THE PINE. 39 



by which their ages may be reckoned, are ordinarily 

 very distinct. Viewed with the microscope, the 

 fibres of the wood are found however to present a 

 very singular and pretty appearance. They are 

 marked from end to end with circular depressions, 

 so differently dispersed as to serve as capital dis- 

 tinctive characters for the various kinds. Such 

 marks rarely occur elsewhere, and are specially in- 

 teresting in the case of the pine and fir tribe, from 

 the circumstance of their being retained even when 

 the wood is fossilized. This wonderful instrument, 

 the microscope, not only illuminates the present, 

 and by opening our eyes and hearts to a thousand 

 new experiences of delight, absolutely lengthens 

 life, since life, truly so called, consists in agreeable 

 impressions : it not only does this it casts light 

 into the graves of Time, and informs us of the 

 nature of the trees that swayed in the wind of the 

 infinite past, long before there were men and women 

 to listen. The leaves, on the other hand, so far 

 from resembling those of oaks, are narrow, and 

 usually needle-shaped. Their veins, instead of 

 meandering in all directions, run in lines that con- 

 verge towards the point, and not seldom the entire 

 leaf is little more than a stiff green bristle. So with 

 the flowers. Though definite apparatus is present 

 for the production of seed, and the distinction of 

 sex is as plainly marked as in the oak, here every- 

 thing is of the most simple kind. The sweet bright- 



