278 Chances of Life 



in the earth, it not only looks dead, but is dead to all 

 intents and purposes, for it has no means of showing 

 that it lives — dead, however, with a possibility of life, 

 which generally grows less and less the longer it is left 

 unburied. When the life has died out of it wholly, 

 it still looks much the same as before, at least to the 

 unpractised eye. 



As to living seed, if it be one that- we know, we can 

 tell at a glance what sort of plant bore it, and what 

 plant will spring from it. But if it is a seed that we 

 do not know ? 



Well, even then, we may be able to tell by the look 

 of it what family it belongs to, whether it is starchy 

 or oily, whether it will have two seed-leaves, like a 

 bean, or one, like corn. But our knowledge will not 

 carry us much further. In many cases it will not 

 even tell us whether the forthcoming plant will be a 

 tree, or a shrub, or a lowly herb. To the inexpe- 

 rienced, many of the smaller seeds especially look 

 very much alike ; and there is certainly no such differ- 

 ence in their appearance as would lead one to guess 

 at the great variety of plants which will spring from 

 them ; and even the wisest knows very little about the 

 why and the wherefore of the matter. 



For why should the small seed of the elm produce a 

 tall tree, r.nd the large seed of the gourd only a short- 

 lived, weak-stemmed, creeping plant? Why should 

 one bean grow to the height of a few inches only and 

 another climb up several feet ? Why, again, should 

 an acorn always produce an oak and not some other 

 tree ? All that we can answer is, an acorn has oak- 

 life in it. But we might as well say we don't know, 

 for all the light this throws upon the subject. 



