EARLY SPRING IN MASSACHUSETTS. 83 
cording to mechanical laws, or as he would ex¬ 
plain a machine of his own making. We must 
not expect to probe with our fingers the sanc¬ 
tuary of any life, whether animal or vegetable. 
If we do, we shall discover nothing but surface 
still. The ultimate expression or fruit of any 
created thing is a fine effluence which only the 
most ingenuous worshipper perceives at a rever¬ 
ent distance from its surface even. The cause 
and the effect are equally evanescent and in¬ 
tangible, and the former must be investigated 
in the same spirit and with the same reverence 
witl} which the latter is perceived. Science is 
often like the grub which, though it may have 
nestled in the germ of a plant, has merely 
blighted or consumed it, never truly tasted it. 
Only that intellect makes any progress toward 
conceiving of the essence which at the same 
time perceives the effluence. The rude and ig¬ 
norant finger is probing in the rind still, for in 
this case, too, the angles of incidence and exci- 
dence are equal, and the essence is as far on the 
other side of the surface or matter, as reverence 
detains the worshipper on this, and only rever¬ 
ence can find out this angle instinctively. Shall 
we presume to alter the angle at which God 
chooses to be worshipped ? Accordingly I re¬ 
ject Carpenter’s explanation of the fact that 
a potato-vine in a cellar grows toward the 
