86 ORGANIC STRUCTURE. 



being developed into the perfect form, and endowed 

 with all the powers and qualities of that which pro- 

 duced them. That the future plant exists in embryo 

 in the seed can scarcely be doubted ; and though it is 

 not easily conceivable that " the monarch of the 

 wood " once reposed in an acorn I yet it must be 

 admitted as a highly probable fact ; because, as has 

 been before observed, vegetable growth is not an 

 enlargement by addition of new, but only an ampli- 

 fication of pre-existing parts. The inherent qualities 

 are certainly augmented by the assimilation of the 

 nutriment absorbed by the plant, by which also the 

 cellular structure is enlarged and distended ; but 

 this cannot add one additional cell to the structure. 



We are well aware of how some chemists account 

 for the accretion of plants by saying, that as vege- 

 tables are wholly composed of oxygen, hydrogen, 

 and carbon, they are endowed with the power of 

 extracting from the earth, air, and water, constant 

 supplies of these chemical bodies to form all the 

 newly developed parts which annually enlarge their 

 volume. No one can rationally doubt the above 

 position ; but the same philosophers go much farther, 

 and maintain, that not only are vegetable elements 

 so accumulated, but that the organisation itself is 

 generated by combinations of them in a manner not 

 easily conceivable by those not versed in chemical 

 science. The fact is, vegetable growth, as observed 

 above, is only an amplification of pre-existing 

 organisation. 



That this idea is not merely hypothetical may be 



