THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



389 



But it is a remarkable fact that this salutary interven- 

 tion of plants is only manifested under the influence of 

 light. Were the star from which light emanates to be ex- 

 tinguished, it would cease in a moment, and the globe, 

 plunged in obscurity, would soon be deprived of its green 

 tunic. Lavoisier was therefore right when he said : 



181. Respiration of Plants. Disengagement of Oxygen under Water. 



" Organization, feeling, spontaneous movement, and life 

 only exist on the surface of the earth, or in parts exposed to 

 light. One might say that the fable of the torch of Pro- 

 metheus expressed a philosophic truth which had not es- 

 caped the ancients. Without light nature would be with- 

 out life ; she would be dead and inanimate ; a beneficent 

 Crod, by imparting light, has shed over the surface of the 

 earth organization, sensation, and thought." 



