THE MYSTERY OF GROWTH. 243 



circumstances which produce germination ; and then it starts 

 into active life. 



Now, we go to work, and deposit this seed in the warm, 

 moist soiL From the water of the soil it absorbs moisture, 

 and expands. The ox)^gen of the air and the warmth cause 

 this cellular mass, which we call the endosperm, to rot. It 

 decays, it is taken to pieces (so far as the cellular mass is 

 concerned), and separated into its constituent parts, dissolv- 

 ing in water ; and then circulation and growth begin by the 

 formation of cells ; expansion takes place, cell is added to 

 cell, cell to cell, until finally the organs by which the plant 

 can supply its own food being developed, and the endo- 

 sperm exhausted, it grows on with continued additions, 

 enlarging, expanding, sending out new organs. And, if it 

 be an annual plant, it throws out its blossom, perfects its 

 seed, and dies ; but if it be a perennial, like the acorn for 

 instance, it makes its annual growth, enlarging and expand- 

 ing year after year, and century after century, until finall}^ 

 the magnificent old oak of the forest stands before us 

 often of many tons' weight. Now, then, in both these 

 instances, there has been a very large accumulation of 

 matter from some source or other ; but, mark you, there 

 has been no new creation. The matter which was gathered 

 and massed into this plant was matter as old as the morn of 

 creation ; and it has been simply passed through certain 

 changes, been used by Nature sunply to build up the organ- 

 ism. But what is the matter? Whence is it? Those are 

 the questions for us to answer. 



Examine, now, this plant. Take the oak, if you please, 

 to which I have alluded. Examine it with the naked eye ; 

 examine it under the microscope : and what do you find ? 

 Nothing that you ever saw before. There is nothing in it, 

 nothing disclosed by the most powerful microscopic lens, that 

 you ever saw in the soil. Could it have come from the soil ? 

 No soil particles are visible ; nothing that resembles the soil 

 with which you have always been familiar. We are at a 

 loss to know what it is. Supposing we bring in the chemist 

 to make an examination, and he shall analyze this plant by 

 fire, putting oxygen to work upon it, and we find by quick • 

 combustion that we have reduced it from its original condi- 

 tion ; and now, if we were simply to weigh the ash, we should 



