GROWTH OF PLANTS. 155 



Endogenous plants continue to increase in height, long after 

 they cease to grow in diameter : the stem is gradually extend- 

 ed upwards by new terminal shoots, which are formed annu- 

 ally. The epidermis is formed of the foot stalks of leaves, 

 which annually sprout from the rim of a new layer of wood ; 

 the leaves falling in autumn, their foot-stalks become indurated, 

 and incorporate themselves into the outer surface of the plant. 



We have now taken a brief view of the most important facts 

 and principles which constitute the science of vegetable physi- 

 ology, including* anatomy. That you may have found the sub- 

 ject somewhat tedious, need give you no apprehension that 

 your minds are not fitted for minute investigations. The most 

 scientific observer of nature, cannot but feel, with yourselves, 

 that after all his scrutiny, organic life is shrouded in mystery. 

 Although the vegetable structure is less complicated than the 

 animal, there are many analogies between them ; and many 

 parts of the former have been named, and various phenomena 

 explained, by a reference to names and principles common to 

 animal anatomy and physiology. You cannot therefore ex- 

 pect, at the first glance, to comprehend explanations which 

 presuppose some knowledge of those intricate subjects. By at- 

 tention to the vegetable structure, you will, doubtless, be in- 

 duced to think more upon the wonderful mechanism of your 

 own material frames, and upon the great resemblance, yet in- 

 finite difference, between yourselves and the trees of the forest, 

 and the lilies of the field. 



You will, in the language of the Psalmist, be led to exclaim, 

 " Oh Lord, how manifold are thy works, in wisdom hast thou 

 made them all !" You are nourished by the same elements as 

 the grass that perisheth ; the flowers have a much more refined 

 corporeal substance than belongs to you ; and yet hdw much 

 more precious are you in the sight of the Almighty than the 

 vegetable creation. 



Do you ask, why you are of more value " than the lilies of 

 the field," or than " many sparrows ?" It is the very princi- 

 ple within you which enables you to make this inquiry, that 

 renders you thus precious ; it is your soul that raises you above 

 the inanimate and brute creation. Your body is sister to the 

 crawling worm and noxious weed ; but your soul may aspire 

 to the fellowship of angels, and to be an inhabitant of heaven. 

 Oh then let me entreat you, suffer not your chief thought to be 

 given to the decoration of the perishable part, the mere tem- 

 porary dwelling place of the immortal mind ! but seek to pre- 

 pare this mind for admission into " the glorious company of 

 the spirits of the just, now made perfect in heaven." 



The wisdom of the Creator manifest in his works Reflection. 



