•ELEMENTARY HOTANY, 
15 
dent origin; difference of situation alone 
will not produce a corresponding suitable¬ 
ness in the vegetation; nor will the mere 
variation between individual plants of the 
same kind, ever become specific differences ; 
that is to say, differences perpetual and con¬ 
stant. .These two facts, the adaptation of 
living structure to the varieties existing in 
soil and climate, and the relation of plants 
to each other, render the study of botany 
interesting to the theologian, as furnishing 
continual proofs of divine wisdom and 
power. 
We intend in this chapter to give such an 
outline of elementary botany, as will lighten 
the toil of our subsequent journey amidst 
coal mines and quarries. The picture of 
present vegetation, in all its variety of co¬ 
lour and shade, will teach us to discriminate 
the features of that colourless dark land¬ 
scape on which the fossil botanist gazes. 
The internal structure of vegetables is 
constructed for a series of fluid movements, 
which are continually taking place in the 
vessels and valves of the plant, somewhat 
analogous to the nutrition and circulation 
in animals. 
