ON VEGETABLE ORGANOGRAPHY AND PHYSIOLOGY. 
223 
limit, proceeds from the centre—from the very heart of the stem. The 
latter appears to be formed by the united bases or footstalks of the 
fronds, and is as large in diameter when only one foot high, as, in the 
case of some of the Palms, when they are sixty or seventy feet in 
height. There is no lateral expansion of the stem in the successive 
years of the growth, like that of exogenous stems ; so that the boles are 
perfectly cylindrical, and remarkably tough, as the whole appears to be 
a connected mass of strong ligneous fibres, extended perhaps the whole 
length of the stem. Nor are there any internal marks in the grain of 
the wood, to indicate either horizontal or vertical intermissions of the 
growth, as is so visible in the stems of Exogence. 
These are the distinctions to which the terms endogenous and exoge¬ 
nous refer, and are particularly useful in descriptive botany, by super- 
ceding a multiplicity of words, which, without such terms, would be 
necessary. 
Reply to certain Strictures on Vegetable Organography 
and Physiology, by Mr. R. Fish.— Sir,—It is always a flattering 
circumstance to an author to find that his book has been read with 
attention by one who, from his intimate acquaintance with vegetable 
phenomena, must be considered a competent judge of whatever is said 
or written on the subject. For the attention bestowed on the perusal 
of the book, and for the free and sincerely candid remarks you have 
been pleased to make on some of the statements therein contained, 
accept our best thanks; and, pray, rest assured that no animadversions 
you have made, or hereafter may make, on anything advanced in that 
work *, will ever give its author the least uneasiness; on the contrary, 
he courts investigation, being in good hopes that the more the subject 
is studied and examined, the less he has to fear the results of experi¬ 
mental and practical inquiry. 
Your manner of treating the subject is equally creditable to yourself 
as it is gratifying to us. You do not, like some individuals deservedly 
high on the scale of botanical science, and whom you have so pointedly 
alluded to, throw down the book with contempt, and only mutter a few 
words of pity for the visionary writer; on the contrary, you state your 
objections clearly and fairly, agreeing wdiere you can, and civilly mark¬ 
ing what you deem inexplicable. This is legitimate criticism, and 
what no author, however high he may stand in his own good opinion, 
can be offended with. We, therefore, thankfully offer a few words in 
* “ Illustrations of Vegetable Physiology.” 
