SEEDS RETAIN THEIR ORIGINAL FORMS.

fact were fully convinced that the stones were raised by the growing of the mushrooms. The stones were twenty-four inches by twenty-one, and two inches thick, and weighed eighty-three pounds each."

In whatever position the seed falls into the ground, the sprout and the root take their proper directions with absolute infallibility; the root never seeking its nourishment in the air, nor the sprout in the ground: each seeks its nourishment in its own element, and contributes what it collects to the general design. And it deserves to be noticed, that divine Providence has provided the elements of germination on every part of the surface of the ground; water and pure air and heat are universally active; and the means for the preservation and multiplication of life are at once simple and grand!

Were any of these parts wanting in the formation of a seed, the whole would be useless. But through all the generations of many thousand years, not one property has been lost, no new organ gained. Every seed has communicated its perfect conformation to the plant to which it gave birth; and that plant has produced another crop of seeds of the same shape, size, qualities, and organs, as that which gave it existence. Were there no other demonstration of a supreme Being, and the infinite wisdom of that Being, than this order of organized matter affords, the man

HOW SEEDS ARE DISPERSED.

who denied these important truths would give sad evidence either that he was destitute of reason, or that he knew not how to use it.

Plants not only possess a proper organization for the production of seed, but also MEANS FOR ITS DISPERSION abroad, at a distance from the parent plant. This subject is worthy of notice. Some seeds are provided with a small tuft of light soft down, (caronalia) as that of the thistle and many others, which, when blown by the wind, carries the seed to a considerable distance. One hundred and thirty-eight genera are found to have those wings, which have been known to carry their seeds fifty miles from the plant that gave them birth. There are fifty genera whose seeds are enclosed in seed-vessels, which open with violence, and scatter them around. Linnæus mentions fifty genera more, whose seeds are provided with hooks, which may adhere to the coats of animals, and by this means be dispersed. One hundred and ninety-three are mentioned, whose seeds are deposited in berries, which are eaten by birds and other animals. Those plants which we find growing on the tops of walls, houses, and rocks, have had their seeds brought to these places by this means. The seeds of some of the mosses are so minute, that they float in the air like atoms, and are every where dispersed. Many seeds are supplied with a kind of bristles, which, being expanded by moist, and contracted by dry

SINGULAR MECHANISM IN PLANTS.

weather, are found to creep along the ground a conOther seeds are dispersed by rivers

siderable way. and seas, many miles from their birth-place. Many of the seed-vessels open only at the apex, and standing upright on the summit of a strong stalk, considerably raised from the ground, the seeds which they contain can only be shaken out by violent winds.

And now, I would ask, could infinite wisdom have devised methods better adapted than these to the distribution and dispersion of seeds? I shall here mention an instance or two in which there is a remarkable mechanism in the structure of plants for the propagation of their species, and the security of the seed.

When the seeds of the CYCLAMEN are ripe, the stalk of the flower gradually twists itself spirally downwards, till it touches the ground, and forcibly penetrating the earth, lodges its seeds, which, being found not to grow in any other situation, are thought to receive nourishment from the parent root.

The TRIFOLIUM SUBTERRANEUM, (subterraneous trefoil) is another plant which buries its seeds, the globular head of the seed penetrating the earth. This, however, may be only intended to conceal the seed of this plant from the ravages of birds; for there is another trefoil, the TRIFOLIUM GLOBOSUM, or globular woolly-headed trefoil, which has a curious manner of concealing its seeds; the lower

F

VEGETABLES ANSWER VARIOUS ENDS.

florets only have corols, and are fertile; the upper ones wither into a kind of wool, and forming a head, completely hide the fertile calyxes."

The more ends that are accomplished by the same apparatus, or system of organs, the more we admire the ingenuity which contrived it. Let us apply this observation to the constitution of vegetable organization, and we must be struck with the variety of purposes to which it is adapted. In the vegetable kingdom, animals find food for their subsistence; and notwithstanding the great variety of their tastes and constitutions, here is as great a variety of provisions. Though no vegetable, perhaps, is exclusively designed for medicine, yet, what is the food of one class of animals, is medicine for another; and every animal finds a remedy for the maladies to which it is subject.

Many of the seeds are lodged in beds of pulpy matter of various degrees of consistence, as those of apples, plums, and peaches, which is at once subservient to the maturing of the seed; and, when that end is accomplished, affording a delicious repast to man and the brute creation.

While the various tribes of herbs produce fodder for cattle, trees answer a variety of purposes in civilized life. And when they decay, and become unfit for use in their organized state, they enrich the

• Darwin.

THE STRUCTURE OF MARINE PLANTS.

ground again with all the fertility they have taken from it. Nothing is useless in this surprising economy. In every condition, each object answers some valuable purpose which is indispensably necessary. The roots, the stems, the leaves, the bark, the flowers, the seeds of plants, all contribute their respective aid to continue their species, and subserve purposes of utility. Could blind chance produce so much regularity of operation, so perfect an adaptation of means to ends? No: it were beyond the wisdom of any created intelligence. It is alone within the compass of the Infinite Mind.

The same wisdom is apparent in THE PECULIAR STRUCTURE of some particular vegetables. A few remarks on these shall close this part of the subject.

But

MARINE PLANTS, which grow upon the rocks washed by the sea, are in great danger of being torn to pieces by the constant motion of the waves. the structure of many of them is truly admirable, to secure them from injury. injury. They are supplied with natural buoys which keep the plant floating in the water, and preserve it from being destroyed by the sharp protuberances of the rock on which it grows. These buoys are hollow vessels, filled with air, placed up the stem, and in the leaves of the plant, and render it specifically lighter than water. They are also supposed to contain