plants mentioned in it were either to produce seeds, or fruits with seeds in themselves. And thus we have the word of God, as communicated by His inspired amanuensis, alike consistent with itself in all its various parts; and perfectly in accordance with the existing laws of nature, as manifested to us by the announcements of natural philosophy in its several ramifica

tions.

This leads, in turn, to a well-grounded presumptive inference, that as light and atmospheric air exercise their influence principally on the floral envelopes of plants, and on the seeds and fruits, which, in due course of time, proceed from these interesting and beautiful vegetable expansions, we may thence conclude, that the plants of the non-rotatory period were deficient in these peculiar organs. Light and atmospheric air not then existing, they could not have been brought to perfection. And, that although it is still a very important desideratum in botany to determine which families of plants are, in reality, seedless, yet it must be inferred, that such as are or were so, were known to the inspired historian to have existed previously to the formation of the flowering classes; inasmuch as he expressly mentions the creation of the earth, and this, we know proceeded in part from their secretions and their fossilized remains.

We shall now, in prosecution of our argument, direct the attention to an enumeration of the principal elements which contribute to the formation of vegetable textures, especially to those which are essential for the construction of woody fibre. With this intention we shall recapitulate the forty-fourth, and afterwards the hundred and twenty-fourth Theorems, both of which are relevant to the same subject; and, in continuation, we shall adduce such evidences as are common to both, and bear directly on the point we are desirous to substantiate. The former states:

"The quantity of water lost to a plant by evaporation, and its power of absorption from the soil are in proportion to the quantity of light. Light causes the decomposition of the carbonic acid of vegetation; and, by solidifying the tissue, renders the parts most exposed to it the hardest. And the green parts of plants, when exposed to the direct light of the sun,

absorb from the atmosphere carbonic acid, which they decompose, and give back the oxygen.

The hundred and twenty-fourth, nearly to the same effect, states, "That besides the carbonic acid elaborated by plants within themselves by means of the oxygen imbibed from the atmosphere, and by the carbonaceous matter contained in their sap, they absorb it also from the air, and receive it combined with the water taken in by their spongioles; and that so long as plants remain in the dark, the greater part of the carbonic acid is retained, but not fixed in the form of an organic compound until stimulated by the light, when its decomposition is effected; the carbon becomes fixed, and nearly all the oxygen with which it was united is exhaled into the atmosphere."

Having, in the third section of this work, gone fully into the physiology of certain parts of plants, we shall, on the present occasion, when adducing the conjoint evidences for these theorems, dwell more particularly on those affecting the point we seek to establish-the fixation of vegetable matter, and the formation of textures peculiar to the objects of that kingdom of nature.

"When the food of a plant enters the roots," observes the writer on Botany, in the Cabinet Cyclopedia, "it passes upwards, undergoing some kind of chemical change, and dissolving whatever soluble matters it meets with in its course; so that, without having been exposed to any of those conditions by which it is ultimately and principally affected; it is considerably altered from its original nature before it reaches the leaves. . . . . A portion of the water which plants suck up combines with the tissue, and enters into the general constitution, where it becomes fixed as the water of crystallization in minerals. . . . . . Under what influence, except that of the vital principle, a decomposition of the sap takes place before it reaches the leaves, we are ignorant. But when it has reached the leaves, and thus becomes exposed to the effect of light, we find that light causes a decomposition of the carbonic acid of vegetation, and consequently, by solidifying the tissue, renders the parts most exposed to it the hardest. That the quantity of water lost to a plant by evaporation is in proportion to the quantity of light is easily proved by the experiment mentioned by De Candolle. Whatever doubt there may be concerning the

precise causes of evaporations, there can be none whatever as to the power which sunlight has to cause the decomposition of carbonic acid, the fixing of the carbon, and the giving out of oxygen. For, however varied experiments may be, they all lead to the same result, and compel us to acknowledge the great importance of light to plants, in enabling them to digest the crude matter which they gain from the soil. In fact, there is nothing of which we have any certain knowledge that interferes with these conclusions."*

"When all those parts of plants," according to Professor Henslow's popular treatise," which are capable of assuming a green tint, but more especially the leaves, receive the stimulus of light, they immediately decompose the carbonic acid contained in the sap. The result of this action is the retention of the carbon, and the expiration of the greater part of the oxygen into the surrounding atmosphere. The fixation of the carbon by plants appears to be the first step in that elaborate process by which brute matter is converted into an organizable compound; that is to say, into a material capable of being afterwards assimilated into the substance of an organized body. Many effects, popularly ascribed to the action of air, are, in fact, due to the agency of light. When we pro

ceed to enquire in what form the carbon appears after it has become fixed, the subject assumes a degree of uncertainty, which it seems almost hopeless to get rid of in the present state of our knowledge.

Unluckily for our enquiry, there are so many different compounds contained in solution among the sap and various juices of plants-such as gums, sugars, resins, oils, acids, alkaloids, &c., all of which are composed of different modifications of the same three elements, carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen-that it becomes a task of the greatest delicacy to determine which of them ought to be considered as the immediate result of the process of fixation.

But we find, upon more careful enquiry, that our choice is restricted to about four substances, all of which possess nearly the same chemical characters, and which are the most universally present among the juices of plants. These are gum, sugar, fecula, and lignine. The first of these appears by far the most universally diffused, and has been obtained from nearly every plant in which it has been sought for; and, moreover, as it possesses decidedly nutritious qualities, it may be considered, with every probability in its

*Botany, in Cab. Cyc. pp. 84, 85.

favour, as the first or proximate organizable compound, formed by the action of vegetable life, acting under the stimulus of light.'

Having been informed, by these evidences, what are the elements which enter into the construction of plants, and the manner in which they are solidified by the effectual influence of sun-light; the scope of our argument constrains us, before we conclude this chapter, to direct the attention to seemingly a very homely and well-attested truth, declared in part of the hundred and twenty-first Theorem, namely, "that the time required to admit of plants arriving at maturity varies from some weeks to several years."

As this is a fact so completely known to all-and writers on botany have seldom occasion to refer to it except by assumption-it must either be admitted, merely on the authority of the theorem, or proved by the duration, or by the assumed period for the maturation of the several orders and genera of the phanogamous classes of plants throughout the world. We shall rely on the former method of authenticating the assertion; being convinced, that it coincides so closely with the experience of all who are in any manner conversant with botany or horticulture, as to require nothing beyond its mere enunciation to be taken for granted.

The period, then, required to mature the objects of the vegetable kingdom, is never shorter than several weeks; and in numberless instances is prolonged to as many years; and we beg that this fact, although trite and commonplace may be borne in mind, as we shall require to lean pretty heavily upon it, in our immediately subsequent reasoning.

* Botany, in Cab. Cyc. pp, 189–191.

SECTION VIII.

COMPLETION OF THE ATMOSPHERE; SEPARATION OF THE SEA FROM THE LAND; AND THEIR IMMEDIATE COMBINED RESULTS.

CHAPTER XXXV.

Application of the subjects which occupied the attention in the preceding chapter. Supernatural action of Light in and during the formation of the Phanogamous division of the Vegetable Kingdom. Reflections which this display of great power necessarily occasions. This chain of reasoning confirmed by quotations from Botanical writers. Further evidences in favour of the Dynamical Theory deducible from the existence of distinct Botanical districts throughout the earth's surface. Scientific confirmation of these assumptions; and the regions defined in which the phanogamous classes abound. Combination of these truths with those formerly wrought out, applied to prove that the Earth, in perfect accordance with this theory, received from the hands of the Creator, on the first day of the Mosaic week, the identical inflexions of surface which it still retains.

CONSIDERING the mind to be properly instructed with respect to the two distinct subjects which occupied our attention towards the close of the preceding chapter, that is to say-the ponderable and imponderable elements which enter into the composition of vegetable texture and woody fibre; together with the manner and process of their acting on each other, and of being elaborated into these forms; and, on the other hand, the usual time required to bring the objects of the vegetable kingdom to perfection and productiveness; we shall, now, in continuation, endeavour, by their careful combination, to elicit another important truth, namely-that to enable the earth to produce and bring to perfection the whole of the vegetable forms, which clothe and adorn its surface, in the brief period of one day, there must have been a supernatural power