226 THE OPEN BOOK OF NATURE 
grains are no longer in spirals. What is going on ? 
Well, the cell-walls are being absorbed, and a way 
is being made for the contents of the cells of one 
thread to pass into the cells of the other. By-and- 
by the combined cell contents will form spores, and 
from these spores new plants will develop. Thus, you 
are seeing the mechanism of growth at work. But, 
although you can see and understand the process of 
growth, you have no knowledge of the force that 
sets it agoing. With all our knowledge, Life is as 
great a mystery and a miracle as ever. 
What a remarkable instrument a microscope is ! 
What wonders it discloses! With its aid the field 
of natural investigation is tremendously enlarged. 
Once we have had a glimpse of its revelations, we 
feel we can ill afford to go without it. 
Are you still wideawake ? I should have thought 
our day’s walking, talking, and thinking would have 
sent you to the “land of Nod” long ago. Just a 
little more talk, and then to bed. 
When we were out to-day we overlooked the 
Butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris), which grows in 
damp parts of the quarry. It was not in flower, 
for its flowers should not appear till well on in June ; 
but we ought to have noticed its pale green leaves, 
which grow in little rosettes almost flat on the 
ground, or in damp clefts of the rock. An in- 
experienced person might mistake its flowers’ for 
well-grown violets on stiff stalks. The flower-stalks 
rise direct from the roots, and bear no leaves. 
Each plant produces from one to three or four 
flowers, which hang from the curved ends of their | 
stalks in a nodding fashion. The Butterwort 
