EQTJISETUM. 257 



mass is formed. Then, this mode of development ceases, 

 and a young bud is formed, which produces the stem of an 

 Equisetum, at once completely organized, with its air-cells, 

 its central cavity, and its sheaths, the first of which is formed 

 before the elongation of the stem, out of the original cel- 

 lular matter. 



To watch the minute atoms thus springing into life, de- 

 veloping by degrees their tiny stems, and gaining strength 

 and bulk day by day until they reach maturity, could hardly 

 fail, one would think, to lead a sensitive mind to pure and 

 wholesome thought, and to call up the contemplation of 

 the wise and beneficent plans and the all-sufficiency of the 

 Creator, by whose ordaining providence life interminably re- 

 newable had thus been made to spring from the dust-like 

 spore, as well as to produce a just appreciation of the un- 

 certainty and insufficiency of human agency; for though 

 man may plant and water, yet it is God alone that giveth 

 the increase. 



