ON THE INTERIOR BUDS OF ALL PLANTS8. Q 



the purpose. I shall now take notice of an obserration, that 

 was one of tlie first I made when examiukig herbaceous 

 plants, and dissecting them; " The increase in breadth of 

 *' the stems of those plants at a certain time of their growth,'* 

 It is now accounted for by the running up of the buds, as 

 this must of course enlarge them: it however puzzled me 

 not a little to comprehend, why all plants, that rose yearly 

 from the earth, should decrease so much when coming out 

 into flower; especially as they must at that time require more 

 rather than less sap. But the discovery of the buds soheg 

 the whole mystery : the flower being within the p. ant takes 

 nearly the same quantity for its support, and the increase of 

 the stem falls wholly on the interior buds, which most natu- 

 rally accounts for it. I shall now close this long letter with 

 a few words on dissections in general. 



Will it not appear by the specimen of the heracleum On dissection* 

 spondylium, fig. 2, how very difficult it is to dissect plants, »" general. 

 and how necessary it is to take them so as to become ac- 

 quainted with their continual variations, which are still 

 greater within (if possible) than at the exterior ? how impos- 

 sible that a person, who only dissects a plant a few times, 

 should understand it.^ I may say without the smallest ex- 

 aggeration, that several persons might give a picture of the 

 dissection of the same part of a piant; and each might ac- 

 cuse his neighbour of giving a false delineation, and yet each 

 drawing- might be just and true; but taken at various sea- 

 sons, or different ages of the plant, Mirbel has given many 

 excellent specimens much magnified ; but in some not keep- 

 ing to the right cylinder his pipes do not join, and appear 

 therefore placed for nothing. Nature acts not in this manner: 

 all is consistent and useful; and that use most apparent and 

 easy to be understood, if the plant is properly cut. To dis- 

 sect a plant rightly, so as to produce specimens that will 

 truly explain the nature and habit of a plant, is no easy 

 thing; for it requires the most perfect knowledge of its dif- 

 ferent parts; which is only to be acquired l»y long study 

 and constant dissection. The ist point requisite is to be at- 

 tentive to keep to the right cylinder, particularly if you mean 

 to halve it ; a^ al fig. 2, for if you do not divide it properly, 

 I'ou will have the back of the bud in one square ; the front in 



another?; 



