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B O O K II. 
PHYSIOLOGY ; OR, PLANTS CONSIDERED IN A STATE 
OF ACTION. 
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. 
We have thus far considered plants as inert bodies, having 
certain modifications of structure, and formed upon a plan, 
the simplicity and uniformity of which is among the most 
beautiful proofs of the boundless power and skill of the Deity. 
Our next business is to enquire into the nature of their 
vital actions, and to consider those phenomena in which the 
analogy that undoubtedly exists between plants and animals 
is most striking; in a word, to make ourselves acquainted 
with what is known of the laws of vegetable life. 
In explaining these things, it is not my purpose to notice 
all the different speculations that ingenious men have from 
time to time brought forward : for this would be incompatible 
with the plan of my work, and would be far more curious 
than useful. On the contrary, I propose, in the first place, 
to give a summary exposition of the principal phenomena of 
vegetation, and then to support the statement by a detailed 
account of the more important proofs of all disputed points. 
In this I have been materially assisted by the Physiologic 
Vegetale of De Candolle, a work of which it is difficult to 
speak in terms of sufficient eulogy, but which I feel justified 
in describing as the most important production on the subject 
of Vegetable Physiology, since the appearance of the Physique 
des Arhres of Duhamel. 
I. If we place a seed (that of an apple, for instance) in 
earth at the temperature of 32° Fahr., it will remain inactive 
T 3 
