en
not only gathers, but forms, with the greatest energy.

And where this life is in at full power, its form becomes invested with
aspects that are chiefly delightful to our own human passions; namely, at
first, with the loveliest outlines of shape; and, secondly, with the most
brilliant phases of the primary colors, blue, yellow, and red or white,
the unison of all; and, to make it all more strange, this time of
peculiar and perfect glory is associated with relations of the plants or
blossoms to each other, correspondent to the joy of love in human
creatures, and having the same object in the continuance of the race.
Only, with respect to plants, as animals, we are wrong in speaking as if
the object of this strong life were only the bequeathing of itself. The
flower is the end or proper object of the seed, not the seed of the
flower. The reason for seeds is that flowers may be; not the reason of
flowers that seeds may be. The flower itself is the creature which the
spirit makes; only, in connection with its perfectness is placed the
giving birth to its successor.

61. The main fact then, about a flower is that it is part of the plant's
form developed at the moment of its intensest life; and this inner
rapture is usually marked externally for us by the flush of one or more
of the primary colors. What the character of the flower shall be,
depends entirely upon the portion of the plant into which this rapture of
spirit has been put. Sometimes the life is put into its outer sheath,
and then the outer sheath becomes white and pure, and full of strength
and grace; sometimes the life is put into the common leaves, just under
the blossom, and they become scarlet or purple; sometimes the life is put
into the stalks of the flower and they flush blue; sometimes into its
outer enclosure or calyx; mostly into its inner cup; but, in all cases,
the presence of the strongest life is asserted by characters in which the
human sight takes pleasure, and which seem prepared with distinct
reference to us, or rather, bear, in being delightful, evidence of having
been produced by the power of the same spirit as our own.

62. And we are led to feel this still more strongly because all the
distinctions of species,* both in plants and animals, appear to have
similar connection with human character. Whatever the origin of species
may be, or however those species, once formed, may be influenced by
external accident, the groups into which