogen is always superadded. They are 

 also found to contain many mineral substances, which they 

 are supposed to separate from their proper food during the 

 process of digestion, and to deposit in their tissue. 



B 



