GERMINATION OF THE SEED. 133 



cause to grow within the polar circles, the vegetables of the 

 tropics, or those of the poles at the equator. Nurture is here 

 stronger than man. That something may be done by art to 

 promote the growth of the tropical plants in our climate is true, 

 but how different are the same plants with us, from what they 

 are in their own genial climate ; we toil and watch for years 

 to nurture an orange or lemon tree, which after all is stinted 

 in its growth, while in its own native home it would have grown 

 spontaneously in luxuriant beauty. 



The diffusion of seeds completes the circle of vegetation, and 

 closes the scene of vegetable life. The shrubs and trees have 

 lost their foliage the withered herbs decompose, and restore 

 to the earth the elements which they have drawn from its 

 bosom. The earth, stripped of its beauty, seems sinking into 

 old age ; but although unseen by us, and unmarked the pro- 

 cesses of nature by too many among men, innumerable germs 

 have been formed, which wait but the favorable warmth to dec- 

 orate with new brilliancy this terrestrial scene. 



So fruitful is nature, that a surface a thousand times more ex- 

 tended than that of our globe, would not be sufficient for the ve- 

 getables which the seeds of one single year would produce, if all 

 should be developed ; but the destruction of seeds is very great, 

 great quantities being eaten by man and beast, and left to per- 

 ish in unfavourable situations. Those which are preserved, con- 

 stitute but a small proportion of the whole ; they are either car- 

 ried into the clefts of rocks, or buried beneath the ruins of ve- 

 getables ; protected from the cold, they remain inactive during 

 the winter season, and germinate as soon as the early warmth 

 of spring is felt. Then the botanist who considers with a curi- 

 ous eye, the vegetable species with which the earth begins to 

 be clothed, seeing successively all the types or representations 

 of past generations of plants, admires the power of the Author 

 of nature, and the immutability of His laws. 



LECTURE XVI. 



Physiological Views. 



WE have now considered the various organs of plants, we 

 have traced them through their successive stages of develope- 

 ment, from the root to the bud, leaf, and flower, and from the 

 flower to the fruit and seed. We haye seen, in imagination, 



Circle of vegetation completed concluding remarks Coir .ucement of 

 Lecture XVI. 



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