GERMINATION OF THE SEED. 103 



nature, or the laws of nature, other than manifestations of Ahiughty 

 power? 



The word nature, in its original sense, signifies horn, or produced j 

 — let us then look on nature as a created thing, and beware of yield- 

 ing that homage to the creature which is due to the Creator. The 

 skeptic may talk with seeming rapture of the beauties of nature, but 

 cold and insensible must be that heart, which, from the contempla- 

 tion of the earth around, and the heavens above, soars not to Him, 



" The mighty Power from whom these wonders are.'' 

 How impressively is thereanimation of the vegetable world urged 

 by St. Paul, as an argument to prove the resurrection from the dead ! 

 The same power, which from a dry, and apparently dead seed, can 

 bring forth a fresh and beautiful plant; can assuredly, from the ruins 

 of our mortal frame, produce a new and glorious body, and unite it 

 to the immortal spirit by ties neve^- to be separated. 



Leaving the external appearances of the plant, we are now to en- 

 ter the inner temple of nature, and to examine into those wonderful 

 operations by which v^egetable life is called into action and sustained. 

 Germination. The process of the shooting forth of the seed is 

 termed germination. The principle of life contained in the seed does 

 not usually become active, until the seed is placed in circumstances 

 favourable to vegetation. When committed to the bosom of the 

 earth, its various parts soon begin to dilate, by absorbing moisture. 

 Chemical action then commences ; o.vygen from the air unites to the 

 carbon of the seed, and carries it off in the form of carbonic acid gas. 

 As the carbon of the cotyledons, by this process, continues to dimin- 

 ish, and oxygen is produced in excess, a sweet sugar-like substance 

 is formed; this being conveyed to the embryo, it is by its new nour- 

 ishment kindled into active life ; from this period, we may date the 

 existence of the young plant. 



Bursting through the coats 

 which surrounded it, and which 

 are already enfeebled by their 

 loss of carbon, the embryo 

 emerges from its prison ; the 

 radicle shoots downward, and 

 the plume rises upward. We 

 then say, the seed has come up, 

 or sprouted. Fig, 113 repre- 

 sents a young dicotyledonous 

 plant, with its radicle, a, devel- 

 oped ; its plume, b, is yet scarce- 

 ly perceptible ; its cotyledons, 

 c, appear in the form of large, 

 succulent seed-leaves. 



The radicle, or descending 

 Fig 113. MfU part, is usually the first to break 



through the coats of the seeds ; 

 it commences its journey down- 

 ward, to seek in the soil nour- 

 ishment for the future plant, and 

 to fix it firmly in the earth. It 

 alv/ays takes a downward 

 course, in whatever situation 



Meaning of the word nature— Feehngs which should be excited by created objects — 

 St. Paul's argument for the resurrection— Describe the process of germination— De- 

 scribe Fig. 113— Which part of the embryo first escapes from its integuments 1 



