BOOK IV. 



EXTEEMES IN THE VEGETABLE 

 KINGDOM. 



CHAPTEE I. 



THE LICHEN ROCK AND THE VIRGIN FOREST. 



The vegetable kingdom is tlie emblem of diversity in 

 harmony. While its extreme limits offer the most mani- 

 fest contrasts, everything still is chained and bound together 

 by imperceptible links, and bears evidence of the divine 

 wisdom which presided over its distribution. In certain 

 families force and majesty predominate; others atti'act 

 attention by the delicacy of their forms or the charm of 

 their beauty. On one side are seen robust forms sculptured 

 by the hand of giants, on the other delicate outlines traced 

 by the fingers of fairies. 



What an astonishing contrast between this palm-tree, 

 the crown of Avhicli daringly rends the clouds as it waves 

 above the tropical forest, and this gray lichen, a thin layer 

 of coloured matter staining our statues and walls! What 

 infinite variety, what a series of gradations, from the splen- 

 did flower of the Victoria regia to the imperceptible corolla 

 of the nettle ; from those indestructible plants which grew 



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