ia3 



FACTS AND FANCIES. 



of transmutation. Here, let it be observed, 

 we have the vegetable cell placed in relation 

 with the system of the plant, with the soil, with 

 the atmosphere and its waters, with the distant 

 sun itself and the properties of its emitted 

 energies. Let it further be observed that, on 

 the one hand, the chemistry involved in this is 

 of a character altogether different from that 

 which applies to inorganic matter, and, on the 

 other, the products derived from a very few 

 elements embrace all that vast variety of com- 

 pounds which we observe in plants and animals, 

 and which constitute the material of one of the 

 most complex of sciences — that of organic 

 chemistry. Finally, these complicated struc- 

 tures were produced and all their relations 

 set up at a very early geological period. In so 

 far as we can judge from their remains and the 

 results effected, the leaves of the Palaeozoic 

 period were functionally as perfect as their 

 modern successors (see Figs. 13, 14). Of 

 course, the agnostic evolutionist may, if he 

 pleases, attribute all this to fortuitous inter- 

 actions of the sun, the atmosphere, and the 

 earth, and may provide for what these fail to 

 expl" In by the assumption of potentialities 

 eqiiivalent to the things produced. But the 



