DEVELOPEMENT OF VEGETABLES. 95 



sition of moisture ; or, as it may be further con- 

 jectured, the number of points which are thus 

 presented to the air may be designed to convey 

 electricity from the atmosphere, or to restore the 

 electric equilibrium, which may have been dis- 

 turbed by the processes of vegetation. 



In the smaller parts of plants, as in the ge- 

 neral fabric of the whole, we find, on examina- 

 tion, the most admirable provision made, ac- 

 cording to the particular circumstances of the 

 case, for the mechanical objects of cohesion, 

 support and defence. Thus the substance of 

 the leaf, of which the functions require that a 

 large surface be expanded to the air and light, 

 is spread out in a thin layer upon a frame work 

 of fibres, like rays, connected by a net-work of 

 smaller fibrils, and constituting what is often 

 called the skeleton of the leaf. 



In all these vegetable structures, while the 

 objects appear to be the same, the utmost variety 

 is displayed in the means for their accomplish- 

 ment, in obedience, as it were, to the law of diver- 

 sity which, as has been already observed, seems 

 to be a leading principle in all the productions 

 of nature. It is more probable, however, judging 

 from that portion of the works of creation, which 

 we are competent to understand, that a specific 

 design has regulated each existing variation of 

 form, although that design may in general be 

 utterly beyond the limited sphere of our intelli- 

 gence. 



