YOUNGER YEARS OF A PLANT. 101) 



arms, and firmly supporting it thus against the immense 

 mechanical force of wind which beats above against the 

 large surface presented by its huge branches, covered with 

 dense foliage. In their downward progress they turn aside 

 from no obstacle. The roots of the colossal chestnut-tree 

 on Mount Etna, under whose deep shade a hundred horse- 

 men have easily found shelter, penetrate through rock and 

 lava to the springs at the very foot of the mountain. 

 Massive blocks are lifted up by roots as if with irre- 

 sistible force. The beautiful trees that flourish amid the 

 ruined temples of Central America, upheave huge frag- 

 ments of those enormous structures high into the air, and 

 hold them there as if in derision. In fact, the latent en- 

 ergy and slowly accumulated force of these slender fibres 

 in the process of forcing their way through walls and 

 rocks of vast size, is only equalled by the grace of their 

 movement and form ; and this union of power and beauty, 

 the one latent, the other obvious, explains, in part at least, 

 the singular charm that the vegetable world exercises over 

 so many strong but susceptible minds. 



But roots serve not only as fastenings : they are, as 

 has already been mentioned, the principal avenues for the 

 introduction of food into the plant. They operate by 

 means of most delicate fibres at the end, called spongioles, 

 endowed with so minute openings, that all nutriment to 

 be taken in must be liquid. Nor is it the least of the 

 mysteries of plant life, that these fine, slerfder roots do 

 not absorb all that is presented to them in a liquid form, 

 but evidently have a power of discrimination. They open 

 or close their minute apertures at will, admitting only 

 8 



