THE ORNITHOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



83 



Here, methinks, is the true field for 

 study. What is the Bible ? A work of 

 man. What is Nature ? The work of 

 God. God's own work of revelation, 

 that through it and in it we might see 

 the truth. Here then, is w^here the 

 work of our ministers falls short. Why 

 do they not hold up to the people things 

 which they can see with their own eyes 

 and believe with their own understand- 

 ing, instead of truths which they must 

 see by faith that they have not, or by a 

 great stretch of the imagination : things 

 which will appeal to their reason. Bring 

 science to their aid ; in short, preach 

 from Nature. Men are suspicious of 

 man's work : let them see the Creator's. 



"Go forth, under the open sky, and list 



To Nature's teachings." 



■'In the beginning, the Spirit of God 

 moved upon the waters." The prophet 

 Moses might have added that His spirit 

 would continue to be seen in the waters 

 for evermore, Not only in the waters, 

 but in the sky, and in the earth ; in fact, 

 in all Nature. There is some mysterious 

 force in Nature we cannot understand. 

 Some hidden power beyond our sense of 

 comprehending. He who observes can- 

 not fail to see, though he cannot under- 

 stand. She indeed "speaks a various 

 language " to him who holds communion 

 with her. A half -hours association with 

 Nature will do more to convince the 

 skeptical that there is an Omnipotent 

 Being, than all the preaching and exhor- 

 tation that can be crowded into a week. 

 Such has been my experience, and I 

 have no hesitation in saying that if 

 more time was devoted to the study of 

 Nature, the world would be better and 

 wiser for it. 



"We must scent out the truth, dig in 

 the earth for it, and seize it." Truly he 

 who digs in the earth for the truth will 

 find it in abundance. A no less rich 

 harvest may be reaped from Nature 

 upon and above the earth. The only 

 requirement is careful observation and 

 close study. The world would be bet- 



tered by such observation and such study 

 Those who have devoted their life to 

 this work have left a mark in the pro- 

 gress of the world which will not be 

 obliterated by time, but which will 

 grow stronger and clearer as time rolls 

 on, and their followers shall make new 

 additions to it. A mark whose impor- 

 tance cannot be placed too high. Would 

 that we had more such marks in history. 



A FEW BOTANICAL NOTES. 



DR. WM. BRINGHURST, PHILADELPHIA, PA. 



Many curiosities are found in the bo- 

 tanical world, as, for instance, the Test- 

 udinaria elephiatipes (elephant's foot); 

 it consists of a body, which looks like a 

 large hemispherical mass of carved 

 wood, from which arises a delicate vine 

 with smilax-like leaves, and having 

 acacia-like yellow blossoms. It comes 

 from Africa, and lives to a great old 

 age. The interior of the body is said to 

 be used as food by the Hottentots. An- 

 other curiosity, is the Brijophijllum, or 

 sprouting leaf. It has a thick fleshy 

 stem and from the edges of the leaves 

 young plants will arise, if they are put 

 upon damp moss, or earth. It is a na- 

 tive of India, and is said to bear spikes 

 of elegant flowers. The Plumiera is a 

 plant with fleshy stem and leaves ; its 

 habitat is Mexico. The one I saw had 

 rainbow hued flowers, that are said to 

 be extremely fragrant. They are used 

 by the Mexicans for adornment on 

 fiestas. Then there are the cacti ; the 

 spines of one kind answering for fishing 

 hooks ; another has long white locks 

 like those of an old man, and so gets its 

 name, Pilocereiis senilis. Some of these 

 plants are gigantic, towering up into the 

 air ; one is found in the Sierras and when 

 the sunlight falls upon the glistening 

 sheaths of the spines, it may be seen t'or 

 several miles. The candle cactus, Opun- 

 tia lurida, is a handsome plant but diffi- 

 cult to procure. 



I will finish by mentioning the pretty 

 Venus fiy-trap, Dioncea muscipula, one 

 one of the carnivorous plants, that 

 catches insects by means of its curious 

 leaf ends, and absorbs their substance. 

 All of the above and many more quaint 

 members of the vegetable kingdom, may 

 be seen inan establishment in this city. 



',, 



