LETTER XY. 



157 



each sepal, petal, stamen, and carpel of a flower, is 

 entitled to rank as a distinct being." 



4. Before proceeding to grapple with the objec- 

 tions to my theory advanced by Dr. Carpenterj I 

 cannot help giving expression to the satisfaction I 

 feel that in entering the lists with a physiologist so 

 eminent, I am supported by another of equal rank 

 and authority, at least in this department of phy- 

 siology; and that in contending in behalf of my 

 favourite theory, I may have recourse, if need be, to 

 the weapons lying ready to my hand in the armoury 

 of Parthenogenesis, 



5. The first objection which Dr Carpenter urges is, 

 that too much account is made of the leaves, and too 

 little of the other parts and he adds, as exhibiting 

 the force of this objection, that the leaf is by no 

 means, as some have represented it, the entire plant," 

 but " only the most important of the vegetative organs 

 of the plant.'' f Now, I am not aware that in my 

 former paper any more than in these letters, I have 

 taken so exclusive a view of the bud as to have regard 

 only to the leaves ; nor do I see that such a view of 

 it is involved in my theory. In my own mind, the 

 leaf has held no such prominency as that represented 

 by Dr Carpenter. I have throughout regarded and 



* Carpenter. Ihid , pp. 901, 902. — Owen, Parthenogenesis, p. 54, 

 et seq, 



t Ibid, p. 903. 



