NUMBER XIII 

 FRANKINCENSE AND MYRRH 



WHEN we come in the sunshine upon a patch 

 of mown grass with a good proportion of 

 Sweet Vernal, we feel a great satisfaction. For 

 the moment all is right with the world. But why 

 it should be so, it is difficult to tell. The fragrances 

 in plants are usually due to oils and resins, which are 

 made by the plant in the course of its living. Should 

 one of these stuffs with a strong smell turn out to be 

 very attractive to welcome insect-visitors, such as 

 bees, or very repellent to voracious enemies, such as 

 snails, then it will have value for the plant, and it 

 will tend to grow in strength from generation to 

 generation till it is strong enough. 



When we pass the open-air fire where the wood- 

 man is burning rubbish, we often feel the pleasant 

 fragrance. The by-products and waste-products 

 of the woody wreck are carried from the fire in the 

 hot air. So, as we sniff the perfumed air in which 

 quintillions of aromatic particles are hurrying past 

 us, here from gorse and hawthorn, there from wood- 

 ruff and sweet vernal grass, we are probably smelling 



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