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Excerpt from The Medico-Chirurgical Review, Vol. 20 of 40: And Journal of Practical Medicine; 1st October, 1843, to 31st of March, 1844 So much for the external characters and general anatomy of vegetable productions. Let us now, in the prosecution of our subject, proceed to notice briefly the mechanism, so to speak, of two of their most important functions, Nutrition and Reproduction; and we shall find, at every step of our enquiry, numerous and most interesting proofs of the part which cells perform in the Operations of living beings. In such plants as the Red Snow and Yeast Fungi, the process of ab sorbing the food is performed by every point of their surface alike. There is no distinction of parts; the plant may be said to be all root. But let it be remembered that, when we use such an expression, we enunciate only one of the functions performed; for, besides the act of absorbing nu triment, the simple vegetable cell, that constitutes the entire structure of the lowest vegetables, must have the power not only of assimilating this nutriment with the substance of its body, but also of respiring the air and producing certain changes in its constitution; not to mention another ia dispensable function, that of generating or reproducing its like. Each and all of these acts are quite as necessary to the humblest form of vegs table life, as to the very highest of the Flowering or Phenogamous plants. How marvellous is the fact! How pregnant with suggestions for deep and generalising reflection! From the Red Snow and Yeast Ringi, we advance to the Algm. In their case, there is ample reason to believe that the process of absorbing the food is going on with equal and ceaseless activity, at every point of their surface, by each separate cellule of which their tissue consists. By keeping this simple fact steadily in view, we can readily understand how it is that separate portions of such plants have an independent existence, and we can in some degree explain their extraordinary tenacity of life, not to mention their facility of reproduction. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
