USES OF ANAL YSIS. 25 1 



the parts which, like the calyx and the corolla, most attract 

 your attention. The most rational plan, however, would be, 

 to commence with the seed, and to follow it through all the 

 wonderful phases of its life, from the development of the 

 embryo to the maturity of the fruit. Unfortunately, we are 

 all compelled to take time into account; time is so much 

 more precious than money, it is the measurement of our 

 existence. Undoubtedly, the mind, with its gigantic strides, 

 like those of an Homeric god, tends to overleap the confines 

 both of time and space. But the senses, without whose co- 

 operation the intellect could not create science, never fail 

 to remind us that we are, alas ! but mortals. By this in- 

 cessant appeal to order, we are under the necessity of doing, 

 not what we would, but what we can. And the part we really 

 play is, consequently, much more modest than that which we 

 love to imagine ourselves as playing. 

 But to return to our flowers. 



What see you in the little centaury which you hold in your 

 hand? (Fig. 56.) 



In the first place, a corolla with five petals of a delicate rose- 

 hue, very pleasant to the sight. 



Take care ! those foliola are not/dfc/r, if you give that name 

 to the free parts of the corolla. Look at them thoroughly. 

 Your foliola are prolonged at their base in a narrow tube, 

 which is easily removed. If you had begun here, if, instead 

 of proceeding from the top to the bottom, you had, in your 

 analysis, proceeded from the bottom to the top, you would 



