Trees, Shrubs and Vines 
MuLBERRyY.—A leaf-type is a pretty well-established 
affair, and one of the standard examples of nature’s un- 
swerving consistency. A dozen maple leaves from all 
over the world bear the maple mark, despite all diver- 
gence, and the sub-type of each species is still more in- 
exorable. ‘This is nature’s rule; but, though she made 
the rule, she is not going to stick to it unless she chooses, 
and herein she asserts the glorious prerogative of her 
sex. Her conduct in making mulberry and sassafras 
leaves shows one of her rare incertitudes of mind; we 
call it a ‘‘ freak of nature ’’—a most complacent way of 
hiding our ignorance of the actually controlling princi- 
ple in the matter. On the same stem one leaf is entire, 
another is lobed like a mitten, and another has three 
lobes. But for a miscellaneous assortment of shapes 
look at a foreign mulberry, the Tartarian, with a per- 
fectly reckless display of variety. Having no clew to 
the mystery, we calmly label it ‘‘ exception to the rule,” 
virtually giving nature a little slap for inconsistency, 
and congratulating ourselves that we would not have 
been caught making such a slip. If we had an inkling 
of all the profoundest principles of nature, how it 
would demolish some of those paste-board structures 
that we proudly call ‘‘ the sciences’’! It is no unjust 
depreciation of them, frankly to confess (as the greatest 
scientists themselves are ready to do) that we are as yet 
only on the surface of things, in the understanding of 
nature, and that our present attainments will one day 
appear as elementary as the three-stringed lyre of the 
ancient Greeks, compared with a modern orchestra, the 
alchemy of the Middle Ages, compared with present 
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