374 NATURAL THEOLOGY. 



But (to pursue this great work in its progress) 

 the impregnation, to which all this machinery re- 

 lates, being completed, the other parts of the 

 flower fade and drop off*, whilst the gravid seed- 

 vessel, on the contrary, proceeds to increase its 

 bulk, always to a great, and, in some species (in the 

 gourd, for example, and melon,) to a surprising 

 comparative size ; assuming in different plants an 

 incalculable variety of forms, but all evidently con- 

 ducing to the security of the seed. By virtue of 

 this process, so necessary, but so diversified, we 

 have the seed at length, in stone-fruits and nuts, 

 incased in a strong shell, the shell itself inclosed 

 in a pulp or husk, by which the seed within is, or 

 hath been, fed ; or, more generally (as in grapes, 

 oranges, and the numerous kinds of berries) 

 plunged overhead in a glutinous syrup, contained 

 within a skin or bladder: at other times (as in ap- 

 ples and pears) embedded in the heart of a firm 

 fleshy substance ; or (as in strawberries) pricked 

 into the surface of a soft pulp. 



These and many more varieties exist in what 

 we cdiW fruits.* In pulse, and grain, and grasses; 



+ From the conformation of fruits alone, one might be led, even 

 without experience, to suppose, that part of this provision was 

 destined for the utihties of animals. As hmited to the plant, the 

 provision itself seems to go beyond its object. The flesh of an 

 apple, the pulp of an orange, the meat of a plum, the fatness of 

 the olive, appear to be more than sufficient for the nourishing of 

 the seed or kernel. The event shows that this redundancy, if it 

 be one, ministers to the support and gratification of animal na- 

 tures ; and when we observe a provision to be more than suffi- 



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