The Germination of the Earth.

1.  “And God said Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself.”¹⁵³⁵

1535 Gen. i. 11.

1536 Empedocles, according to Plutarch (περὶ τῶν ἀρέσκ, etc. v. 342) πρῶτα τῶν ζώων τὰ δένδρα ἐκ γῆς ἀναδῦναί φησι, πρὶν τὸν ἥλιον περιαπλωθῆναι καὶ πρὶν ἡμέραν καὶ νύκτα διακριθῆναι.

2.  “Let the earth bring forth grass yielding seed after his kind.”  So that although some kind of grass is of service to animals, even their gain is our gain too, and seeds are especially designed for our use.  Such is the true meaning of the words that I have quoted.  “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed after his kind.”  In this manner we can re-establish the order of the words, of which the construction seems faulty in the actual version, and the economy of nature will be rigorously observed.  In fact, first comes germination, then verdure, then the growth of the plant, which after having attained its full growth arrives at perfection in seed.

How then, they say, can Scripture describe all the plants of the earth as seed-bearing, when the reed, couch-grass,¹⁵³⁷

1537 Triticum repens.

1538 On the history of this doctrine, of which Linnæus was the latest great exponent, and its contradiction in Darwin, see Haeckel’s Schöpfungsgeschichte, vol. i. ch. 2.

“Let the earth bring forth.”  See how, at this short word, at this brief command, the cold and sterile earth travailed and hastened to bring forth its fruit, as it cast away its sad and dismal covering to clothe itself in a more brilliant robe, proud of its proper adornment and displaying the infinite variety of plants.

I want creation to penetrate you with so much admiration that everywhere, wherever you may be, the least plant may bring to you the clear remembrance of the Creator.  If you see the grass of the fields, think of human nature, and remember the comparison of the wise Isaiah.  “All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field.”  Truly the rapid flow of life, the short gratification and pleasure that an instant of happiness gives a man, all wonderfully suit the comparison of the prophet.  To-day he is vigorous in body, fattened by luxury, and in the prime of life, with complexion fair like the flowers, strong and powerful and of irresistible energy; tomorrow and he will be an object of pity, withered by age or exhausted by sickness.  Another shines in all the splendour of a brilliant fortune, and around him are a multitude of flatterers, an escort of false friends on the track of his good graces; a crowd of kinsfolk, but of no true kin; a swarm of servants who crowd after him to provide for his food and for all his needs; and in his comings and goings this innumerable suite, which he drags after him, excites the envy of all whom he meets.  To fortune may be added power in the State, honours bestowed by the imperial throne, the government of a province, or the command of armies; a herald who precedes him is crying in a loud voice; lictors right and left also fill his subjects with awe, blows, confiscations, banishments, imprisonments, and all the means by which he strikes intolerable terror into all whom he has to rule.  And what then?  One night, a fever, a pleurisy, or an inflammation of the lungs, snatches away this man from the midst of men, stripped in a moment of all his stage accessories, and all this, his glory, is proved a mere dream.  Therefore the Prophet has compared human glory to the weakest flower.

3.  Up to this point, the order in which plants shoot bears witness to their first arrangement.  Every herb, every plant proceeds from a germ.  If, like the couch-grass and the crocus, it throws out a shoot from its root and from this lower protuberance, it must always germinate and start outwards.  If it proceeds from a seed, there is still, by necessity, first a germ, then the sprout, then green foliage, and finally the fruit which ripens upon a stalk hitherto dry and thick.  “Let the earth bring forth grass.”  When the seed falls into the earth, which contains the right combination of heat and moisture, it swells and becomes porous, and, grasping the surrounding earth, attracts to itself all that is suitable for it and that has affinity to it.  These particles of earth, however small they may be, as they fall and insinuate themselves into all the pores of the seed, broaden its bulk and make it send forth roots below, and shoot upwards, sending forth stalks no less numerous than the roots.  As the germ is always growing warm, the moisture, pumped up through the roots, and helped by the attraction of heat, draws a proper amount of nourishment from the soil, and distributes it to the stem, to the bark, to the husk, to the seed itself and to the beards with which it is armed.  It is owing to these successive accretions that each plant attains its natural development, as well corn as vegetables, herbs or brushwood.  A single plant, a blade of grass is sufficient to occupy all your intelligence in the contemplation of the skill which produced it.¹⁵³⁹

1539 “To me the meanest flower that blows can give Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.” Wordsworth, Ode on Immortality.

1540 Literally, knee—Latin geniculum.  cf. Xen., Anab. iv. 5, 26, and Theoph. viii. 2, 4.  “Knee-jointed” is a recognised English term for certain grasses.

4.  What shall I say?  What shall I leave unsaid?  In the rich treasures of creation it is difficult to select what is most precious; the loss of what is omitted is too severe.  “Let the earth bring forth grass;” and instantly, with useful plants, appear noxious plants; with corn, hemlock; with the other nutritious plants, hellebore, monkshood, mandrake and the juice of the poppy.  What then?  Shall we show no gratitude for so many beneficial gifts, and reproach the Creator for those which may be harmful to our life?  And shall we not reflect that all has not been created in view of the wants of our bellies?  The nourishing plants, which are destined for our use, are close at hand, and known by all the world.  But in creation nothing exists without a reason.  The blood of the bull is a poison:¹⁵⁴¹

1541 “Taurorum (sanguis) pestifer potu maxime.”  Plin. xi. 90.  Taurinus recens inter venena est.  2d. xxviii. 41.  cf. Dioscorid. in Alexiph. 25.

1542 cf. Galen. De Simp. Pac. iii.

1543 ὁ μανδραγόρας τους ἀνθρώπους κοιμίζει.  Xen., Symp. ii. 24.

1544 cf. Aratæus, De Morb. Aent. ii. 11.

1545 The Black Hellebore, or Christmas Rose, is a recognised alternative.  Whether this is the plant of Anticyra is doubtful.

5.  “Let the earth bring forth grass.”  What spontaneous provision is included in these words,—that which is present in the root, in the plant itself, and in the fruit, as well as that which our labour and husbandry add!  God did not command the earth immediately to give forth seed and fruit, but to produce germs, to grow green, and to arrive at maturity in the seed; so that this first command teaches nature what she has to do in the course of ages.  But, they ask, is it true that the earth produces seed after his kind, when often, after having sown wheat, we gather black grain?  This is not a change of kind, but an alteration, a disease of the grain.  It has not ceased to be wheat; it is on account of having been burnt that it is black, as one can learn from its name.¹⁵⁴⁶

1546 πυρός=wheat.  The root, which has nothing to do with πῦρ, is found by Curtius in the Slavonic pyro=rye, the Bohemian pyr=quitch grass, the Lettish purji=wheat, and the Lithuanian pyragas=wheaten bread.  (L. & S. in loc.)

1547 cf. Virg., Georg. i. 93:  “Aut Boreæ penetrabile frigus adurat.”  Ov. M. xiv. 763, Frigus adurat poma, and in Greek Arist., Meteor. iv. 5.

1548 Matt. iv. 26–28.

1549 cf. Horrescunt segetes.  Virg.,Georg. iii. 39.

6.  “Let the earth,” the Creator adds, “bring forth the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself.”¹⁵⁵⁰

1550 Gen. i. 11.

At this command every copse was thickly planted; all the trees, fir, cedar, cypress, pine, rose to their greatest height, the shrubs were straightway clothed with thick foliage.¹⁵⁵¹

1551 ἀμφίκομοι καὶ δασεῖς.  cf. Milton, “With frizzled hair implicit.”  P.L. vii.

1552 cf. Milton, P.L., B. iv., “Flowers of all hue and without thorn the rose,” and August. De Genesi contra Manichæos. i. 13.

1553 cf. S. John xv. 1-6.

1554 Isa. v. 1.

1555 Matt. xxi. 33.

1556 Ps. xxxiv. 7.

1557 cf. 1 Cor. xii. 28.

1558 Ps. lii. 8.

7.  But let us return to the examination of the ingenious contrivances of creation.  How many trees then arose, some to give us their fruits, others to roof our houses, others to build our ships, others to feed our fires!  What a variety in the disposition of their several parts!  And yet, how difficult is it to find the distinctive property of each of them, and to grasp the difference which separates them from other species.  Some strike deep roots, others do not; some shoot straight up and have only one stem, others appear to love the earth and, from their root upwards, divide into several shoots.  Those whose long branches stretch up afar into the air, have also deep roots which spread within a large circumference, a true foundation placed by nature to support the weight of the tree.  What variety there is in bark!  Some plants have smooth bark, others rough, some have only one layer, others several.  What a marvellous thing!  You may find in the youth and age of plants resemblances to those of man.  Young and vigorous, their bark is distended; when they grow old, it is rough and wrinkled.  Cut one, it sends forth new buds; the other remains henceforward sterile and as if struck with a mortal wound.  But further, it has been observed that pines, cut down, or even submitted to the action of fire, are changed into a forest of oaks.¹⁵⁵⁹

1559 The phenomenon has been observed in later days, though Basil may be at fault in his account of the cause.  When pines have been cleared away in North American forests young oaklings have sprung up.  The acorn lay long hid, unable to contend against the pine, but, when once the ground was clear, it sprouted.  This upgrowth of a new kind of tree had been accounted for partly by the burial of germs by jays, rooks, and some quadrupeds; partly by the theory of De Candolle and Liebig that roots expel certain substances which, though unfavourable to the vitality of the plant excreting them, are capable of supporting others.  So, on the pine pressure being removed, the hidden seeds sprout in a kind of vegetable manure.  cf. Sir Charles Lvell’s Travels in the United States and Rough’s Elements of Forestry, p. 19.

1560 Ambrose, Hexæm. iii. 13, writes:  Amygdalis quoque hoc genere medicari feruntur agricolæ, ut ex amaris dulces fiant fructus, ut et terebrent ejus radicem arboris, et in medium inserant surculum ejus arboris quam Græci πεύχην, nos piceam dicimus:  quo facto succi amaritudo deponitur.

Now there is such a variety of fruits in fruit trees that it is beyond all expression; a variety not only in the fruits of trees of different families, but even in those of the same species, if it be true, as gardeners say, that the sex of a tree influences the character of its fruits.  They distinguish male from female in palms; sometimes we see those which they call female lower their branches, as though with passionate desire, and invite the embraces of the male.  Then, those who take care of these plants shake over these palms the fertilizing dust from the male palm-tree, the psen as they call it:  the tree appears to share the pleasures of enjoyment; then it raises its branches, and its foliage resumes its usual form.  The same is said of the fig tree.  Some plant wild fig trees near cultivated fig trees, and there are others who, to remedy the weakness of the productive fig tree of our gardens, attach to the branches unripe figs and so retain the fruit which had already begun to drop and to be lost.  What lesson does nature here give us?  That we must often borrow, even from those who are strangers to the faith, a certain vigour to show forth good works.  If you see outside the Church, in pagan life, or in the midst of a pernicious heresy, the example of virtue and fidelity to moral laws, redouble your efforts to resemble the productive fig tree, who by the side of the wild fig tree, gains strength, prevents the fruit from being shed, and nourishes it with more care.

8.  Plants reproduce themselves in so many different ways, that we can only touch upon the chief among them.  As to fruits themselves, who could review their varieties, their forms, their colours, the peculiar flavour, and the use of each of them?  Why do some fruits ripen when exposed bare to the rays of the sun, while others fill out while encased in shells?  Trees of which the fruit is tender have, like the fig tree, a thick shade of leaves; those, on the contrary, of which the fruits are stouter, like the nut, are only covered by a light shade.  The delicacy of the first requires more care; if the latter had a thicker case, the shade of the leaves would be harmful.  Why is the vine leaf serrated, if not that the bunches of grapes may at the same time resist the injuries of the air and receive through the openings all the rays of the sun?  Nothing has been done without motive, nothing by chance.  All shows ineffable wisdom.¹⁵⁶¹

1561 On the argument from design, cf. Aristotle, De Part. Anim. iii. 1, as quoted and translated by Cudworth, III. xxxvii. 3:  “A carpenter would give a better account than so, for he would not think it sufficient to say that the fabric came to be of such a form because the instruments happened to fall so and so, but he will tell you that it is because himself made such strokes, and that he directed the instruments and determined their motion after such a manner, to this end that he might make the whole a fabric fit and useful for such purposes.”  On the strength and weakness of the argument from design, in view of modern speculation, suggestive matter is contained in Dr. Eagar’s Buther’s Analogy and Modern Thought, p. 49 et sq.

What discourse can touch all?  Can the human mind make an exact review, remark every distinctive property, exhibit all the differences, unveil with certainty so many mysterious causes?  The same water, pumped up through the root, nourishes in a different way the root itself, the bark of the trunk, the wood and the pith.  It becomes leaf, it distributes itself among the branches and twigs and makes the fruits swell—it gives to the plant its gum and its sap.  Who will explain to us the difference between all these?  There is a difference between the gum of the mastich and the juice of the balsam, a difference between that which distils in Egypt and Libya from the fennel.  Amber is, they say, the crystallized sap of plants.  And for a proof, see the bits of straws and little insects which have been caught in the sap while still liquid and imprisoned there.  In one word, no one without long experience could find terms to express the virtue of it.  How, again, does this water become wine in the vine, and oil in the olive tree?  Yet what is marvellous is, not to see it become sweet in one fruit, fat and unctuous in another, but to see in sweet fruits an inexpressible variety of flavour.  There is one sweetness of the grape, another of the apple, another of the fig, another of the date.  I shall willingly give you the gratification of continuing this research.  How is it that this same water has sometimes a sweet taste, softened by its remaining in certain plants, and at other times stings the palate because it has become acid by passing through others?  How is it, again, that it attains extreme bitterness, and makes the mouth rough when it is found in wormwood and in scammony?  That it has in acorns and dogwood a sharp and rough flavour?  That in the turpentine tree and the walnut tree it is changed into a soft and oily matter?

9.  But what need is there to continue, when in the same fig tree we have the most opposite flavours, as bitter in the sap as it is sweet in the fruit?  And in the vine, is it not as sweet in the grapes as it is astringent in the branches?  And what a variety of colour!  Look how in a meadow this same water becomes red in one flower, purple in another, blue in this one, white in that.  And this diversity of colours, is it to be compared to that of scents?  But I perceive that an insatiable curiosity is drawing out my discourse beyond its limits.  If I do not stop and recall it to the law of creation, day will fail me whilst making you see great wisdom in small things.

“Let the earth bring forth the fruit tree yielding fruit.”  Immediately the tops of the mountains were covered with foliage:  paradises were artfully laid out, and an infinitude of plants embellished the banks of the rivers.  Some were for the adornment of man’s table; some to nourish animals with their fruits and their leaves; some to provide medicinal help by giving us their sap, their juice, their chips, their bark or their fruit.  In a word, the experience of ages, profiting from every chance, has not been able to discover anything useful, which the penetrating foresight of the Creator did not first perceive and call into existence.  Therefore, when you see the trees in our gardens, or those of the forest, those which love the water or the land, those which bear flowers, or those which do not flower, I should like to see you recognising grandeur even in small objects, adding incessantly to your admiration of, and redoubling your love for the Creator.  Ask yourself why He has made some trees evergreen and others deciduous; why, among the first, some lose their leaves, and others always keep them.  Thus the olive and the pine shed their leaves, although they renew them insensibly and never appear to be despoiled of their verdure.  The palm tree, on the contrary, from its birth to its death, is always adorned with the same foliage.  Think again of the double life of the tamarisk; it is an aquatic plant, and yet it covers the desert.  Thus, Jeremiah compares it to the worst of characters—the double character.¹⁵⁶²

1562 cf. Jer. xvii. 6, LXX.

10.  “Let the earth bring forth.”  This short command was in a moment a vast nature, an elaborate system.  Swifter than thought it produced the countless qualities of plants.  It is this command which, still at this day, is imposed on the earth, and in the course of each year displays all the strength of its power to produce herbs, seeds and trees.  Like tops, which after the first impulse, continue their evolutions, turning upon themselves when once fixed in their centre; thus nature, receiving the impulse of this first command, follows without interruption the course of ages, until the consummation of all things.¹⁵⁶³

1563 “Ac mihi quidem videtur, cum duæ sententiæ fuissent veterum philosophorum, una eorum qui censerent omnia ita fato fieri, ut id fatum vim necessitatis afferret, in qua sententia Democritus, Heraclitus, Empedocles, Aristoteles fuit; altera eorum, quibus viderentur sine ullo fato esse animorum motus voluntarii:  Chrysippus tanquam arbiter honorarius, medium ferire voluisse…quanquam assensio non possit fieri nisi commota visa, tamen cum id visum proximam causam habeat, non principalem hanc habet rationem, ut Chrysippus vult, quam dudum diximus, non, ut illa quidem fieri possit, nulla vi extrinsecus excitata, necesse est enim assensionem viso commoveri, sed revertitur ad cylindrum, et ad turbinem suum, quæ moveri incipere, nisi pulsa non possunt:  id autem cum accidit suapte natura, quod superest et cylindrum volvi, et versari turbinem putat.”  (Cic., De fato. xviii.)

1564 cf. Ps. xcii. 13.

E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH