VII. SCIENCE IX HER CELLS. 127 



what a modern philosopher, of course, cannot understand 

 caprice.* 



7. Farther on, Figuier, quoting St. Hilaire, tells us, 

 of the creepers in primitive forests, " Some of them 

 resemble waving ribands, others coil themselves and de- 

 scribe vast spirals ; they droop in festoons, they wind 

 hither and thither among the trees, they fling themselves 

 from one to another, and form masses of leaves and flow- 

 ers in which the observer is often at a loss to discover on 

 which plant each several blossom grows." 



For all this, the real reasons will be known only when 

 human beings become reasonable. For, except a curious 

 naturalist or wistful missionary, no Christian has trodden 

 the labyrinths of delight and decay among these garlands, 

 but men who had no other thought than how to cheat 

 their savage people out of their gold, and give them gin 

 and smallpox in exchange. But, so soon as true servants 

 of Heaven shall enter these Edens, and the Spirit of God 

 enter with them, another spirit will also be breathed into 

 the physical air ; and the stinging insect, and venomous 

 snake, and poisonous tree, pass away before the power of 

 the regenerate human soul. 



8. At length, on the structure of the tige, Figuier 

 begins his real work, thus: 



A glance of the eye, thrown on the section of a log 

 of wood destined for warming, permits us to recognize 



* See in the ninth chapter what I have been ahle, since this sentence 

 was written, to notice on the matter in question. 



