328 THE WORLD OF LIFE 



CHAP. 



hemp for cordage, rattan and bamboo for tropical furniture, 

 boxwood for wood -engraving, gutta-percha for machine 

 belts and a great variety of economic uses, and lastly 

 india-rubber, one of the greatest essentials of our chemical 

 and mechanical arts, without which neither the electric 

 telegraph, the bicycle, nor the motor-car could have reached 

 their present stage of perfection, while no doubt many 

 equally important uses remain to be discovered. 



It may be objected that so many of these varied 

 products have been shown to be of use to the plants 

 themselves as protections against injurious insects or from 

 being devoured in their young state by herbivorous 

 mammals, that their utility to man is only an accidental 

 result, and of no real significance. But this objection can 

 hardly be a valid one when we consider the enormous 

 number of beneficial drugs, highly agreeable scents and 

 spices, useful oils, and delicious foods or drinks that are 

 among the commonest of vegetable by-products. There 

 seems no direct connection between juices or volatile oils 

 which are distasteful to insects, and drugs which are valuable 

 medicines in the case of human diseases. The leaves or 

 stems of seedling plants needed only a temporary protection, 

 while the juices which effect it not only increase in quantity 

 during the whole life of the plant, but are transformed into 

 such as are of unmistakable value to civilised man. It is 

 almost inconceivable that the exquisite fragrance developed 

 only by roasting the seed of the coffee shrub should be a 

 chance result of the nature of the juices essential for the 

 well-being of this particular species ; or that the strange 

 mechanical properties of india-rubber should be developed 

 in a few only of the thousands of species having a protective 

 milky sap. 



Indications of a Directive Mind 



Before leaving this branch of my subject, I must say a 

 few words on the indications afforded by these varied pro- 

 ducts of plant-life, of the absolute necessity of a directive 

 power and a mind of the highest organising intelligence for 

 their production. Quite as clearly, perhaps even more 

 clearly than for the development of the bird's feather or the 



