GERMINATION OF THE SEED. 
103 
nature, or the laivs of nature, other than manifestations of Almighty- 
power ? 
The word nature, in its original sense, signifies born, or produced j 
—let us then look on nature as a created thing, and beware of yield- 
ing that homage to the creature which is due to the Creator. The 
skeptic may talk with seeming rapture of the beauties of nature, but 
cold and insensible must be that heart, which, from the contempla- 
tion of the earth around, and the heavens above, soars not to Him, 
" The mighty Power from whom these wonders are.'* 
How impressively is the reanimation of the vegetable world urged 
by St. Paul, as an argument to prove the resurrection from the dead ! 
The same power, which from a dry, and apparently dead seed, can 
bring forth a fresh and beautiful plant; can assuredly, from the ruins 
of our mortal frame, produce a new and glorious body, and unite it 
to the immortal spirit by ties never to be separated. 
Leaving the external appearances of the plant, we are now to en- 
ter the inner temple of nature, and to examine into those wonderful 
operations by which vegetable life is called into action and sustained. 
Germination. The process of the shooting forth of the seed is 
termed germination. The principle of life contained in the aeed does 
not usually become active, until the seed is placed in circumstances 
favourable to vegetation. When committed to the bosom of the 
earth, its various parts soon begin to dilate, by absorbing moisture. 
Chemical action then commences ; oceygen from the air unites to the 
carbon of the seed, and carries it off in the form of carbonic acid gas. 
As the carbon of the cotyledons, by this process, continues to dimin- 
ish, and oxygen is produced in excess, a sweet sugar-like substance 
is formed; this being conveyed to the embryo, it is by its new nour- 
ishment kindled into active life ; from this period, we may date the 
.existence of the young plant. 
Bursting through the coats 
which surrounded it, and which 
are already enfeebled by their 
loss of carbon, the embryo 
emerges from its prison ; the 
radicle shoots downward, and 
the plume rises upward. We 
then say, the seed has come up, 
or sprouted. ^ Fig. 113 repre- 
sents a young dicotyledonous 
plant, with its radicle, a, devel- 
oped ; its plume, b, is yet scarce- 
ly perceptible ; its cotyledons, 
c, appear in the form of large, 
succulent seed-leaves. 
The radicle, or descending 
part, is usually the first to break 
through the coats of the seeds ; 
it commences its journey doviii- 
ward, to seek in the soil nour- 
ishment for the future plant, and 
to fix it firmly in the earth. It 
alv/ays takes a downward 
.course, in whatever situation 
Meaning of the word nature — Feelings which should be excited by created objects — 
St. Paul's argument for the resurrection— Describe the process of germination— Dcv 
xgcribe Fi^, US— Which part of the embryo first escapes from, its integuments? 
Fig 113 
