THE KOCK-ROSE TRIBE. 7^ 



with which all the actions of vegetable life are con- 

 ducted, vet I think you must here find a fresh and un- 

 expected source of admiration. You see, that in the 

 formation of the seed of even what we may deem the 

 most worthless weed, there is the same unerring 

 Providence, as in the preservation of the race of 

 man. Only think for a moment, upon the long long 

 journey that the little speck, the tiny rudiment of a 

 seed, has to take before it can arrive at the only place 

 in which it is possible that its destiny can be fulfilled, 

 or that it should be developed into a new being. Bom 

 in the pollen-grain, it is originally enclosed in a doubly 

 guarded prison : its o\\ti little spherical vault, and the 

 more extensive walls of the anther. The anther must 

 open before the pollen can escape ; and it must open 

 too at a particular time, at the very moment when the 

 stigma has secreted a clammy dew, which will hold 

 fast the pollen if it falls upon it. Then the pollen 

 must fall on the stiofma : to fall elsewhere is useless. 

 This accomplished, the microscopic rudiment of the 

 seed, which, although not exactly an ttre de ralson, for 

 it can be discovered with the microscope, is practically 

 so to human eyes — this almost invisible particle, has to 

 commence a long and winding journey through all the 

 intricacies of the style, and the ovary, till its guardian 

 tube conducts it to the ovule and deposits it in safety. 

 And all this is so pro\-ided for, that we find every ad- 

 justment exactly that which is best suited to the object 

 in view ; invisible springs in the anther, acted upon 

 by the very same cause as that which renders the 

 stigma clammy, combine their million little forces to 



