and its Transformation. 399 



When sap is secreted in tlie earth, the canals of the plant convey it above the 

 collar; here another set of organs begin to elaborate it still higher: like the 

 tadpole with liver and legs, it is now at work in npper air, and acts towards 

 the attainment of a higher end in the same manner as the grovelling grass 

 grub after a time ; and, under the action of certain external influences, as 

 warmth, &c., brings forth, or rather becomes, a being so very different from 

 what it once was, that no one could have ever dreamed the transformation 

 possible. 



Below the collar of the plant, therefore, the sap, being only one stage 

 removed from the crude elements that surround it, is exceedingly imperfect ; 

 and it is only in the simpler forms of vegetable life that cuttings from the root 

 will produce perfect trees. The sap in the trunk or stem of a plant above the 

 collar seems to be a little more refined, and, consequently, reproduces its 

 kind by cuttings or truncheons more readily than the root does ; for there is 

 evidence enough to show that the old bark on the stem is far from neutral in the 

 economy of the plant. Thus the young roots, thick, short, and manifold, that 

 protrude from the stem of a vine when it is growing in a confined shady 

 vinery, where the atmosphere resembles the gaseous medium proper for roots, 

 show that the outer bark, as well as the inner, felt the effects of the medium 

 they inhabited, and turned it to account by forming tissue in it ; whereas, had 

 the atmosphere been, like fine summer weather, clear of shade and damp, and 

 resembling that sort of air that is so favourable to electrical experiments, the 

 bark of the stem would have had a different office to perform. But it is very 

 evident that the leaves form the principal laboratory of the plant, for in their 

 flat plates the sap must be acted upon intensely under a powerful sun ; and 

 when we consider the round form of trees and plants, and the angle in which 

 the individual leaves hang with respect to the sun, we find that a tree exposes 

 more superficial extent of leaf at right angles to the sun's rays than would be 

 credited. From what I could calculate of a lime tree, it seemed to have a 

 surface exposed to sun and wind (that is, counting both sides of the leaf,) of 

 nearly an acre. On a branch of a chestnut tree about the length of my arm 

 I counted 100 leaves ; measuring one leaf, it averaged 6 in. by 2 in. ; and 

 counting both surfaces, it only required six leaves to the square foot. Thus 

 on this twig there was in the 100 leaves a surface of more than 16 square 

 feet; and estimating the tree to contain 1200 such twigs (and this is under the 

 real number), there was little short of half an acre of surface lined with sap that 

 must thicken by drying winds, and be almost baked by the direct rays of the 

 sun acting on so thin a layer. The spray on which these leaves stand, and the 

 buds in their bosoms, tell how highly refined, and how much more perfect, the 

 sap now is ; for not only are the buds and twigs better adapted to propagate 

 from in the form of cuttings, but without the aid of man they have secreted 

 the rudiments of flowers to reproduce their kind in numberless profusion : and 

 it seems to take the energy of every organ in the whole tree for this end. 

 Therefore, the future flower is not a modification of the bark, &c., as some 

 have said, but a thrice-refined secretion elaborated by the combined forces of 

 the whole tree, for the noble purpose of representing to future times the type 

 that the fiat of the Creator first called forth ; and though the petals of the 

 flower may be coloured richly, for the attraction of insects to do the work of 

 impregnation, yet there is reason to think that they have some important office 

 in elaborating the finer secretions necessary for the seed. 



But, having premised thus far, I must leave the application of this theory till 

 a future day. 



Alton Towers, Xov. 9. 18'i2. 



{To be continued,^ 



P D 2 



