ructive stimulus, but amounts to
nothing where there is no life. Food is material for the building, but
like heat, it is of no consequence in the absence of life."

The constructing force in the germ manifests itself, in the plant, in
the conversion of the insoluble starch of the seed into sugar, and in an
additional change of a part of that sugar so as to set at liberty a
large amount of carbon, which, uniting with the oxygen of the air, forms
carbonic acid, and this process is attended with a liberation of heat
which supplies the germ with stimulus.

"It is different with the advanced plant. The organic compounds required
to extend the fabric, are formed by the plant, instead of being supplied
from without. The tissues of the green surface of the stem and leaves
have the peculiar power, when acted on by light, of generating, at the
expense of carbonic acid, water and ammonia, with various ternary and
quarternary organic compounds, such as chlorophyll, starch, oil and
albumen. A part goes to build new tissues, and a part is stored up in
the cavities of tissues for food for parts to be developed in the
future." Mr. Carpenter says, "Of the source of this peculiar power we
have no right to speak confidently." Is it a blind force that
anticipates growth in the plant, and lays away food, in the tissues,
for future use? Why should it be different with the young plant?

Sixteen simple substances are known to exist in vegetable organisms, and
many of them are more strongly inclined to unite with substances which
have no existence in vegetable cells; so they separate, in violation of
chemical laws, and unite in vegetable cells in utter disregard of the
affinities which are known to be their strongest. How do unbelievers
manage such objections to the hypothesis that chemical laws explain
everything in vegetable life? How is all this accounted for? We,
Christians, answer, "The course of nature is the art of God." This
answer is equivalent to the thought that vegetable life is the result of
the union existing between God and the vegetable kingdom. The force that
lies behind all chemical affinities and controls them, together with the
wisdom displayed in that kingdom, belongs to God.

SPECIES, OR UNITS OF NATURE.

Are millions of years adequate as a cause, when associated with all the
forces known in nature, to produce new species and extirpate old ones?
The teachings of Darwin require an answer in the affirmative.

T