“There is nothing in which deduction is so necessary as in religion,” said he, leaning with his back against the shutters. “It can be built up as an exact science by the reasoner. Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. Its smell and its colour are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers.”
From Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Adventure of the Naval Treaty" -- Sherlock Holmes examines a flower and deduces the goodness of God.
In the case of this odorless orchid, however, I personally would deduce a sense of humor. (are those large insectoid eyes on the white protuberance at the center? Mouse over the picture and click for a close-up of Divine Humor. )
Another re-post from the beginnings of this blog.
