164 VEGETABLE STRUCTURE. 
have found : for pieces of the Stalk, or of the Root of an Anemone, 
ever fo fmall, if covered in the wounded part with Cement, will grow, 
and become perfect Plants j as pieces of the Polype will become perfedl 
Animals. 
We are now to trace the progrefs of this original point, or Particle of 
the Flefliy Subftance, into a perfedt Plant. 
We have fliewn how it is formed by growth from the head of the 
Root, and how it gathers flrength in three fcafons, while yet lodged in 
fecret in the heart of the Bud. At the end of that time it is' planted out. 
This feparation conflitutes the Procefs a diliindt Plant: till this time it 
had been a part of the old one. We have feen how this acquires its growth, 
and we will now follow the Seed. 
In this, as in the Bud, is lodged an original particle cf the Flefliy Sub- 
ftance of the Stalk of the parent Plant. It is put into the ground, and 
after fome days it feparates from the Hufk ; and we fee the original Par- 
ticle naked ; it is fmall, duflcy, moifl:, fpungy, and fcaly.. A few flight Fi- 
bres firfl: fhoot downwards, and a Film foon after covers the firft Particle, 
from whence thefe fpring. This, by degrees, thickens, and becomes the 
Blea ; or that part which in the perfedl Plant is to be the third Coat, count- 
ing from the furface. 
The tender Fibres which were firft fliot from the naked Particle, and 
wero themfclves alfo naked, get at the fame time alfo this covering of Blea j 
and in the fecond ftage of growth, they confift of a folid flefhy matter, 
and one Coat. They are continuations of the firft Particle itfelf, and are 
the fame in fubftance. Their firft ftate was nakednefs j and in this the 
whole would have rotted and decayed. The fubftance of the Seed had 
defended the Particle before, and now it is robbed of that, provident Na- 
ture is giving it a new defence, formed by the fecretion of its own Juices ; 
as the fhell of a Snail, or the coverings of other tender Animals are formed. 
The original Particle is covered on the furface with the open ends of 
thofe tubular parts which, in a kind of chain, form its fubftance. The 
firft Juices they fecrete, cover the naked body with a flime, which foon 
condenfes, and becomes this Blea, coating the whole down to the extre- 
mities of the Fibres. In the firft ftage the Rudiment was a fliapelefs Par- 
ticle. In this fecond ftage there begins to appear a body of a Root ; it is 
a little lengthened from one end, and gives the Rudiment even already the 
form of a Procefs. 
It has been fuppofed, the Pith, or central fubftance of a Plant, con- 
tained the Vegetative Power : but all this time the new Plant is growing, 
and no Pith is yet formed. 
The 
