26 
disposition to leave it; for, were there not this disposition 
in the constitution of the seed, it would, whenever it was 
planted, or had fallen in a wrong direction, send the root- 
let above ground, while the plumule would shoot under it, 
and the whole would, in consequence, perish. But consti- 
tuted as it is by its all-wise Creator, it matters not in what 
position it may be placed, the rootlet and plumule always 
take their proper respective directions. 
Paley, in the XXth Chapter of his Natural Theology, has 
the following excellent passage:—“ When a grain of corn 
is cast into the ground, this is the change which takes place. 
From one end of the grain issues a green sprout; from the 
other, a number of white fibrous threads. How can this 
be explained? Why not sprouts from both ends? Why 
not fibrous threads from both ends? To what is the differ- 
ence to be referred, but to design; to the different uses 
which the parts are thereafter to serve ; uses which discover 
themselves in the sequel of the process? ‘The sprout, 
or plumule, struggles into the air, and becomes the plant, 
of which, from the first, it contained the rudiments: the 
fibres shoot into the earth ; and, thereby, both fix the plant 
to the ground, and collect nourishment from the soil for 
its support. Now, what is not a little remarkable, the 
parts issuing from the seed take their respective directions, 
into whatever position the seed itself happens to be cast. 
If the seed be thrown into the wrongest possible position ; 
that is, if the ends point in the ground the reverse of what 
they ought to do, every thing, nevertheless, goes on right. 
The sprout, after being pushed down a little way, makes 
a bend, and turns upwards; the fibres, on the contrary, after 
shooting at first upwards, turn down. Of this extraordi- 
nary vegetable fact, an accounthaslately been attempted to be 
given. ‘The plumule (it is said) is stimulated by the air 
