PROPAGATION, DEVELOPMENT, AND CULTURE. 25 
duced, sometimes even earlier, a practised eye can in many 
cases recognize the species. 
It is from the under side of the prothallus, or germ-scale, 
at the base of the axis of development, where it comes in 
contact with the moistened soil, that the roots are protruded. 
The stem, or caudex, whatever its character, originates in 
this primary axis. 
Thus we see, that in the first stages of development, 
young seedling Ferns (that is, Ferns developing from the 
spores) assume the appearance of a Liverwort, forming a 
green, semi-transparent, crust-like patch, which is the 
germ-frond, or prothallus, referred to above. 
In these minute and almost invisible atoms, no less than 
in the more ponderous materials which surround us, we 
discover the impress of Almighty and Creative power. 
They teem with life ! No commixture of elementary 
matter, no electric shock guided by human agency, can 
originate that. Truly the hand that made them is 
Divine ! 
The requisite condition to induce the germination of 
the spores of Ferns, in addition to the degree of heat 
proper for each particular species, is simply contact with a 
continually damp surface. Diffused light is favourable to 
