GENERAL INFERENCES. 
209 
Did light exist before the plant was cre¬ 
ated ? The humblest herb requires it^ seeks 
after it^ and without it perishes. For water, 
it has the power of absorption. For air, it 
has the function of respiration; its leaves 
are in effect its lungs. For the tempera¬ 
ture each species possesses a constitutional 
adaptation which can never be violated 
with impunity. The first seed that ger¬ 
minated claimed kindred with all the 
material elements which w^ere in existence 
when it came. And the bud at this mo¬ 
ment bursting, is holding communion with 
the distant sun, and comes to lay all 
nature under tribute.* 
A third inference is that the variances be¬ 
tween the flora of the present, and those of 
the past, are greater in proportion to the 
depth of the strata. Thus Sigillaria, Lepi- 
dodendron, and many forms to which we 
have no living resemblances, disappear in 
the upward progress, and are succeeded by 
others bearing more of the familiar outline 
of the present. 
* Pre-Adamite Earth, p. 63. 
