LICHENS. 139 
lessly far up on the inaccessible summits, amid 
the icy rigour and sterility of an Arctic climate ? 
This is not an extravagant supposition ; we see 
every day the wonderful power of little things; 
and we find that the most gigantic results are 
often dependent upon agencies minute and insig- 
nificant in their individual state, but irresistible in 
an aggregate of countless myriads. It is a sublime 
truth, and one worthy of universal acceptation, that 
even in the smallest and most apparently useless 
productions, the intelligent eye will often behold 
some of the most splendid manifestations of God’s 
inscrutable wisdom and gracious goodness. The 
bleak sterility of these lofty regions, where the 
lichens perform their untiring operations under 
circumstances where we should naturally suppose 
life and organization alike impossible, is yet the 
means of preserving the fertility of mighty terri- 
tories which would otherwise become deserts. 
The student of nature who has examined these 
humble plants with sufficient attention must have 
been often struck with wonder and admiration at 
the peculiar fitness which they display for the 
work to which they have been appointed, as the 
pioneers or precursors of all other land vegetation. 
What could be better adapted to withstand the fury 
of the storms that beat upon their exposed places 
of growth than the crustaceous, powdery, or leaf. 
