82 THE OLIVE LEAF. CHAP. 



fishes, sea-urchins, and the like. A curious series, in 

 ancient times supposed to possess mystical virtues 

 before it was discovered in nature, i, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 

 34, etc., in which any two numbers added together 

 give the succeeding one, regulates the general arrange- 

 ment of leaves round the stem of plants, and the scales 

 round the cone of a pine or a fir. In every department 

 of nature from the quantitative laws that regulate the 

 distances, movements, and attractions of the stars of 

 heaven, to the arithmetical laws of definite proportions 

 and equivalents which lie at the basis of all the com- 

 positions and decompositions of the substances of the 

 earth, and the numerical relations that are found among 

 all the living creatures, animal and vegetable, that 

 exist on the land, and in the air and water physical 

 science shows that recurrent or typical numbers have 

 a most important place and influence, and constitute 

 the Principia of the universe. The more our studies 

 and researches extend, the more numerous and striking 

 do we find the proofs and illustrations of the fact, 

 perceived long ago by the great philosophers, that 

 numbers pre-existing in the Divine mind form the 

 model according to which all things are brought to- 

 gether and linked in order. 



It is a strange thought that the typical number of 

 teeth, barely visible to the naked eye, in the seed-vessel 

 of a minute moss, should be thus correlated with the 

 numerical arrangements in the highest plants and 

 animals, in the body of man himself, and among the 

 stars of heaven. It shows, in a most interesting way, 



