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with harmonious adaptation of every part to the mighty 
whole, in such a manner as to place before the attentive 
mind the evident proof of the continually operative superin- 
tendence of a providing and sustaining Power watching over 
the creatures of His hand. 
If a mighty forest be consumed by fire, forthwith there 
springs up from germs, concealed perhaps for thousands of 
years, a new vegetation ;* and, connected with this new vege- 
tation, varied stores of animated life present themselves to 
our view. 
If a volcanic island rises from the bosom of the sea, soon 
these desolate heaps of scoriae and pumice show the first indi- 
cations of a process which will eventually clothe them with 
beauty, and render this unpromising abode the fit receptacle of 
the stores of animated Nature, and finally of its master — man. 
Or, on a smaller scale, if an infusion be prepared of some 
vegetable substance, how soon do we find this diminutive 
ocean filled with varied forms of life — life active, organized 
beings full of conscious enjoyment ! Thanks especially to the 
admirable researches before referred to, we now know that 
these creatures are all the result of life proceeding from ante- 
rior life — that no such thing exists as matter setting to work 
to organize itself ; but how wonderful the provision of germs 
and spores, by means of which the vacuum so soon becomes a 
plenum , unless the most elaborate care is taken to exclude the 
access of air containing these life-conveying particles. 
It is most interesting to trace out the manner in which 
Nature sets to work to clothe with vegetation the pebbly 
shores from which the sea has retired, as is the case on some 
parts of our coasts. The early beginnings make the mind 
wonder at the presence of the germs and seeds of the suited 
plants, brought together apparently by a fortuitous concourse 
of events, but none the less evincing design in their very 
adaptation to the purpose in view; whilst the beauty of some 
of them, such as the horn-poppy, the sea-thistle, the sea-pink, 
and the maritime bindweed, can only be explained on the 
principle that God delights to adorn the waste places of the 
earth with beauty* 
A similar remark may be made in reference to the crypto- 
gamic vegetation which embroiders the mountain rocks and 
boulders. Till quite recently the beauty of these minute 
organisms and their marvellous adaptation each to its peculiar 
habitat were things of no moment to mankind. On utilitarian 
* Appendix A. 
