2 
HISTOLOGY OF VEGETABLES. 
One of the primary and most invaluable results 
brought out by elaborate examination of the minute 
structures of organized beings is, that even a closer 
unity of organization exists among these structures than 
is found among the larger organs of animals, visible 
to the unassisted eye. While little, if any, anatomical 
analogy is discoverable between the larger parts of 
animals and plants, the strongest ties of organization 
are demonstrated by the microscope ; and it is found, 
as we shall hereafter see, that an unity of plan in 
structure and development, may be traced throughout 
the organic world. 
In organized beings, nature works out her most 
secret processes by structures far too minute for obser- 
vation, unless with the assistance of the microscope. 
Hence we find that our best modern works on human 
and comparative physiology, are filled with descriptions 
and illustrations of minute structure. The processes 
of secretion, of nutrition, of generation, nay, even the 
mysterious actions of the brain and nervous system, 
unintelligible, except in their results, by the gross 
means of investigation heretofore employed, are now 
being gradually evolved by the labours of microscopic 
physiologists. Nay, more, what is of greater impor- 
tance, having discovered the healthy structure of the 
organs, the microscope is brought to bear on the 
changes of structure of these organs, in their abnormal 
conditions, so that we now have not only a microscopic 
physiology, but also a microscopic pathology. The 
