Chap. IV.] 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
131 
growth “ of organic fibres descending from the 
leaf-buds.” If this theory were true, a common 
mind would shrink from the difficulty of passing 
these organic fibres through the medullary 
plates, even the first year : but it would require 
a Lindley to face the annually increasing diffi¬ 
culty ; especially as neither the barked part of 
the stem, nor the part below it, is to increase in 
girthing by these successive growths and de¬ 
posits of organic fibres. Or, if the barked part 
is to increase, it must be on the principle of 
one of De Candolle’s monocotyledonous endogens ; 
I like sesquipedalia! 
Mr. Wallis brings forward a fact which is, 
perhaps, as complete a stunner as the Doctor’s 
theory. He gives a portrait of a thorn which 
lived and grew for seven years after its stem was 
sawed across and divided from its roots : “ On 
examination, the lower part of its stem had re¬ 
mained of the size it was when sawed through ; 
whereas the upper part of the stem that had 
been so suspended in the air by its branches, had 
gained three inches in circumference.” Bravo! 
This is a famous fact for that numerous class of 
physiologists who, with Priestley and Liebig at 
their head, believe that trees elaborate their 
thick bulk from the thin air through the medium 
K 2 
