[December, 
748 The World of the Poets . 
conceive of tissues so frail and delicate as flowers, and 
whose beauty depends in no small degree upon that very 
delicacy becoming proof against the influences of air and 
light. We may suppose storms, winds, and frosts banished, 
but even in the absence of all these ruder agencies we find 
flowers fade, — in one sense from the continued adtion of the 
very forces which have called them into existence, and which 
thus in succession play the parts of Brahma and Siva, the 
creator and the destroyer ; but more stridtly this fading and 
decay must be regarded as the advance to a higher state of 
development, like the falling off of the gills and tail of a 
tadpole, or the loss of the milk-teeth of a child. 
But a still greater difficulty remains. Unfading flowers 
mean an arrest of the transformations and the circulation 
of matter. If every tree and plant is to put forth constantly 
fresh flowers, and, we presume leaves, none of which are to 
wither and be re-converted into their crude elements, a con- 
tinual drain upon the soil must take place which would 
sooner or later end in exhaustion, unless the supply of plant- 
food were absolutely infinite. 
Another feature of the idealised world is the disappear- 
ance of all carnivorous species, or their conversion to 
vegetarianism. Rapine and bloodshed are to cease, and the 
reign of universal peace is to be inaugurated. Here it may 
be objected that the mere elimination of carnivorous species 
would be very far from securing unbroken peace. Herbivo- 
rous animals fight abundantly and most viciously among 
themselves, and are not rarely guilty of “unprovoked 
assaults ” upon other creatures. Very few male phytopha- 
gous beasts are to be trusted if they possess sufficient 
strength to be formidable to man, and some — such as the 
Cape buffalo — are as dangerous as the lion or the tiger. 
Hence a mere change of diet must be pronounced a very 
small reformation. 
But further : if it is painful to our feelings to see or to 
know that at any moment numbers of animals some of 
them harmless, beautiful, or interesting— are struggling in 
the grasp of enemies, or being actually devoured, is it not 
equally unpleasant to see the most charming flowers muti- 
lated by slugs or earwigs, or trodden in the mire by oxen ? 
Must we not regret when stately trees are stripped of their 
foliage by locusts or cockchafers, or when their stems are 
riddled through by the larvae of Cossus ligmperda ? Is it 
pleasant to see shrubs barked by hares, browsed down by 
goats, or uprooted by swine ? It may, indeed, be contended 
that vegetables are not conscious of the injuries they suffer. 
