1 86 SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATIONS [Kin 



converge towards the object which we are looking at, and thus 

 obtain an idea of its distance. Nevertheless it is only by long 

 custom that we can establish a relation between our distance 

 from the objects and the corresponding motions of the eyes. 

 It is a curious fact that persons born blind, and whose sight has 

 been restored by the operation for cataract, imagine at first that 

 all objects are at the same distance. EL. 



Kindness Natural and Remunerative. 



Kind Heaven has created the universe on the principle of 

 kindness. Accordingly nothing which violates its law can in 

 the end be advantageous, whilst conformity to the law is ever 

 attended with every possible advantage. Take an illustration 

 from the horticulturist. We well know that buds are placed 

 upon the stem of the tree at regulated intervals, where they 

 develop themselves in the form of branches, and extend the 

 tree, nourishment being carried through them to every leaf and 

 fibre. It is also one of their peculiarities that without injury 

 to these organs, they may be separated from the parent plant 

 and placed upon another, which, so to speak, says Louis Figuier, 

 becomes its nurse. Horticulturists profit by these circumstances 

 to produce some of their finest flowers and fruits. This process, 

 known to gardeners as budding or grafting, is practised in many 

 different ways, but in all the principle is the same. The bud, 

 without any of the wood, is carefully removed from the parent 

 tree, and applied to a corresponding cut in the nursing one, 

 covering the wound so as to keep out the air. The bud con- 

 tinues to grow on its new nurse, and in course of time it forms 

 a branch or head of a tree producing the same flowers and fruit 

 for which the parent may have been celebrated. The principle 

 is applied most successfully in horticulture where some delicate 

 species of fruit or flowers is produced on a stem destitute of the 

 vigour necessary to nourish and bring it to maturity. Now 

 this nursing of a life which needs such assistance for its proper 

 development is only an emblem of what kindness is always 

 doing in higher spheres. The kindness of the individual is 

 constantly seen nurturing and promoting the growth of those 

 of the human family whose future would be a blank without 



