mnmA flowers. 529 



existence of plant-life, and pre-eminently of flower-life, is amply proved by the 

 fact that plants kept in a dark room look pale and languid, ill-formed and 

 ill-nourished. Keep them in a room where light is admitted through a small 

 window, the plants will invariably turn in the direction of the light. Under 

 a clear sky and bright sunshine, the flowers will be bright, deep-tinted, and 

 substantially formed. The fruit will be sweeter and more luscious. Place the 

 same flower or fruit under a cloudy or misty sky where the light reaches it in 

 a diffused and only in a partial manner, they will suffer in growth and be 

 poor in substance as well as in appearance. Years ago such a keen observer 

 of Nature as Humbold did not fail to appreciate the importa nee of piu-e light* 

 "If the vine," said he, "(to produce drinkable wine) avoids islands, and in 

 almost all cases proximity to coasts, the reason is by no means exclusively the 

 low summer temperature of such situations shown by the thermometer 

 suspended in the shade, — it is also to be sought in a difl^erence which has been 

 hitherto but little considered, although known to be most actively influential 

 in other classes of phenomena — I mean the difference between direct and diffuse 

 light, or that which prevails when the sky is clear and when it is veiled by 

 cloud or mist" — (Oosmos), There are some flowers, however, which require 

 very little light. Haldane, for instance, mentions a ground orchid {Aiicecto- 

 chilus) in the most shaded depths of the densest jungles in the mountains of 

 Ceylon, which, though it dreads light, is yet remarkable for the lovely tints of 

 its rich saj)-green Or purple petals traversed by delicate golden and silveiy veins. 



Flow*ers have at all times and among all nations, nay among all kinds of 

 men, been objects of singular attraction. " They seem intended," says Euskin, 

 " for the solace of humanity. Children love them ; quiet, tender, contented, or- 

 dinary people love them as they grow ; luxurious and disorderly people rejoice 

 in them gathered. They are the cottager's treasure ; and in the crowded town, 

 mark, as with a little broken fragment of rainbow, the windows of the workers 

 in whose heart rests the covenant of peace." These graphic words of one of the 

 most charming word-painters the world has ever producd, can be apjjlied to all 

 the nations of the earth, to whomsoever flowers display their natural beauty. 

 They not unfrequently suggest as Poet "Wordsworth says : — 



"Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears." 



To the admiring eye of even such a mighty adorer of Nature as Wordsworth, 

 the meanest flower that bloomed was suggestive of enchantment and exaltation 

 far beyond the comprehension of human language. "Well may it be so to every 

 student of Nature, however humble, for such is the ever-recurring beauty of 

 Nature that — 



"Age cannot wither her, nor ciistom stale 

 " Her infinite variety ! " 



