PLANTS. 
31 
union, as it were, with each other, and thus mu- 
tually sustain themselves ; or to cling round plants 
of a firmer texture, and thus effect the same pur- 
pose, though by somewhat different means. Here 
we must again have recourse to Dr. Paley, who 
considers the general property of climbing plants 
as strictly mechanical. c< In these plants, from 
each knot or joint, or, as botanists call it, axilla of 
the plant, issue, close to each other, two shoots ; 
one bearing the flower and fruit, the other drawn 
out into a wire ; a long, tapering, spiral tendril, that 
twists itself round any thing that lies within its 
reach. Considering, that, in this class, two pur- 
poses are to be provided for, (and together) fructi- 
fication and support, the fruitage of the plant, and 
the sustentation of the stalk, what means could be 
used more effectual, or, as I have said, more me- 
chanical, than what this structure presents to our 
eyes ? Why, or how, without a view to this double 
purpose, do two shoots of such different and appro- 
priate forms spring from the same joint, from con- 
tiguous points of the same stalk ?” It never hap- 
pens thus in robust plants, or in trees. “ We see 
not,” says Ray, “ so much as one tree, or shrub, 
or herb, that hath a firm and strong stem, and that 
is able to mount up and stand alone without as- 
sistance, furnished with these tendrils .” Make only 
so simple a comparison as that between a pea and 
a bean. Why does the pea put forth tendrils, and 
the bean not ; but because the pea cannot support 
itself, the bean can ? We may add also as a cir- 
