FERNS. 57 



the summer breeze, and reflecting the rays of light ; much, 

 too, of sylvan beauty, for the spot in which they grow is 

 wildly picturesque. Men often stop in passing to admire. 

 " Yonder group of ferns," they say, ' ' are beautiful, thrown 

 off in light and shadow from the old grey rock ;" and thus 

 speaking they pass on, unconscious that both the rock and 

 ferns are mysteriously acted upon, and inseparably asso* 

 ciated with those mighty agents, on the due equilibrium of 

 which the weal or woe of the universe depends. 



Laboratories are they, wherein chemical operations are 

 continually carried on, both night and day, into which that 

 deleterious gas called carbonic acid, and which is breathed 

 out by men and animals, is mysteriously impelled, and so 

 acted upon, that, when sent forth again, it renders the 

 earth beautiful. 



Ferns, therefore, in common with every leaf that quivers 

 in the sunbeams, are small laboratories, in which changes 

 are produced, and from which results become developed, 

 that are all-important to mankind. Beautiful are they; 



