APRIL. 31 



find it on dissecting the seed prior to the commence- 

 ment of germination ; the latter process begins with 

 the conversion of the farina into a sweet and sugary 

 fluid, which last is the actual food of the little plant, 

 and thus forms another point of resemblance between 

 the growing seed and the young of the lactiparous 

 animal. This is very familiarly illustrated in the 

 preparation of malt from barley, which is begun by 

 sprinkling the grain with water, then warming it from 

 below, so as to excite growth, and as soon as the 

 sprouts appear, increasing the heat so as to destroy 

 life. The grain, which at first was comparatively 

 tasteless, is by the commencement of growth rendered 

 sweet, and the result is shown in the agreeable flavor 

 of the malt. Phenomena like these are surely quite 

 as wonderful as those to which we are apt to confine 

 our admiration, as the movements of the heavenly 

 bodies, the white tumble of the waterfall, and the roll 

 of the sea. We scarcely notice them, perhaps ; but 

 it is on the due effectuation of the great laws and 

 principles which are expressed in such phenomena, 

 that the permanency and the grandeur of the world 

 depend no less importantly. Nothing in nature is 

 large or little, or before or after another in worth or 

 necessity. Happy the mind that tutors itself into the 

 recognition of the Divine wisdom, not less in the 

 arrangements made for the growth of the minutest 

 seed, than in the majestic operations which give us 



