Page:History of botany (Sachs; Garnsey).djvu/66

 others soft and fleshy. In the stem on the other hand there are three constituent parts; outside the rind, inside the pith, between the two a body which in trees is called the wood. This, on the whole, correct distinction between stem and root is followed by a thoroughly Aristotelian deduction.

'Since then in all creatures' (we must remark, that this is assuming a point which has yet to be proved in the case of the half of living creatures) 'nature conceals the principle of life in the innermost parts, as the entrails in animals, it is reasonable to conclude that the principle of life in plants is not in the rind, but is more deeply hidden in the inner parts, that is, in the pith, which is found in the stem and not in the root. That this was the opinion of the ancients we may gather from the name, for they called this part in plants the heart ('cor'), or brain ('cerebrum' or 'matrix'), because from this part in some degree the principle of foetification (the formation of the seed) is derived.' Here we see why the seed must, according to Cesalpino, have its origin in the pith; the idea was loyally repeated after him by Linnaeus, as we shall see hereafter. The argument, which is a long one, ends with the sentence: 'There are then two chief parts in plants, the root and the ascending part; therefore the most suitable spot for the heart of plants seems to be in the central part, namely, where the shoot joins on to the root. There appears also at this spot a certain substance differing both from the shoot and from the root, softer and more fleshy than either, for which reason it is usually called the cerebrum; it is edible in many plants while they are young.' We shall see below how important a part this seat of the soul of the plant, brought to light with such difficulty and with all appliances of scholasticism, is intended to play in Cesalpino's system, and how by this a priori path he was led to the use of the position of the embryo in the seed as his principle of division. It may be remarked here that the point of union between the root and the stem, in which Cesalpino placed the seat of the plant-soul, afterwards received the name of