a Reet ? 
rn RAN 9 
Fig. 148.—Flower of Raftlesia Arnoldi. 
Tue FLower. 
We have surveyed with wonder the wisdom and power of the 
Creator as displayed in the different organs and appliances 
just passed in review. We have admired the roots, with their 
innumerable tufts of fibre, which by a marvellous faculty, scarcely 
explicable to us, imbibe the liquids contained in the earth, and 
convey the nourishing fluid into the tubes of plants; the stems 
and branches which support the plant in mid air; the leaves, 
organs at once of respiration and evaporation ; the vessels, so vari- 
able in form; the breathing pores (stomata), the cells; ir short, 
all the appliances, all the living mechanism by means of which the 
vegetable functions are carried on; all tending to the produc- 
tion of flowers, which, in their turn, live only for the production 
of fruit ; while the fruit itself only exists for the purpose of deve- 
loping the seed, that ultimate end and essential design of vegeta- 
tion; for Nature seems to concentrate all her efforts with a view 
