light of day, and a second time committed to the waters, it has, by the aid of navigation, been conveyed to the scene of its next and most considerable change by fire; a change during which it becomes subservient to the most important wants and conveniences of Man. In this seventh stage of its long eventful history, it seems to the vulgar eye to undergo annihilation; its Elements are indeed released from the mineral combinations they have maintained for ages, but their apparent destruction is only the commencement of new sue cessions of change and of activity. Set free from their long imprisonment, they return to their native Atmosphere, from which they were absorbed to take part in the primeval vegetation of the Earth. To-morrow, they may contribute to the substance of timber, in the Trees of our existing forests; and having for a while resumed their place in the living vegetable kingdom, may, ere long be applied a second time to the use and benefit of man. And when decay or tire shall once more consign them to the earth, or to the atmosphere, the same Elements will enter on some further department, of their perpetual ministration, in the economy of the material world.
Fossil Coniferæ.[1]
The Coniferæ form a large and very important tribe among living plants, which are characterized, not only by peculiarities in their fructification (as Gymnospermous phanerogamiæ,)[2] but also by certain remarkable arrangements
- ↑ See Pl. 1. Figs. 1. 31. 32. 69.
- ↑ We owe to Mr. Brown, the important discovery, that Coniferæ and Cycadeæ are the only two families of plants that have their seeds originally naked, and not enclosed within an Ovary. (See Appendix to Captain King's Voyage to Australia.) They have for this reason been arranged in a distinct order, as Gymnospermous Phanerogamiæ. This peculiarity in the Ovulum is accompanied throughout both these families, by peculiarities in the internal structure of their stems, in which they differ from almost all dicotyledonous plants, and in some respects also from each other.
