198 



PLANTS. 



loss of one the most valuable vegetables. The same 

 is true cf the esculent roots, the carrot, parsnip, and 

 many others. 



13. How striking an evidence of benevolent de- 

 sign ! Every plant is made to improve for the bene- 

 fit cf the cultivator ; and laws apparently the most 

 arbitrary are established, by which the kind of im- 

 provement is such as would be most for our advant- 

 age. 



T. What are the properties of plants in which we 

 discover a wise and benevolent Providence ? 



A. Besides nutritive, medicinal, and ornamental 

 plants, which contribute to our benefit and enjoyment 

 in innumerable ways, all plants exert a salubrious in- 

 fluence on the air. The air is found to undergo a 

 chemical change by every breath we inhale, every 

 fire we kindle, which unfits it for respiration. It loses 

 a certain principle necessary to support animal life. 

 At the same time its purity is impaired by the con- 

 tinued decay of animal and vegetable substances. 

 Amid all these causes which operate to diminish the 

 purity of the air, nature has provided the plant as a 

 restorative. It restores the salubrious quality which 

 has been removed ; it removes the pestilential quality 

 wliich has been imparted. 



B. One would suppose that all these lad proper- 

 ties could not be removed by the plant, without its 

 suffering for the friendly office which it performs. 



A. The plant derives nourishment from the air 

 which has been contaminated by the animal ; while it 



