144 Neilgherry Plants. 



Grand and sublime as are the objects brought within the compre- 

 hension of man by the powers of the telescope, not less perfect and 

 wonderful to the reflecting mind are those brought to light by the 

 microscope. In either case all is prefection, with this difference, 

 that in the former we witness his perfections on a scale of grandeur, 

 far too magnificent for the comprehension of our limited faculties, 

 while with the other we are easily enabled to detect organic structure 

 in objects so inconceivably minute as to be almost invisible to the 

 naked eye. With the aid of the former the motions through space 

 of the heavenly bodies, distant many millions of miles, can be 

 measured with such extreme accuracy, as to show that in the course 

 of thousands of years, their rates of progression has not altered even 

 a second of time, while by the latter we are enabled to trace evidences 

 of complex structure and organization in the filmy dust of the moth's 

 wing, or the equally minute particle of matter constituting a grain of 

 pollen. Nay further, we learn from its use, that so infinitely varied 

 and so constant are the forms of these minute objects, that, in many 

 cases, the practised observer can, by marking their differences, detect 

 the families to which they belong, and can even tell, by the shape of 

 the red globules in a drop of blood, whether it was drawn from the 

 veins of a man or a lower animal. 



These are no doubt extreme cases, and demand an amount of skill 

 in the use of the instruments not easily attained, but much, very 

 much, that is deeply interesting, can be learned from either by the 

 merest novice, and each renewal of the attempt to interrogate nature 

 by their means, adds to the skill of the observer. Such then are 

 some of the dishes composing the endless intellectul feast which 

 nature provides for her votaries, and of which she, most bountifully, 

 invites all to become partakers. 



The magnified figures in the accompanying plates make no preten- 

 sions to such perfection in displaying the minutoe of organization, 

 but even in them are exhibited points of structure which could not 

 be made out by the naked eye, and for the most part show, on a 

 sufficiently large scale, to be easily followed, these more minute and 

 intricate portions of the flower, seed vessel, and seed, employed in 

 tracing among plants their relationships to each other, a knowledge 

 which forms the basis of our present natural system ; and which, 

 if ever the true natural system of botanical classification, now so 

 ardently sought for by all philosophical Botanists, is discovered, 

 must still prove equally useful, not to say indispensable, towards its 

 acquisition. 



