460 
limits within which, by the nature of our 
arrangement, we are of neceffity confined. 
To the work itfelf we mutt and do appeal 
for our juttification, confident, that al- 
though its illuftrious author may have 
fometimes erred from excefs of inge- 
nuity,* that however he may have been 
occafionally blinded by too great a love of 
fyftem, the ZOONOMiIA will ever be con- 
fidered as a produétion of tranfcendant 
merit. 
Thy work is done! Nor Folly’s ative rage, 
Nor Envy’s felf, fhall blot the golden page ; 
Time fhall admire—his mellowing touch 
employ, 
And mend the ithmortal tablet, not:-deftroy, 
If. Asa PHILOSOPHICAL AGRICUL- 
TOR Dr. Darwin muft ever be entitled to 
the higheft confideration: in order to profit 
‘by the multitudinous experiments of Hales, 
Grew, Malpighi, Bonnet, Du Hamel, 
Buffon, Spailanzani, Prieftley, &c. col- 
lected in the Phytologia, it is not neceflary 
to take poffeffion cf the air-built theory of 
vegetation which is there conftructed, and 
f{ecurely inhabit it as an edifice whofe {o- 
lidity is equal to its elegance. Whether 
the analogy is in faét fo clofe between the 
parts and functions of animal and vegeta- 
ble beings ;—whether the anatomy of the 
one fo firiétly correfponds with that of the 
other, as to induce a belief that the latter 
are in reality an inferior order of the for- 
mer, pollefled of a brain, uterus, mufcles, 
and complete nervous fyftem, is an in- 
quiry,which, however curious, mult furely 
be fubordinate, otherwile than as it may 
poffisly lead to a more fuccefsful culture 
of thofe vegetable products which imme- 
diately or remotely are effential to the fub- 
fitence of man. And this does nor al- 
ways appear to be the cafe :—whether the 
afcent of fap is owing to capillary attrac- 
tion, facilitated by an expanfion of the 
gafeous fluids, or to certain irritative 
motions of the abforbents—whether the 
‘{piral veffels of a vine are, in fact, the 
bronchia of Malpighi and Grew, or the 
nurture beating ablforbents of Darwin— 
whether the motions of the Dionza Muf- 
cipula, the Mimofa, the Hedyfarum gy- 
rans, &c. are the exercife of a mufcular 
power, or the effe&t of fome external ex- 
citement acting on an irritable organ 
——whether, as the Jeaves of vegetables 
_ ® It is with mingled emotions of pride and 
pleafure that we obferve one of the moft im- 
portant and much-gueftioned of our great 
philofopber’s theories eftablifhed by Mr. 
Home's teeent difcovery and demonfration of 
the mability of the nervous fibre. 
Biographical Memoirs of the late Dr, Darwin. 
[June 1, 
are fuppofed to ferve them as lungs, fo 
the corol or petals of a flower are to be © 
confidered as a pulmonary organ belong- 
ing to the ‘*amatorial parts,”’ the an- 
thers, and the ftigmas—and whether the 
leaves of both are furnifhed with a venous 
and arterial apparatus, the one diftri- 
buted over the upper furface, expofing its 
contents under a thin moift pellicle to the 
action of the light and air; the other re- 
ceiving them thus oxygenated, and con- 
duéting them on the under furface to the 
leaf-bud in the one cafe, and to the an- 
thers and ftigmas in the other—thele, 
and maoy other fimilar queftions, how- 
ever curious in themfelves, and whatever 
phyfiological {kill and delicate analogies 
may be difplayed in the invefligation of 
them, muft, as before obferved, be ever 
confidered as fubordinate in comparifon 
with thofe grand and indifputable difco- 
veries which the application of chemifiry 
to agriculture has brought to light. 
Comparatively fpeaking, therefore, a 
fmall portion only of the Phytologia is 
devoted to that fanciful fyttem of vegeta- 
ble phyfiology, in the illuftration of which 
Dr. Darwin has difplayed fuch a wanton- 
nefs of conjeéture, and apparently fuch a 
waite of ingenuity. 
The fecond part of the Phytologia 
treats on the economy of vegetation: the 
firft {e€tion is a yery elaborate and inte- 
refting one on the growth of feeds, buds, 
and bulbs; in which a curious analogy, 
inter{perfed with much ufeful matter, is 
inftituted between animal and vegetable 
propagation. A very important chapter 
fucceeds on ‘* Manures:”’ this fubje& had 
already been treated by Mr. Kirwan, and 
the Earl of Dundonald, in a very matterly 
manner, but was not exhaulted. The 
queftion which Dr. Darwin firft afks him- 
{elf is—What is the food of vegetables? 
The embryon plant in the feed or fruit is 
furrounded with faccharine, mucilaginous, 
and oily materials, like the animal foetus 
in the egg or uterus, which it abforbs 
and converts into nutriment: the embryon 
buds in deciduous trees are fupplied with 
a faccharine and mucilaginous juice by 
the roots or fap-wood of their parent trees. 
Adult plants, having no ftomach enabling 
them to decompofe by a chemical procefs 
either animal or vegetable fubiiances, 
mutt wait for that decompofition which is 
continually going cn in thofe foils and 
climates, and thofe feafons of the year 
which are moft friendly to vegetation. 
For the purpofe of fupplying adult vege- 
tables with adarger portion of nourith- 
% ment 
