ILLUSTRATIONS 



VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 



L VEGETATION, VEGETABLE ELEMENTS 

 AND STRUCTURE. 



THE vegetable kingdom is one of the grand divi- 

 sions of nature ; without this animals would have 

 been created in vain ; the vast masses of minerals 

 would have appeared a cheerless waste, had not plants 

 sprung forth to clothe and embellish the earth, yield- 

 ing food and raiment, shade and shelter, directly or 

 indirectly, to all that live. 



Vegetables are organised beings endowed with mo- 

 tability, which is called life, but without sensation, 

 unless their powers of contractility and irritability 

 may be so deemed. They are formed of elements 

 fitted for expansion recipients of nutrition labora- 

 tories of divers qualities capable of reproduction 

 and at last dissolvable into their first principles. 

 B 



