70 VITAL ACTIONS. 



alteration of the whole flower ;" it is then said to he 

 inferior. There is this essential difference between 

 the two, — that the superior fruit adheres to the branch 

 by the base of the pistil alone ; while the attachment 

 of the inferior fruit is secured by the base, not only 

 of the pistil, but of all the floral envelopes surround- 

 ing it. A Peach is a superior fruit ; an apple infe- 

 rior. 



92. A flower being a kind of branch, as has been 

 already shown, and the fruit being an advanced stage 

 of a flower, it follows that a fruit is also a kind 

 of branch. It has originally the same kind of organic 

 connexion with the plant as other branches, and, like 

 them, requires to be supplied with food, in the absence 

 of which it perishes or languishes. Nevertheless, as 

 its leaves have in but a slight degree the power 

 of forming secretions, and consequently of producing 

 woody tissue in its interior, it will soon drop off its 

 parent, unless the supply of food to it be copious, 

 and its healthy condition permanently secured. Now, 

 as the supply of food to the plant is determined by 

 the attracting force of the leaves of which it consists, 

 and as a superior fruit consists of a smaller number 

 of leaves than an inferior fruit, it follows that the 

 attracting power of an inferior fruit is, cceteris paribus, 

 greater than that of a superior, and consequently the 

 former is less likely to drop off; and as the pistil of 

 a superior fruit, being unprotected, is more exposed 

 to external influences, such as that of frost, or a cold 

 dry atmosphere, than an inferior, it also follows that 

 the latter is less liable to suffer from such causes, as 



