LECT. Vil] THK STEM. 283 



orpileus,as in the Mushroom, or nearly so ; yet in 

 others its attachment is to the side of that body. 



Such are the peculiarities, connected with the 

 exterior of stems, necessary to be noticed in this 

 stage of our inquiries : in closing our examination 

 of them, this question spontaneously presents it- 

 self: why is there so great a diversity of form, 

 vestiture, and mode of branching in the vege- 

 table organs ? No satisfactory reply can be ad- 

 vanced ; and, therefore, we are left to imagine 

 that, as nature appears to delight in variety, the 

 diversified and graceful forms and appearances of 

 plants may be one source of pleasure prepared by 

 Divine Benevolence for mortals. Be this as it may, 

 man has not failed to render them accessaries to 

 his comfort, and subservient to his necessities. In 

 the cool shade of the branching arms of the Beech, 

 or under the pillared canopy of the Banyan, he 

 shuns the ardour of the meridian blaze ; with the 

 shrubby and spiny Hawthorn, or the prickly Cac- 

 tus, he encloses his fields ; while the pliant Osier 

 is woven into baskets to transport their produce to 

 the crowded city : the tall and straight Pine rises 

 a mast, on which he spreads the sail that enables 

 him to transport the riches of distant climes to 

 his native shores ; and the incurved ribs of the 

 venerable Oak, launched into the main, float, the 

 protectors of his maritime rights, and the bul- 

 warks pf his national independence. 



