"The affinities of all the beings of
the same class have sometimes been represented by a great tree... As buds
give rise by growth to fresh buds, and these if vigorous, branch out and
overtop on all sides many a feebler branch, so by generation I believe it
has been with the great Tree of Life, which fills with its dead and broken
branches the crust of the earth, and covers the surface with its ever
branching and beautiful ramifications."
