POPPY. 
169 
beauty, whether we consider their delicate texture, 
elegance of shape, or variety of colouring. But, in¬ 
dependently of the flower, the capsule, or seed-case, 
alone, of the Poppy cannot be examined without ex¬ 
citing the utmost admiration of the wisdom with 
which it has been formed. It is covered by a shield- 
formed stigma, or cap, thickly perforated with holes 
to admit the fecundating particles of the farina to 
the channels which are so disposed around the eleven 
cells, or chambers, of the capsule, that each seed 
receives its regular portion of this matter by means 
of an umbilical cord: though there are frequently 
six thousand of these vegetable eggs enclosed in one 
capsule. When we consider that each of these 
minute seeds is so admirably perfect as to contain 
all the essentials necessary to form in the following 
year a plant capable of producing at least twenty 
capsules, we cannot forbear exclaiming with the 
poet: — 
How wondrous are thy ways ! 
How far above our knowledge and our praise! 
Pope. 
In the time of Gesner, the celebrated botanist of 
Switzerland, the village Damon and Chloes proved 
8 
