102 NATURAL HISTORY 



And the meanest weed of the garden serveth unto many 



uses, 

 The salt tamarask and juicy flag, the freckled orchis and 



the daisy. 

 The world may laugh at famine when forest-trees yield 



bread, 

 When acorns give out fragrant drink, and the sap of the 



linden is as fatness ; 



For every green herb, from the lotus to the darnel, 

 Is rich with delicate aids to help incurious man." 



To accomplish all we wish and all we expect, in 

 bringing the vegetable world to render its riches 

 more abundantly, we must undoubtedly call to our 

 aid the kindred science of Chemistry. But here is 

 the great storehouse of materials. All our food 

 comes directly or indirectly from the vegetable 

 kingdom. The root, the leaf, the flower, the fruit, 

 the sap, each in turn in various plants, constitute 

 directly the great mass of our sustenance. And the 

 exception, when we use animal food, is only 

 apparent, for every animal used for food, from the 

 oyster to the ox, is directly or indirectly dependent 

 upon plants for his subsistence. All animals, man 

 included, are so constituted that they can not subsist 



