BROOM 243 



wonderful variety of Nature, and the workings of all sorts 

 of strange means to a definite end, but it is impossible 

 here to deal at any length with a subject so wide. We 

 would only remind our readers how we have seen the 

 acorn, by the action of the boisterous wind, thrown as from 

 a catapult ; and how by this same action of the wind, 

 under gentler suasion, the dandelion and thistle-heads 

 float in the air until a congenial resting-place be found ; 

 how naked coral islands become clothed with vegetation 

 by seeds floated in protective investments through a 

 thousand miles of salt ocean, or by seeds adherent to 

 the feet of the birds that visit them ; how seeds, hooked 

 and burred, are transported on the coats of wandering 

 animals ; how others, like the maple, the lime, or the ash, 

 are winged. We have noted, too, how, by elasticity of 

 action, the seeds of the touch-me-not are scattered, 

 apd we may see this same principle again very beautifully 

 in the spring-like action that liberates the seeds of the 

 herb-Robert. Nature is full of beautiful contrivance. 

 In the case of the broom, herb-Robert, and many other 

 plants, it is the drying of the parts that liberates the spring 

 and sets it into motion, but in the Rose of Jericho, for 

 instance, the reverse is the case ; the seed-vessel is driven 

 along the dry sands by the action of the wind, until, 

 meeting with a moist spot, it opens and sheds its seeds In 

 that only place amid the parched plain where provision 

 exists for their vegetation.^ 



' These are contrivances for a great and valuable end, which we can 

 especially appreciate, because we can compare them with our own designs : 

 and as well might the inventor of the catapult and the cross-bow doubt his 

 own ingenuity and intentions as those of the Creator. — Macculloch, The 

 Attributes of God. 



