LlSM-Jl XXXIV.] VFCETAT10N. 



this period, the tender germ seems only to have the 

 crude and watery juices of the earth for its support* 

 This, however, is not the case ; for the Vegetable 

 lives upon a similar fluid, though differently sup- 

 plied. For its use the farinaceous lobes are melted 

 down into a milky juice, which, as long as it lasts, i& 

 conveyed to the tender Plant, by means of innu- 

 merable small vessels which are spread through the 

 substance of the lobes ; and which, uniting into one 

 common trunk, enter the body of the germ, and 

 thus supply that balmy liquor, without which the 

 Plant must inevitably ha\ e perished, its root being 

 then too small to absorb a sufficiency of food, and 

 its body too weak to assimilate it into nourishment, 

 Thus admirable and well contrived is the method of 

 Providence, in supporting the Plant in its earliest 

 and tenderest stages ! As the plant increases in 

 size, the almy juice diminishes r till at last itisq^uite 

 exhausted. The trunk of small vessels then dries 

 up, and the external covering of the seed appear* 

 connected with the root in the form of a shrivelled 

 bag. In the process of vegetation there is no mor 

 lalityt from the moment that the seed is lodged in 

 its parent eapth, the vegetative soul begins its- 

 operations, and,, in the whole successive gradation 

 of them-, illustrates the wisdom, power, and bounty 

 of Him who created and rules the UNIVERSE. 



These attributes of the ALMIGHTY are also 

 strikingly manifested, in the provision which he has 

 afforded them against the winter season to secure 

 them from the effects of cold. Those called her- 

 I'aceous, which die down to the root every autumn, 



are 



