On Outgrowths and Appendages 43 



themselves, or that the tree has detached them ? They have 

 not fallen by mere weight, for they were doubtless nearly, if 

 not quite, as heavy whilst still green, and they were then 

 firmly fixed. You see at the bottom of the empty cup the 

 large round scar which marks the site of former attachment. 

 It is brown and dry. It was by changes which took place 

 here that the acorn was loosened. The acorn had ripened 

 and ceased its growth. It no longer attracted sap through 

 its base of attachment, and the latter consequently became 

 dry and brittle. Possibly its feeding tubes were choked ; at 

 any rate, it is certain that it underwent a sort of death and 

 was no longer able to keep the acorn in place. The process 

 was much like that which occurs in the shedding of leaves, 

 with, however, the very noteworthy difference that the acorn 

 itself was still alive. 



We have not, however, done with our oak twig. The 

 acorns which it bore were only appendages to an appendage, 

 and it now becomes the turn of the cups themselves and the 

 whole of the long foot-stalk on which they are mounted to 

 become detached. These are no part of the tree, and are of 

 no use to it. They were developed in order to bear flowers 

 and fruit ; that function they have now discharged, and they 

 must die. Life is preserved only by the discharge of func- 

 tion, or at any rate the effort to discharge it. Utter inactivity 

 leads to death, and death leads to separation from the living 

 and to decay. You see that the whole foot-stalk is brown 

 and shrunken and evidently dead. This condition ends 

 abruptly where the foot-stalk joins the stem. At this spot, 

 if you look carefully, you will see that there is a ring of 

 constriction, marking definitely where detachment is in pro- 

 gress. This was the spot at which the production of the 

 whole appendage began, and here a sort of joint was left at 

 which the final detachment was destined to occur. Just one 

 word of caution, that we must not carry our distinctions too 

 far. After all, they are to some extent matters of degree. The 

 joint which separates the appendage from the twig on which 



