Note 2 — Chapter V
Reading edition
Professor Turner, of Illinois College, advocates the view that every time a seedling tree is divided, whether in root or top, its natural longevity and proportionate vital force are proportionally divided, abstracted, and shortened; and believes that some of the worst forms of hereditary, and also of annual diseases, flow from a succession of such mutilations through a series of generations, or are produced by an effort of nature to resist and repair this interference with her natural processes.