NATURAL THEOLOGY. 375 



in trees, and shrubs, and flowers; the variety of 

 the seed-vessels is incomputable. We have the 

 seeds (as in the pea tribe) regularly disposed in 

 parchment pods, w^hich, though soft and mem- 

 branous, completely exclude the wet even in the 

 heaviest rains ; the pod also, not seldom (as in 

 the bean) lined with a fine down; at other times 

 (as in the senna) distended like a blown bladder : 

 or we have the seed enveloped in wool (as in the 

 cotton-plant) lodged (as in pines) between the 



cient for one purpose, yet wanted for another purpose, it is not 

 unfair to concludL^ that both purposes were contemplated together. 

 It favours this view of the subject to remark, that fruits are not 

 (which they might have been) ready aUtogether, but that they 

 ripen in succession throughout a great part of the year ; some in 

 summer; some in autumn; that some require the slow matura- 

 tion of the winter, and supply the spring ; also that the coldest 

 fruits grow in the hottest places. Cucumbers, pine-apples, melons, 

 are the natural produce of warm climates, and contribute greatly, 

 by their coolness, to the refreshment of the inhabitants of those 

 countries. 



I will add to this note the following observation communicated 

 to me by INIr. Brinkley. 



"The eatable part of the cherry or peach first serves the pur- 

 poses of perfecting the seed or kernel, by means of vessels pass- 

 ing through the stone, and which are very visible in a peach- 

 stone. After the kernel is perfected, the stone becomes hard, 

 and the vessels cease their functions. But the substance surround- 

 ing the stone is not then thrown away as useless. That which 

 was before only an instrument for perfecting the kernel, now re- 

 ceives and retains to itself the whole of the sun's influence, and 

 thereby becomes a grateful food to man. Also what an evident 

 mark of design is the stone protecting the kernel ! The inter- 

 vention of the stone prevents the second use from interfering with 

 the first. — .A/ofe of the Author. 



