NATURAL THEOLOGY. 379 



juices from the earth, in a sufficient quantity for its 

 demand. It is owing to this constitution, that we 

 see seeds sprout, and the sprouts make a con- 

 siderable progress, without any earth at all. It is 

 an economy, also, in which we remark a close 

 analogy between the seeds of plants and the eggs 

 of animals. The same point is provided for, in 

 the same manner in both. In the egg, the resi- 

 dence of the living principle, the cicatrix, forms a 

 very minute part of the contents. The white and 

 the white only is expended in the formation of the 

 chicken. The yolk, very little altered or dimin- 

 ished, is wrapped up in the abdomen of the young 

 bird, when it quits the shell ; and serves for its 

 nourishment, till it have learned to pick its own 

 food. This perfectly resembles the first nutrition 

 of a plant. In the plant, as well as in the animal^ 

 the structure has every character of contrivance 

 belonging to it ; in both it breaks the transition 

 from prepared to unprepared aliment ; in both, it 

 is prospective and compensatory. In animals 

 which suck, this intermediate nourishment is sup- 

 plied by a different source. 



In all subjects, the most common observations 

 are the best, when it is their truth and strength 

 which have made them common. There are, of 

 this sort, two concerning plants, which it falls 

 within our plan to notice. The first relates to 

 what has already been touched upon, their ger- 

 mination. When a grain of corn is cast into the 



