46 Artificial Systems and Terminology of Organs [Book i. 



others soft and fleshy. In the stem on the other hand there 

 are three constituent parts ; outside the rind, inside the pith, 

 between the two a body which in trees is called the wood. 

 This, on the whole, correct distinction between stem and root 

 is followed by a thoroughly Aristotelian deduction. 



1 Since then in all creatures ' (we must remark, that this 

 is assuming a point which has yet to be proved in the case of 

 the half of living creatures) ' nature conceals the principle of 

 life in the innermost parts, as the entrails in animals, it is 

 reasonable to conclude that the principle of life in plants is not 

 in the rind, but is more deeply hidden in the inner parts, that 

 is, in the pith, which is found in the stem and not in the root. 

 That this was the opinion of the ancients we may gather from 

 the name, for they called this part in plants the heart (' cor '), or 

 brain (' cerebrum ' cr ' matrix '), because from this part in some 

 degree the principle of foetification (the formation of the seed) 

 is derived.' Here we see why the seed must, according to 

 Cesalpino, have its origin in the pith ; the idea was loyally 

 repeated after him by Linnaeus, as we shall see hereafter. The 

 argument, which is a long one, ends with the sentence : ' There 

 are then two chief parts in plants, the root and the ascending 

 part; therefore the most suitable spot for the heart of plants 

 seems to be in the central part, namely, where the shoot joins 

 on to the root. There appears also at this spot a certain sub- 

 stance differing both from the shoot and from the root, softer 

 and more fleshy than either, for which reason it is usually 

 called the cerebrum ; it is edible in many plants while they are 

 young.' We shall see below how important a part this seat of 

 the soul of the plant, brought to light with such difficulty and 

 with all appliances of scholasticism, is intended to play in 

 Cesalpino's system, and how by this a priori path he was led to 

 the use of the position of the embryo in the seed as his principle 

 of division. It may be remarked here that the point of union 

 between the root and the stem, in which Cesalpino placed the 

 seat of the plant-soul, afterwards received the name of root- 



