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THE CHAIN OF LIFE. 



all, namely, that our minds, made in the image of the Creator, 

 are able to trace in these perished organisms structures 

 similar to those of modern plants, and thus to reproduce in 

 imagination the forms and habits of growth of living things 

 which so long preceded us on the earth. We may indeed 

 proceed a step further, and hold that, independently of human 

 appreciation, these primitive plants commended themselves to 

 the approval of their Maker, and perhaps of higher intelli- 

 gences unknown to us ; and that in the last resort it was ibr 

 His pleasure that they were created. 



