THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 411 



which are so much m vogue ought to bo able to resuscitate 

 dead organisms. 



But we are happy to say that the leading minds in physi- 

 ology have not fallen into the errors we have touched upon. 



Our immortal anatomist Bichat did not hesitate in the 

 least on this point; he set an example to all by attributing 

 the circulation in the plant to the same cause which makes 

 the blood move in the capillary vessels of animals. 



The greatest botanists of our time follow the author 

 of General Anatomy. De Candolle thinks that the ascent 

 of the sap must be ascribed to the vital contraction of the 

 tissues; its cause he considers is allied to life. Achille 

 Richard, after a general view of the whole power of 

 vegetable circulation, compares it to that of insects.^ 



On the other hand, Schultz of Berlin, who has so deeply 

 studied this function, considers it as essentially due to the 

 vital action of the vessels. By means of the microscope 

 we can, according to him, see these contract in order to 

 propel the fluid which they contain. The learned Prussian 

 even perceives, in reference to this phenomenon, a great 

 analogy between plants and certain inferior animals of the 

 class of worms. 



After such authorities it is impossible to hesitate any 

 longer, and it must be admitted that the circulation in 

 plants is essentially due to a vital cause. Then follow, as 

 accessory powers, the various actions of heat, capillary 

 attraction, endosmosis, and electricity. 



' Achille Itichard, so illu.sti-ious as a savant, and of so wortljy and noble a 

 character, often reverts in his work to the vital power in jilants. On this subject 

 he expresses himself, when speaking of the circulation in plants, in the following 

 authoritative manner: — "Here, as in most other functions of animals and plants, 

 we must admit an unknown, pjowerful, active force, the result of organization 

 and life, which is their immediate, indispensable agent, and which is designated 

 vital force." — Richard, Botanique et Physiologic Vegetale. Paris, 1846, p. 238. 



