34 BOOK OF NATURE LAID OPEN. 



But here their services do not end; for when 

 worn out in one shape, they assume a new form, and 

 not only furnish the material from which is formed 

 the wrapper of the manufacturer, and the package 

 of the merchant, but that invaluable article upon 

 which we write upon which we are able to hold 

 converse with friends at a distance and by means 

 of ichich, man transmits his thoughts to man, and 

 generations unborn are enabled to hold converse 

 with past ages! 



By means of these pliant productions we are also 

 supplied with a variety of seeds and oils, of much 

 request in common life ; and wherever disease is 

 known? there, we have reason to believe, medicinal 

 herbs spring up as antidotes ; some communicating 

 their healing virtues by the root, some by the leaves, 

 and others by the flowers or seeds. A number of 

 these, and many others of the greatest utility in me- 

 dicine, come forth in various parts of the globe 

 without the aid of art, and are found growing wild 

 among the herbs of the field but these are not the 

 effects of chance. They were originally planted by 

 the hands of Omnipotence, at the suggestion of 

 Divine benevolence, prompted by Omniscience. It 

 was the Lord who created medicines out of the 

 earth; He foresaw the distresses of his creatures, 

 and in pity to their calamities, not only commission- 

 ed the balm to spring up in Gilead for the healing 

 of the eastern tribes, but has spread abroad that 

 boundless variety of medicinal plants, which are to 

 be found in every climate, suited to the diseases of 



