xvi. APPLES OF SODOM. 289 



first work, but the most beautiful in the altered circum- 

 stances. 



The world abounds with these marred forms, 

 the after-efforts of nature after the first have been 

 spoiled. We see them in the animal as well as in the 

 vegetable kingdom. The process of cicatrization in 

 which a new and highly vascular structure of a spongy 

 appearance, called granulation, is produced, which grad- 

 ually fills up a wound, and makes it appear like the rest 

 of the surface is an example in point. So also is the 

 remarkable process of reparation in the case of a frac- 

 tured bone, in which cartilage is formed in an unusual 

 situation, and that cartilage is converted with unwonted 

 rapidity into bone. It is only our familiarity with this 

 fact, that living bodies are capable of repairing most of 

 the injuries they may sustain, that takes away the true 

 wonder of it ; and as an argument of design it cannot 

 be impugned by the suspicion that circumstances have 

 determined the adaptation, because the adaptation 

 itself shows that provision has been made for events 

 of which it is uncertain whether they will ever occur. 

 And this power of reparation shows how inherent in 

 the organism is the typical idea, the definite pre- 

 ordained plan upon which it is constructed. It is a 

 part of the same mysterious process by which, in 

 the usual structure developed naturally, the new series 

 of particles take the pattern of those which they re- 

 place, and our own organs and tissues, though they are 

 continually changing their substance, yet preserve 

 their identity unimpaired. Every organism must work 



