qf the Domestic Gardener^ s Manual. 533 



leading us out of our depth ; that we are getting into a fathom- 

 less abyss? I think we had better stop short, and avow our 

 ignorance ; for, verily, all that we have been writing about 

 must be referred to an energy of the vital principle, an agent 

 whose nature and operations, it never yet has been, and most 

 probably never will be, given to man to appreciate and under- 

 stand. I quit the subject with this conviction, and I trust it 

 may not again be agitated. 



I now finally come to your second position or point of 

 enquiry. You assert that, in writing of the elements of vegeta- 

 bles, I mean to inculcate that "vegetable food (the constituents 

 of water, that is, oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon), in conjunc- 

 tion with the vital energies and chemico-electrical influences 

 of the earth and atmosphere, goes directly to form new organs." 



There is a little misapprehension in this statement, parti- 

 cularly in your supposing that I have stated carbon to be a 

 constituent of water ; but this is of no consequence. I main- 

 tain solely that organisation may be formed, as well as 

 developed, without confusion or anarchy, provided the nature 

 primarily bestowed upon the animal or vegetable be such as 

 to include such new organisation as a necessary consequence; 

 but I assert nothing, because I know nothing. 



My object is not to revert to a dismissed argument ; but 

 simply to explain the meaning of a conjecture hazarded at 

 the commencement of this paper ; namely, that " knowledge 

 is little more than a just appropriation of conventional terms." 



Those vegetable physiologists who are chemists also, are too 

 apt to use the terms of operative or scientific chemistry, when 

 they attempt to describe what they designate the components, 

 or elements, of the vegetable structure. In fact, such use 

 of conventional terms can scarcely at times be avoided ; but, 

 subsequently to the appearance of my Domestic Gardener's 

 Manual^ I have felt the urgent necessity of duly explaining 

 our precise meaning when we apply such terms. I there- 

 fore had prepared an explanatory note, which, on reperusal, 

 I find to be so "germane" to my present purpose, that I can- 

 not avoid quoting it almost verbatim, as it not only will 

 elucidate the meaning of the observation referred to, but 

 clearly discover the bearing of my own reflections, months 

 before I had the pleasure of perusing your sentiments. 



As it is my chief object to elicit truth, and to guard against 

 any erroneous conclusion that may be drawn from the results 

 of the chemical analysis of vegetable bodies, I must observe, 

 that, although such results aftbrd oxygen, hydrogen, and 

 carbon, invariably ; the bodies operated upon, while in pos- 

 session of the vital principle, do not contain the actual sub- 



M M 3 



