Page:Enquiry into plants (Volume 1).pdf/37

 ENQUIRY INTO PLANTS

BOOK I

I. In considering the distinctive characters of plants and their nature generally one must take into account their parts, their qualities, the ways in which their life originates, and the course which it follows in each case: (conduct and activities we do not find in them, as we do in animals). Now the differences in the way in which their life originates, in their qualities and in their life-history are comparatively easy to observe and are simpler, while those shewn in their parts present more complexity. Indeed it has not even been satisfactorily determined what ought and what ought not to be called 'parts,' and some difficulty is involved in making the distinction.

Now it appears that by a 'part,' seeing that it is something which belongs to the plant's characteristic nature, we mean something which is permanent either absolutely or when once it has appeared (like those parts of animals which remain for a time undeveloped) 3