OF PLANTS. 201 



computable. We have the seeds (as in the pea tribe) re- 

 gularly disposed in parchment pods, which though soft 

 and membranous, completely exclude the wet even in the 

 heaviest rains ; the pod also, not seldom (as in the bean) 

 lined v/ith a fine down ; at other times (as in the senna) 

 distended like a blown bladder ; or we have the seed en- 

 veloped in wool (as in the cotton plant,) lodged (as in pines) 

 between the hard and compact scales of a cone ; or bar- 

 ricadoed (as in the artichoke and thistle) with spikes and 

 prickles ; in mushrooms, placed under a penthouse ; in 

 ferns, within slits in the back part of the leaf; or (which 

 is the most general organization of all^ we find them cov- 

 ered by strong, close tunicles, and attached to the stem ac- 

 cording to an order appropriated to each plant, as is seen 

 in the several kinds of grain, and of grasses. 



In which enumeration what we have first to notice is^ 

 unity of purpose under variety of expedients. Nothing 

 can be more single than the design ; more diversified than 

 the means. Pellicles, shells, pulps, pods, husks, skins, 

 scales armed with thorns, are all employed in prosecuting 

 the same intention. Secondly ; we may observe, that in 

 all these cases, the purpose is fulfilled within a just and lim- 

 ited degree. We can perceive, that if the seeds of plants 

 •were more strongly guarded than they are, their greater 



The event shows that this redundancy, if it be one, ministers to the 

 support and gratification of animal natures ; and when we observe a 

 provision to be more than sufficient for one purpose, yet wanted for 

 another purpose, it is not unfair to conclude that both purposes were 

 contemplated together. It favours this view of the subject to remark, 

 that fruits are not (which they might have been) ready altogether, but 

 that they ripen in succession throughout a great part of the year ; some 

 in summer ; some in autumn ; that some require the slow maturation 

 of the winter, and supply the spring ; also, that the coldest fruits grow 

 in the hottest places. Cucumbers, pin«-apples, melons, are the natur- 

 al produce of warm climates, and contribute greatly, by their cool- 

 ness, to the refreshment of the inhabitants of those countries. 



"The eatable part of the cherry or peach, first serves the purposes 

 of perfecting the seed or kernel, by means of vessels passing through 

 the stone, and which are very visible in a peach-stone. After the 

 kernel is perfected, the stone becomes hard, and the vessels cease their 

 functions. But the substance surrounding the stone is not then thrown 

 away as useless. That which was before only an instrument for per- 

 fecting the kernel, now receives and retains to itself the whole of the 

 sun's influence, and thereby becomes a grateful food to man. Also, 

 what an evident mark of design is the stone protecting the kernel I— 

 The intervention of the stone prevents the second use from interfering 

 srith the first." Paxton, 



B 2 



