OF LIVING FORMS; OK, MORPHOLOGY. 101 



The simplicity of nature's working is too profound 

 for man's imagination to fathom, and is revealed 

 only to humble seeking and steadfast self-control. 

 Never could men have guessed that through such 

 means such results could be achieved, even by a 

 skill they deemed divine. And if we ask why it 

 wa&not examined and observed long ago, the answer 

 is, that other causes had been invented, and men 

 had made up their minds. There was a "plastic 

 power," a " specific property," a " formative nisus" 

 or "effort" Shall we go on with the list? Is 

 it any wonder that men could not see a simple, 

 commonplace fact like this that living things grow 

 as they cannot help growing? 



And, truth to say, there is all excuse for them. 

 Nature is a wise and patient instructress of our 

 ignorance. She never hurries us ; but is content 

 that we should read her lesson at last, after we 

 have exhausted all our guesses. Has the reader ever 

 taught a child to read, or watched the process? 

 If so, he has seen a " great fact " in miniature ; the 

 whole history of science on a reduced scale. For 

 will not the urchin do any conceivable thing rather 



