284 HISTORY OF BRITISH FERNS. 



its central cavity, and its sheaths, the first of which are 

 formed before the elongation of the stem, out of the orio-lnal 

 cellular matter. 



To watch the minute atoms thus springing into life, de- 

 veloping by degrees their tiny stems, and gaining strength 

 and bulk day by day until they reach maturity, could hardly 

 fail, one would think, to lead a sensitive mind to pure and 

 wholesome thought, — calling up, on the one hand, the 

 contemplation of the wise and beneficent plans and the 

 all-sufficient power of the Creator, by whose ordaining 

 providence life interminably renewable had thus been made 

 to spring from the dust-like spore ; and at the same time 

 producing, on the other, a just appreciation of the un- 

 certainty and insufficiency of human agency. For, though 

 man may plant and water, yet it is God alone that giveth 

 the increase. 



