A spring of air never loses its elasticity; but it never gains
an energy which it had not at first. Tho prest a thousand
years under incumbent weights, the instant they are removed it
reassumes its original volume; but it gathers no more from the
long repose. But the life in the seed tends constantly toward
development, into the stalk, the blossom and the fruit. As long
as the seed remains perfect and vital, this tendency remains,
inhering in it; so that three thousand years after it was
shaken from the wheat-ear on the Nile, if planted it develops
and brings forth fruit in English gardens.--RICHARD S.
STORRS.
(1805)
=Life Pictures=--See REALISM.