132 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



MEETING FOR DISCUSSION. 



The Leaf as a Physical Study, 



By George Austin Bowen, M.D., "Woodstock, Conn. 



A consideration of the little things of life is often of more direct 

 advantage and greater interest than the study of the larger and 

 more elaborate subjects which present at once their every feature 

 and detail, leaving nothing of note or promise to be discovered by 

 a critical examination. In this connection the subject of today 

 will, I trust, repa}' us for a closer inspection than at the first 

 glance would be thought possible. 



How utterly insignificant appears the leaf as among its myriads 

 of fellows upon a lofty bough in summer it quivers with ever3' 

 breath of passing wind, — quivers and gyrates with an unending 

 rhythmical motion, as though, impatient with its circumscribed life, 

 it would gladly sever its connection with its parent twig and seek 

 a position less obscure ; or when, with the quickening breeze, hfe 

 brightens, and it seems to frolic and laugh with its companions 

 as they bow and flutter to its boisterous caress ; or in those 

 golden days of autumn when the air is hushed and still, as though 

 fearful of breaking the charm that has cast its magic spell over all 

 nature, and the view over fields and hills shows that softened hue 

 so pleasing to the eye, and we see the leaf, now still and quiet, re- 

 ceive its long-anticipated freedom, and flutteringl}' fall in many 

 a graceful circle to the dampened earth, to be again lost to thought 

 and vision amid the multitude, piled many inches deep ; or, again, 

 when the searching and piercing wintry winds have routed it out 

 from its obscurity, and with man}' a rude buffet sent it scurrj'ing 

 down the frozen street, playing with it for a moment in some 

 sheltered corner, then carrying it high in air and tojing with it an 

 instant before carrjing it awaj' from vision, to be lost in some 

 obscure place, there to silentlj' moulder away and become a 

 portion of this life-sustaining earth. So small a thing as a leaf, 

 ruthlessly torn and strewn by the fingers of the thoughtless school- 

 girl, or crushed beneath the tread of the dainty maiden as she 

 saunters through the wooded by-way, unnoted because of mul- 

 titude, of little interest to us because common, — this little leaf 

 and its kindred must serve us for a theme todaj', and, if we stud}' 

 it well, we shall see that out of this infinitesimal comes a grand 

 and glorious page of nature, resplendent with beauty, sliowing 



