232 THE WONDERS OF VEGETATION. 



the morning it gradually rises from the water, and at 

 midday it has attained a height of three inches above 

 the surface. At four o'clock in the afternoon it be- 

 gins to make its preparations for the night ; it shuts 

 itself up and returns gradually to its home in the 

 water, where it remains till to-morrow's sun draws it 

 to the surface once more. 



In a memoir written by Ribaucourt we find some 

 curious observations upon the developement of the 

 leaves of this plant and on the prognostications which 

 they suggest. It was without doubt by means of sim- 

 ilar observations that Thales, in the ancient times, gave 

 a telling lesson to the inhabitants of Miletus. It had 

 been objected to his science that it was unproductive, 

 furnishing neither gold or silver. For an answer the 

 philosopher bought up in advance the whole product 

 of the olive-trees that grew around the town. He had 

 predicted that the crop would be very abundant, the 

 result verified the prediction, and Thales found him- 

 self the sole possessor of all the olives of the neighbor- 

 hood. But content with proving thus that a philoso- 

 pher can make a fortune as well as another, he dis- 

 tributed the whole of his gains amoiig the merchants 

 of Miletus. 



The leaf of the water-lily sprouts from the end 

 of its root early in autumn. It remains, however, very 

 small, and rolled up during this season and the winter 

 that follows ; but in the spring it begins to grow and 

 unfold itself as the season advances. Castel narrates 

 that walking with a friend in September, 1788, along 

 the shores of a lake abounding with water-lilies, he 



