194 



PLANTS. 



this difficulty ; and it forms one of the most curious 

 facts in botany. The pollen is light and floats off 

 easily into the air so as to escape obstructions or 

 pass from plant to plant. It is done in this man- 

 ner. Every particle of the pollen contains a very 

 minute quantity of what the chemist terms hy- 

 drogen gas, which is much lighter than air, and 

 which, for that reason, is used in inflating balloons. 

 Now to steer these little particles to their destin- 

 ed places there is said to be an attraction between 

 the dust and the part for which it is designed ; and 

 that as soon as it lodges upon this part, the balloon 

 bursts, the hydrogen escapes, and the dust remains 

 fixed upon the pointal where there is a gummy 

 substance to hold it fast. 



B. Another beautiful instance in which our most 

 ingenious arts have a more perfect precedent and 

 pattern in the works of Creation ! Here, it seems, 

 we not only have the balloon, but what our aero- 

 nauts have yet to discover, how to direct its 

 course. 



A. In the seeds of plants, we have to notice the 

 great principle we see in all the works of nature, that 

 every thing is provided for with an attention propor- 

 tionate to its importance. If the seed should fail, 

 the plant cannot be reproduced. We may here 

 therefore admire, that this part of every vegetable 

 discovers the most care for its perfection and preser- 

 vation. We find it in shells, stones, husks, pods ; 

 always cased and defended by something hard, so 

 t hat however rudely we may handle it, the miniature 



