FLOWERS OF THE HOLY LAND. 27 



death; and a country where we must lose our sight would 

 soon be deserted. The silica in a wheat-straw forms but 

 a trifling part of its whole; yet if the soil be deprived of 

 that small part the wheat refuses to grow, though every 

 other ingredient be present and ready to furnish the plant to 

 the utmost of its demands. Now, why is the plant so delicate 

 in its choice ? and why does it require this trifling amount ? 

 Because, as in the loss of the human eye the whole body is 

 affected, so the loss of that ingredient is followed by certain 

 injury to the most important parts of the grain itself. For 

 that silica, the dissolved crystal, forms the strength of those 

 slender columns the straws on which the grain is sustained; 

 and, without sufficient support for the heavy weight, it must 

 fall when the first wind blows upon the ripening grain. Now, 

 is it not economy to refuse to scatter growths whose fruits 

 before they are ripe must fall and rot upon the earth ? This 

 would be the consequence if that little portion of silica were 

 wanting; and for this reason the plant refuses to grow. These 

 traits of life are interesting in themselves; but they have 

 as much to do with Scripture as with botany. The flowers 

 and fruits of the Holy Land, and particularly those referred to 

 in the sacred writings, declare with unerring force this truth, 

 that the soils of the East have undergone a change, and that 

 plants now grow in those lands of which the ancients knew 

 nothing, and flowers and fruits once flourished there which have 

 long since ceased to have a place or name. Some have doubted 

 whether the Scriptures were properly understood in those places 

 where some fruits not now in existence are referred to. Others 



