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Argument from Botany. 
39. The argument of Unity amid almost endless Variety finds 
an appropriate and interesting illustration in the science of 
Botany. Here the connection between plan and form is re- 
plete with many and striking coincidences. 
From the Lichen on the Alpine summits, to the despised 
weed of the same order on the coral reef — from the parasitic 
fungus, visible only by means of high microscopic power, to the 
enormous parasite* in the Indian Archipelago — from the sweet- 
scented vernal grass “ in the dewy paths of meadows,” to the 
tree-like branching bamboo of tropical climes, there are many 
varieties in form but only one plan. No man, at first sight, 
could believe it possible that the common meadow-grass and the 
sugar-cane are members of the same family. And yet the fact 
is so. The varieties in the order of grasses (Graminece) , how- 
ever apparently dissimilar in form, are all alike in their general 
features. 
40. Of the three hundred and twenty genera, including three 
thousand eight hundred and fifty species, whatever variety may 
exist as to the number and form of the different sets of bracts, 
and the nature of the fruit, there is only one arrangement 
throughout the entire family, which gives to it that unity of 
plan, whereby they are recognized as belonging to the same 
order. Wheat, oats, barley, rye, rice, maize, Guinea-corn, 
millet, &c. &c., which supply “ green herb for the service of 
man,” and the rye-grass, meadow-grass, sweet vernal-grass, 
cocks-foot grass, Timothy-grass, and countless grasses besides, 
which “ give food for the cattle,” are all members of one wide- 
spread family. They present the same peculiarities of organ- 
ization and structure, however separated by continents and 
centuries. And, that which holds true with regard to the 
variety of the family of grasses, is equally true in the case of 
the other orders. There is the same Variety of form, the same 
Unity of plan. 
The Constitution of the Human Mind. 
41. Difficult as it is to see two human faces that exactly 
resemble each other, it is far more difficult to find two human 
minds that see everything in the same light. 
“ Facies non omnibus una, 
Nec diversa tamen.”— Ovid, Met., b. ii. 13. 
* Raffles la 
