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reproduction ; the seed is first formed on the plant, which is 
production. 
In spite of all the volumes, and the addresses, and the 
lectures that have been written and delivered on the subject, 
the truth after all seems to lie in a nut-shell ; the seed being 
produced by the plant as a provision for the perpetuation of 
its kind, necessitates in the first plant an origin anterior to 
seed. I apprehend this is a legitimate inference from what we 
know ; for, as far as I am aware, no philosophy and no science 
can show reason for reversing the natural law, that descent is 
from the perfect formation. The plant is visibly the parent of 
the seed ; and as visibly is only perpetuated by it. That the 
exact opposite occurred in the case of the first life, is neither 
philosophical nor scientific (unless I greatly misunderstand 
those terms), and for which I can find no warrant in nature. 
You may reverse the argument, and tell us, the seed visibly 
produces the plant, and is therefore the parent. But you are 
likewise reversing the process of nature. I think by strict 
inductive philosophy, we may obtain the following formula of 
creation. To propagate the plant we first take the seed from 
itself ; we can therefore follow up seed from plant to plant to 
the first plant. You cannot follow up plant to the first seed. 
You say, we sow a seed and a plant arises — the seed is first. 
Argue that upward. Whence came the seed you sowed ? From 
a previously existing plant, which came from a seed too. 
Leave this seed, then, as the -first of the series. Why not? 
Because the earliest knowledge you have of seed is from the 
bearer of it — the seed's producer — the plant : hence the plant 
had precedence — the seed came after; and also because, 
though seed is the mode of defence from extinction, it is only 
from the absolutely complete that seed is derived — that com- 
plete must therefore be, or have been, for seed to be. 
So of all life. 
Under the material doctrine of life — whether as issuing from 
matter unconnected with previous impress from without, or 
wrapped up in matter by the Creator for future development — • 
the philosopher is stopped, not only before he touches upon 
existence, but before he has investigated the unintelligent 
substance of his own planet with sufficient accuracy to deter- 
mine, not merely its life-originating, but even its life-sus- 
taining powers. On the very threshold we encounter uncer- 
tainty. A preliminary inquiry has not met with a satisfactory 
answer. So comparatively simple a thing as root-function 
does not seem to be clearly ascertained. M. Corenwinder not 
long since read a paper on this subject before the French 
Academy, in which he detailed some interesting experiments, 
