70 LIFE OF A TREE. 
.the narcotic properties which we find present in 
the outer green leaves which are exposed to all 
the glare of day. The bleaching of celery, above 
noticed, has the same end in view ; for the celery 
plant belongs to a highly poisonous family of 
plants, and possesses many acrid qualities itself, 
which would totally unfit it for the use of the 
table if grown unbleached. 
Such, then, being the effect of the absence of 
light, we should naturally expect that in those 
bright regions, where sunlight throws its golden 
floods in greatest profusion, where the clear air 
is seldom filled with murky clouds to dim their 
rays, and where the rich Earth displays, as else- 
where we find not, her primeval fertility,—here 
plants must possess, beyond those of other re- 
gions, the odoriferous and resinous products 
which light contributes so largely to produce. 
And this is so. Who has not heard of the spicy 
breezes of the warm Ceylon? Where lie the lands 
—the homes of the clove and cinnamon? Where 
shoots the strong shaft of the Camphor-tree ? 
Why is it that in Persia poets have sung sweetest, 
of the sweet subduing odours of the rose—queen 
of flowers? Why that in the glorious South Ame- 
