BOTANICAL: THE UPPER CLASSES. H9 



time need never stop; and where growth is, there is 

 always a capability of change. Growth itself is a suc- 

 cession of slow melodious ascending changes." * These 

 words apply both to trees and men, and one is strikingly 

 illustrative of the other. 



Verily there is very much in the life of a tree that 

 reminds us of the life of a man, and not only of a man, 

 but of other animals. Several of that wonderful family 

 Orchidaceae resemble, one a wasp, another a bee, another 

 a spider, a fourth a fly, and another resembles the dove, 

 which is often figured over the head of the Saviour, de- 

 scending at His baptism, enjoying the name of " Spirito 

 Sancto," or Holy Ghost flower ; others are like large and 

 brilliant butterflies. 



Then, if we examine the structure of any one of the 

 p^uts, we shall find how nearly it runs parallel with that 

 of an animal, from the circulation of the vital fluid to the 

 solid limbs and the outer covering ; and the lessons they 

 teach are as many and as varied as are their forms and 

 their beauty. But now we have to do with their internal 

 structure, and the object upon the stage of our instrument 

 will make this plain. 



Of course, you are aware that plants do breathe ; but do 

 you know how ? And do you know that while we inhale 

 the gas oxygen (a word from the Greek oxys, " acid," and 

 gennao, " I produce ") from the air, plants inhale carbon 

 (a Latin word signifying " coal," because every bit of true 

 coal was once part of a plant) ? 



That which we exhale (carbon as carbonic acid) they 

 inhale, and the spirit of giving and taking is nowhere more 

 beautifully taught us than in what we see in the life of a 

 plant. 



Now, in these three little box-leaves, which do not 

 * Dr. MacDonald. 



