26 BOOK OP NATURE LAID OPEN. 



scatters his seeds about ? While the seeds of some 

 plants are made sufficiently heavy to fall down and 

 take up their abode nigh the place of their nativity ; 

 and others, after having been swallowed by quadru- 

 peds, are deposited in the neighbouring soil ; some 

 are carried by the fowls of the air to places more re- 

 mote, or, being furnished with a soft plumage, are 

 borne on the winds of heaven to the situations allot- 

 ted for them. To prevent some from pitching too 

 near, they are wrapt up in elastic cases, which burst- 

 ing when fully ripe, the prisoners fly abroad in all 

 directions : to prevent others from straying too far, 

 they are furnished with a kind of grappling hooks 

 that arrest them in their flight, and attach them to 

 the spot most congenial to their growth. 



In the construction of plants we observe a consi- 

 derable difference in the consistence of the three 

 classes. Compared with the shrubby race, how 

 hard, firm, and tenacious is the trunk of the majestic 

 Oak; and, compared with the herbaceous tribe, how 

 woody, tough, and elastic is the hawthorn twig; 

 but for this, how could the mighty monarch of the 

 wood have been able to withstand the fury of the 

 tempest; and, while the more humble and lowly 

 shrubs stand not in need of such firmness of texture, 

 their pliability and elastic toughness, together with 

 the prickly coat of mail by which they are envelop- 

 ed, render them less susceptible of injury in their 

 exposed situation. 



Softness, united with a still greater degree of flex- 

 ibility, are the distinguishing characteristics of the 



