60 



The inth, particularly, is remarkable. " It is a spongy or vesicular 

 •siibstance, according to Linnaeus, essential to the life of the vegetable. 



It gives birth to the buds Some botanists of the first rank 



believe that it is, in a plant, what the brain and spinal marrow ai'S in 

 the inferior order of animals." 



The vascular system is stated to be made up of three kinds of 



vessels : — " The sap vessels, which convey the sap-juice They run 



perpendicularly, and pass principally between the wood and the bark ; 

 and though imperceptible, they must pervade other parts 



"The proper vessels which contain the peculiar scented 



iluids. 



" The air vessels These are found in the wood and in the 



alburnum, but not in the bark They carry other fluids besides 



air." 



In describing buds, he recognizes the fact that some give rise to the 

 leaf and some to the flower, but continues : — "As many plants have no 

 buds, it is evident that buds are not parts essential to a veget- 

 able." 



" Cloije observers of nature have remarked that, about midsummer, 

 there is a kind of pause in vegetation, for perhaps a fortnight ; and it is 

 believed that leaf buds may be changed into flower buds, and flower 

 buds into leaf buds. The probability of this idea is confirmed, says the 

 ingenious author of ' The Botanic Garden ' (Darwin), by the curious 

 conversion of the parts of a flower into green leaves." 



The leaves he terms, as we do to-day, the lungs of the plant, and 

 describes two sets of vessels in them, as in the human body, one to con- 

 vey the sap to the surface to be acted upon, the other set to carry back 

 the improved fluid. The varnish on leaves he claims to be beeswax. 



His knowledge of the anatomy of the parts of the flower was, of 

 course, very perfect, modelled as it was on the teachings of Linnaeus, 

 but whenever he launches into theory he is lost — for instance, in dis- 

 cussing the secretions of the flowers :— - 



" An insect is nourished by honey. May it not be needful that 

 the flower, during the process of fructification, should be nourished by 

 lioney from the nectaries ? Sugar is formed in the joints of the canes, 

 for, perhaps, a similar purpose." 



