36 



A DISCOURSE 



BOOK I. but a shrubby dwarf in the other ; deficient of that active spirit, which 



elevates and spreads its proUfic matter and continual supphes without 

 check, and is the cause of the leaves deserting the branches, whilst those 

 trees and plants of the more benign climate are clad in perennial 

 verdure ; and those herbaceous plants, which with us in the hottest 

 seasons hardly perfect their seeds before winter, require to be near their 

 o-enial beds and nurse, and sometimes the artificial heat of the hot-bed. 

 Lastly, to all this I would add that other cheerful vehicle. Light, which 

 the gloomy and torpent North is so many months deprived of, the too 

 long seclusion whereof is injurious to our exotics kept in the conserva- 

 tories; since however tempered with heat, and duly refreshed, they 



in gi-owth. A grain of wheat, as soon as the germ has made its appearance, shows the 

 milky liquor to the naked eye. As the plant increases in size, the balmy juice diminishes, 

 till at last it is quite exhausted. The umbilical vessels then dry up, and the external 

 covering of the grain appears connected to the root in the form of a shrivelled bag. 

 See Fig. 4. c. — Here is no mortality : From the moment that the seed is lodged in its 

 parent earth, the vegetative soul begins its operations, and, in one continued miracle, 

 proves the wisdom and bounty of an Almighty Providence. It is worthy of observation, 

 that farinaceous vegetables and oviparous animals are nourished, in their tender states, 

 nearly in the same manner. We have already seen that the embryo plant is supported by 

 the farina melted down into a milky liquor, and conveyed into its body by means of an 

 umbilical chord, at the time when the radicle was unable to supply a sufficiency of nutriment. 

 In like manner an oviparous animal, from the time it is brought into light, seems to 

 receive all its nourishment from without. This, however, is only an appearance : The 

 yolk of the egg, remaining entire during incubation, is received into the body of the 

 animal, and in a manner similar to the passage of the milky juice of the vegetable, is 

 slowly conveyed into the vessels of the tender chick. Thus a sweet nourishment is 

 prepared at a time when neither the industry of the animal, nor the attention of its mother, 

 could have procured a sufficient supply. How beautiful are the general laws of 

 Providence ! The more we explore them, the more we have cause for wonder and 

 astonishment ! Every thing is wisely disposed ; nothing is fortuitous ; all is order, 

 regularity, and wisdom : 



Was every faltering tongue of man. 



Almighty Father ! silent in thy praise, 



Thy works themselves would raise a general voice, 



Ev'n in the depths of solitary woods, 



By human footunlrod; proclaim thy power. 



And to the quire celestial Thee resound, 



Th' eternal cause, support, and end of all. 



THOMSON. 



