148 



THE MICROSCOPE AND ITS LESSONS. 



sourness of another ; and then consider that all seem to 

 grow in the same manner, from the same soil, very often 

 on the same spot ; that they all breathe the same air, 

 drink the same water, and digest the same food, and all 

 so silently, so steadily, so invisibly; what lessons may 

 we not learn from their delightful study ! and what solemn 



thoughts do they suggest 

 on the mystery of growth ! 

 Their inward structure 

 is as regular and various as 

 their outward forms are ele- 

 gant and well-proportioned, 

 while many suggest devout 

 thoughts concerning the 

 sign of man's salvation 

 the token of the new cove- 

 nant the Cross. 



Their formation cannot 

 have been originally de- 

 signed merely to attract the 

 eye of an accidental spectator, but rather to render the 

 production more perfect in its appeal both to the senses 

 and the soul. The root, trunk, branch, leaf, flower, fruit, 

 and seed have each a peculiar character as well as a 

 special mission, the wonders of which can only be fully 

 revealed by the microscope. Thus viewed, they appear 

 to vary in an endless diversity, each working for the 

 same end and by means of the same law. No part in 

 either the smallest leaf or the most minute fibre but 

 what is formed with the most exquisite exactness and 

 consummate skill. 



What a mystery is growth ! " The man who does 

 not care and ceases to grow becomes torpid, stiffens, is 

 in a sense dead ; but he who has been growing all the 



Transverse section of a New Zealand 

 plant. 



