he honeycomb was
constructed throughout to satisfy its refined mathematical instincts;
whereas it is now generally admitted to be the result of the simple
principle of economy of material applied to a primitive cylindrical
cell.[162]

In studying the phenomena of colour in the organic world we have been
led to realise the wonderful complexity of the adaptations which bring
each species into harmonious relation with all those which surround it,
and which thus link together the whole of nature in a network of
relations of marvellous intricacy. Yet all this is but, as it were, the
outward show and garment of nature, behind which lies the inner
structure--the framework, the vessels, the cells, the circulating
fluids, and the digestive and reproductive processes,--and behind these
again those mysterious chemical, electrical, and vital forces which
constitute what we term Life. These forces appear to be fundamentally
the same for all organisms, as is the material of which all are
constructed; and we thus find behind the outer diversities an inner
relationship which binds together the myriad forms of life.

Each species of animal or plant thus forms part of one harmonious whole,
carrying in all the details of its complex structure the record of the
long story of organic development; and it was with a truly inspired
insight that our great philosophical poet apostrophised the humble
weed--

Flower in the crannied wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies,
I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,
Little flower--but _if_ I could understand
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and man is.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 136: Burchell's _Travels_, vol. i. p. 10.]

[Footnote 137: _Nature_, vol. iii. p. 507.]

[Footnote 138: _Flowers, Fruits, and Leaves_, p. 128 (Fig. 79).]

[Footnote 139: For a popular sketch of these, see Sir J. Lubbock's
_Flowers, Fruits, and Leaves_, or any general botanical work.]

[Footnote 140: _Nature_, vol. xv. p, 117.]

[Footnote 141: Grant Allen's _Colour Sense_, p. 113.]

[Footnote 142: Canon Tristram's _Natural History of the Bible_, pp. 483,
484.]

[Footnote 143: For a complete historical account of this subject with
full references to all the works upon it, see the Introduction to
Hermann Mueller's _Fertilisation of Flowers_, translated by D'Arcy W.
Thompson.]

[Footnote 144: For the full detail of his experiments, see _Cross-and
Self-Fe