176 



LETTERS ON TREES. 



12. But in Dr Carpenter's view, the bud is not 

 the counterpart — the alter ego of the seed. He re- 

 fuses to place the bud on a level with the seed, or to 

 regard as an individual being any other than an 

 organism that has come of a seed. 



13. There can be no question that every organism 

 thence resulting is truly an individual. But to refuse 

 the appellation to every other is, I think, physiolo- 

 gically unreasonable. The distinction aimed at by 

 Dr Carpenter seems to me to create greater difficul- 

 ties than it can obviate ; and to violate to a greater 

 extent than it can preserve, the general analogy of 

 organic life. This subject, however, is too extensive 

 and too important to be entered on at the close of a 

 letter already quite long enough. — I am, &c. 



