LETTER I. 



7 



roots, and branches, the leaves, and flowers, and fruit, 

 and buds, which form component parts of every tree, 

 go to make up one and the self-same plant, in like 

 manner as the bones and flesh, the nerves and blood- 

 vessels, the heart and lungs, the head, and trunk, and 

 limbs of a dog, do truly form the parts of one and the 

 self same individual animal. Doubtless that is the 

 common belief. A tree is regarded as having the same 

 sort of individuality or personality that you or I 

 have. 



13, My notion, however, of the nature or constitu- 

 tion of a tree is widely different from this. In my 

 view, it is not an individual in the proper or scientific 

 sense of the term, but, on the contrary, a body corpo- 

 rate ; and regarding it in this light, I hold that, but 

 for purely accidental causes, any and every tree might 

 live for ever, and go on growing and enlarging to any 

 conceivable size. You have heard it said that the King 

 of England never dies ; and you will readily under- 

 stand that what is not true of individual men may yet 

 be true of individual families, or of the race in general. 



H(EG NatuTCB lex, hoc consilium, iit singuli pereant 

 homines, gens hiimana fioreat^'' — individuals die, but 

 the race lives on and multiphes. The Corporation of 

 London has lasted, one may say has lived, some hun- 

 dreds of years ; and unless swept away by some such 

 extraneous cause as an Act of the Legislature, may 

 last till the end of time, although the individuals com- 



