NATURAL THEOLOGY. 377 



destruction of inclement seasons. The depreda- 

 tion of animals, and the injuries of accidental vio- 

 lence, are allowed for in the abundance of the in- 

 crease. The result is, that out of the many thou- 

 sand different plants which cover the earth, not a 

 single species, perhaps, has been lost since the 

 creation. 



When nature has perfected her seeds, hei* next 

 care is to disperse them. The seed cannot an- 

 swer its purpose, while it remains confined in the 

 capsule. After the seeds therefore are ripened, 

 the pericarpium opens to let th^m out ; and the 

 opening is not like an accidental bursting, but, 

 for the most part, is according to a certain rule in 

 each plant. What I have always thought very 

 extraordinary, nuts and shells, which we can hard- 

 ly crack with our teeth, divide and make way for 

 the little tender sprout which proceeds from the 

 kernel. Handling the nut, I could hardly con- 

 ceive how the plantule was ever to get out of it. 

 There are cases, it is said, in which the seed-ves- 

 sel, by an elastic jerk, at the moment of its explo- 

 sion, casts the seeds to a distance. We all how 

 ever know, that many seeds (those of most compo- 

 site flowers, as of the thistle, dandelion, &c.) are 

 endowed with what are not improperly called 

 wings; that is, downy appendages, by which they 

 are enabled to float in the air, and are carried 

 oftentimes by the wind to great distances from 

 the plant which produces them. It is the swell- 

 ing also of this downy tuft within the seed-vessel 



32* 



