284 
HISTORY OF BRITISH FERNS. 
its central cavity, and its sheaths, the first of which are 
formed before the elongation of the stem, out of the original 
cellular matter. 
To watch the minute atoms thus springing into life, de¬ 
veloping by degrees their tiny stems, and gaining strength 
and bulk day by day until they reach maturity, could hardly 
fail, one would think, to lead a sensitive mind to pure and 
wholesome thought,—calling up, on the one hand, the 
contemplation of the wise and beneficent plans and the 
all-sufficient power of thje Creator, by whose ordaining 
providence life interminably renewable had thus been made 
to spring from the dust-like spore ; and at the same time 
producing, on the other, a just appreciation of the un¬ 
certainty and insufficiency of human agency. For, though 
man may plant and water, yet it is God alone that giveth 
the increase. 
