ULLRICH] SOME REASONS FOR THE STUDY OF TREES 25 



thought on spiritual matters that is granted in reasoning about 

 material things. A reflection on some of the life processes in trees 

 and their explanations, may aid in the development of a sane per- 

 spective. Scientists, for instance, have discovered that the food 

 materials essential for the life of the tree are absorbed in part from 

 the soil, principally by the root hairs, the finest divisions of the root 

 system of the plant. The force which operates in the intake of 

 materials is osmosis. Various explanations are offered to explain 

 this phenomenon, but many of the details in the different explana- 

 tions are conflicting. Very few scientists are willing to accept any 

 of the explanations of osmosis without reser\'ation. Therefore, 

 osmosis is a riddle similar to the problem of eternal life. In a like 

 manner, other life processes in trees suggest myster}-, a challenge 

 for further thought and investigation. Can we accoimt for the 

 rise of sap in trees ? Again, the theories are manifold. Not one of 

 these theories, makes the objections for its rejection imreasonable. 

 The manufacture of the carbohydrates in the green tissues of trees 

 under the influence of light with the present status of knowledge 

 defies full understanding. If the facts of this process were clearly 

 and definitely knowni, the chemist in his laboratory covild combine 

 water and carbon dioxide into any form of carboyhydrate, and thus 

 deprive the disproportion of increase in food supply to population 

 of much of its alarming featiu"es. Through obser\'ations under the 

 microscope, the steps in fertilization, the happenings after the 

 pollen grain from the anther has fallen on the stigma of the carpel, 

 have been observed, but still the nature of fertilization is a miracle. 

 A full comprehension of other processes in a tree is just as vmattain- 

 able as in the instances that have been cited. A student who 

 appreciates the diflBculties in the analyses of the life processes in a 

 tree, has excellent preparation for a similar attitude in his religious 

 problems. Will it not teach him to feel that it is not stifficient 

 cause to throw aside a tenet of religious faith simply because the 

 human mind with the present light can not fathom the same? 

 This discussion does not imply that the student should not seek for 

 a full interpretation of phenomena. Indeed, it should lead to the 

 thought, that some day, especially with the present growth of 

 scientific knowledge, not only will come a better understanding of 

 the Hfe processes in a tree, but a discoverv- of the meaning of the 

 principle of life itself. Such an attitude is essential for the produc- 

 tion of a race of men and women with hopeful and optimistic 



