Nature Witnessing to God—See [God Revealed in Nature].
NATURE, WONDERS OF
The oak-galls are formed only where a gall-insect has pricked a live leaf or stem or twig with her sharp, sting-like little egg-layer, and has left an egg in the plant tissue. Nor does the gall begin to form even yet. It begins only after the young gall-insect is hatched from the egg, or at least begins to develop inside the egg. Then the gall grows rapidly. The tree sends an extra supply of sap to this spot, and the plant-cells multiply, and the house begins to form around the little white grub. Now this house or gall not only encloses and protects the insect, but it provides it with food in the form of plant-sap and a special mass or layer of soft, nutritious plant-tissue lying right around the grub. So the gall-insect not only lives in the house, but eats it!—Vernon L. Kellogg, “Insect Stories.”
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See Remains.
NATURE WORSHIP
Father Brebeuf, writing about the Hurons in 1636, tells of a certain rock which they passed on their way to Quebec, and to which they always offered tobacco, placing it in the cleft of the rock and addressing the demon who lived there with prayer for protection and success. When the Indian in crossing a lake finds himself in serious danger, he prays to the spirit of the lake, throwing an offering, perhaps a dog, into the water. When the sound of the thundering frightens him, he prays to the thunder-being for protection. When he needs rain, he directs his rites to the god of rain and thunder. Air and earth and water are alive with spirits, any one of which may be prayed to; but, as a matter of fact, certain ones are singled out for worship. Add to these the many animal deities which are invoked even more frequently than those of the elements in the sacred formulas of the Cherokees.
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See [Plant Worship].
NAVAL POWERS AND ARMAMENTS