is cultivated, Rabienta cavallos. The negroes resort to it occasionally as a poison ; Jacquin says the juice, 
if accidentally applied to the eyes, brings on violent inflammation. L. urens is likewise a very noxious plant, 
but L. Tupa appears to be the most acrid and deleterious of the whole. Feuillee says, that even the odor 
of the flower will cause excessive vomiting ; and, if applied to the skin, or taken internally, its acridity pro- 
duces violent inflammation and pain, often followed by death. L. syphilitica has been much extolled for its 
influence in certain cachectic disorders, and L. cardinalis has been used as an anthelmintic, but neither of j 
them are now held in much esteem. Thunberg mentions a species of Lobelia, a native of the Cape of Good 
Hope, the roots of which are eaten by the Hottentots, who call the plant Karup.* 
The kindred nature of all plants is surprisingly shown by the power and effect of their growing and |] 
fructifying when grafted on each other — one organization attaching its vascularity to that of another, and j 
feeding on its sap. The Ancients took some pleasure in these experiments, for Plutarch saw and notices, j 
in a garden on the Cephissus, an Olive upon a Juniper, a Peach upon a Myrtle ; Pears upon an Oak? j 
Apples on a Plane-tree, and Mulberries upon a Fig. In Holland a Rose was grafted on an Orange-tree ; 
and, in our times, Carnations have been engrafted on fennel, and a Peach upon a Mulberry. So an inhabi- 
tant of Lyons inserted on the same stem red and white Grapes, Peaches and Apricots. Such facts prove 
the absolute similarity in nature of the different classes of the vegetable kingdom. Their general system ; 
and principle of life are the same. It is the specific and purposed variation of their organization which, |, 
from the same material elements, causes the specific diversities of their products to appear. No result is 
a random accident. 
Plants have been manifestly designed and framed on the principle of improvability. This also highly L 
distinguishes the latent powers of their living principle, and its vast superiority over inorganic matter. It is j 
a truly wondrous faculty, for it is one of the greatest distinctions of man. Animals have it to a certain de- j 
gree, but very limited ; and apparently far less then Vegetables. The productivity of animals cannot be in- I 
creased like that of plants. The human capacity for progression is not more clearly visible than that of I 
which so many vegetables have been found susceptible, that it may not unreasonably be inferred to be a 1 
law of their constitution. Very agreeable, but surprising, transformations have arisen from this property. I 
The Rose is the product of cultivation. The orignal plant, from which all our beautiful varieties have j 
proceeded, is considered by Botanists to be the common wild Brier. Our plums are the cultivated de- jj 
scendants of the Sloe; the Peach and Nectarines, of the common Almond tree ; Filberts are the improve- I 
ments of the wild Hazel ; the delicious Apples, whose species may be now reckoned by hundreds, are the I 
cultured successors of the small austere Crabs and Wildings, which Swine will scarcely eat ; the original I 
Pear is a petty fruit, as hard and crude. Our Corn was once in a state very like Grass; our Cauliflowers, j 
Cabbages, and other domestic vegetables are the artificial products of human skill and of vegetable impro- I 
vability. But these improvements require continual cultivation to make permanent, or Nature will in . 
time resume her pristine state. 
It is this undiminishable and undecaying property in plants, which may rescue us from that chimeri- ! j 
cal dread of a superabundant population of the Earth, under which we have been labouring for the last [ j 
thirty years, until Mr. Sadler’s tables, calculations and reasonings, have at last rescued us from it. A great jj 
mistake has been prevailing on this subject. The true law of nature was misconceived. Partial effects | j 
were taken to be the general rule, and the real agency greatly overrated; and thereby an imaginary law has 
been assumed, which has never operated as was alleged. In nature, the law of population has never ex- j 
ceeded that of the productive power of vegetable fife, and never will. All that concerns human beings, has i j 
been made upon a principle of benevolence. The same principle continues the system, and superintends j 
the working, and will always adapt the provision to the necessity, and supply further assistance if new j j 
exigencies should require it. But nothing supernatural on this point is likely to be wanted. Cultivated J 
produce has hitherto outrun population, in every country, and there is every appearance that it will always I 
do so. Two laws are visibly in operation in nature; one, that it shall not produce spontaneously- —the other, 1 
that its produce shall be always increasable by human labour and skill. Ordinary, but diligent, exertions I 
of these have hitherto abundantly sufficed for all that has been needed. Local distress may arise from j | 
temporary seasons and want of intercourse, but never from a failure in the powers of vegetable nature. t 
* Burnett’s Outlines of Botany, 
f Turner’s Sacred History. 
