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diff --git a/old/68953-0.txt b/old/68953-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 8223955..0000000 --- a/old/68953-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,9361 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Aspects of Nature (Vol. 2 of 2), by -Alexander von Humboldt - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Aspects of Nature (Vol. 2 of 2) - In different lands and different climates; with scientific - elucidations - -Author: Alexander von Humboldt - -Translator: Elizabeth Sabine - -Release Date: September 10, 2022 [eBook #68953] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Henry Flower and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team - at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - generously made available by The Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASPECTS OF NATURE (VOL. 2 OF -2) *** - - - - - - ASPECTS OF NATURE, - IN - DIFFERENT LANDS AND DIFFERENT CLIMATES; - - WITH - - Scientific Elucidations. - - BY - ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. - - TRANSLATED BY MRS. SABINE. - - IN TWO VOLUMES. - - VOL. II. - - LONDON: - PRINTED FOR - LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS, - PATERNOSTER ROW; AND - JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. - 1849. - - - - -Wilson and Ogilvy, Skinner Street, Snowhill, London. - - - - -CONTENTS OF VOL. II. - - - PAGE - - PHYSIOGNOMY OF PLANTS 3 - - Annotations and Additions 33 - - Postscript on the Physiognomic Classification of Plants 205 - - ON THE STRUCTURE AND MODE OF ACTION OF VOLCANOS, IN DIFFERENT - PARTS OF THE GLOBE 214 - - Annotations and Additions 243 - - THE VITAL FORCE, OR THE RHODIAN GENIUS 251 - - Note 259 - - THE PLATEAU OF CAXAMARCA, THE ANCIENT CAPITAL OF THE INCA - ATAHUALLPA, and the First View of the Pacific Ocean, from the - Crest of the Andes 267 - - Annotations and Additions 303 - - - General Summary of the CONTENTS of the Second Volume 327 - - INDEX 341 - - - - -ASPECTS OF NATURE - -IN - -DIFFERENT LANDS AND DIFFERENT CLIMATES. - - - - -PHYSIOGNOMY OF PLANTS. - - -When the active curiosity of man is engaged in interrogating Nature, -or when his imagination dwells on the wide fields of organic creation, -among the multifarious impressions which his mind receives, perhaps -none is so strong and profound as that of the universal profusion -with which life is everywhere distributed. Even on the polar ice the -air resounds with the cries or songs of birds, and with the hum of -insects. Nor is it only the lower dense and vaporous strata of the -atmosphere which are thus filled with life, but also the higher and -more ethereal regions. Whenever Mont Blanc or the summits of the -Cordilleras have been ascended, living creatures have been found there. -On the Chimborazo,[1] eight thousand feet higher than Etna, we found -butterflies and other winged insects, borne by ascending currents of -air to those almost unapproachable solitudes, which man, led by a -restless curiosity or unappeasable thirst of knowledge, treads with -adventurous but cautious steps: like him strangers in those elevated -regions, their presence shows us that the more flexible organization of -animal creation can subsist far beyond the limits at which vegetation -ceases. The condor,[2] the giant of the Vulture tribe, often soared -over our heads above all the summits of the Andes, at an altitude -higher than would be the Peak of Teneriffe if piled on the snow-covered -crests of the Pyrenees. The rapacity of this powerful bird attracts him -to these regions, whence his far-seeing eye may discern the objects -of his pursuit, the soft-wooled Vicunas, which, wandering in herds, -frequent, like the Chamois, the mountain pastures adjacent to the -regions of perpetual snow. - -But if the unassisted eye sees life distributed throughout the -atmosphere, when armed with the microscope we discover far other -marvels. Rotiferæ, Brachionæ, and a multitude of microscopic -animalculæ, are carried up by the winds from the surface of evaporating -waters. These minute creatures, motionless and apparently dead, are -borne to and fro in the air until the falling dews bring them back to -the surface of the earth, dissolve the film or envelope which encloses -their transparent rotating bodies,[3] and, probably by means of the -oxygen which all waters contain, breathe new irritability into their -dormant organs. - -According to Ehrenberg’s brilliant discovery, the yellow sand or dust -which falls like rain on the Atlantic near the Cape de Verde Islands, -and is occasionally carried even to Italy and Middle Europe, consists -of a multitude of siliceous-shelled microscopic animals. Perhaps -many of them float for years in the upper strata of the atmosphere, -until they are brought down by vertical currents or in accompaniment -with the superior current of the trade-winds, still susceptible of -revivification, and multiplying their species by spontaneous division -in conformity with the particular laws of their organisation. - -But, besides creatures fully formed, the atmosphere contains -innumerable germs of future life, such as the eggs of insects and the -seeds of plants, the latter provided with light hairy or feathery -appendages, by means of which they are wafted through the air during -long autumnal wanderings. Even the fertilizing dust or pollen from -the anthers of the male flowers, in species in which the sexes are -separated, is carried over land and sea, by winds and by the agency of -winged insects,[4] to the solitary female plant on other shores. Thus -wherever the glance of the inquirer into Nature penetrates, he sees the -continual dissemination of life, either fully formed or in the germ. - -If the aereal ocean in which we are submerged, and above the surface of -which we cannot rise, be indispensable to the existence of organised -beings, they also require a more substantial aliment, which they can -find only at the bottom of this gaseous ocean. This bottom is of two -kinds; the smaller portion consisting of dry land in immediate contact -with the external atmosphere, and the larger portion consisting of -water, which may perhaps have been formed thousands of years ago by -electric agencies from gaseous substances, and which is now incessantly -undergoing decomposition in the laboratories of Nature, in the clouds -and in the pulsating vessels of animals and plants. Organic forms also -descend deep below the surface of the earth, wherever rain or surface -water can percolate either by natural cavities or by mines or other -excavations made by man: the subterranean cryptogamic Flora was an -object of my scientific research in the early part of my life. Thermal -springs of very high temperature nourish small Hydropores, Confervæ, -and Oscillatoria. At Bear Lake, near the Arctic Circle, Richardson saw -the ground, which continues frozen throughout the summer at a depth of -twenty inches, covered with flowering plants. - -We do not yet know where life is most abundant,--whether on continents -or in the unfathomed depths of the ocean. Through the excellent work of -Ehrenberg, “Über das Verhalten des kleinsten Lebens,” we have seen the -sphere of organic life extend, and its horizon widen before our eyes, -both in the tropical parts of the ocean and in the fixed or floating -masses of ice of the Antarctic seas. Siliceous-shelled Polygastrica, -and even Coscinodiscæ, with their green ovaries, have been found alive -enveloped in masses of ice only twelve degrees from the Pole; the small -black Glacier flea (Desoria glacialis) and Podurellæ inhabit the narrow -tubular holes examined by Agassiz in the Swiss glaciers. Ehrenberg has -shown that on several microscopic Infusoria (Synedra, Cocconeis) others -live as parasites, and that in the Gallionellæ such is their prodigious -power of development, or capability of division, that in the space of -four days an animalcule invisible to the naked eye can form two cubic -feet of the Bilin polishing slate. In the sea, gelatinous worms, living -or dead, shine like stars,[5] and by their phosphoric light change -the surface of the wide ocean into a sea of fire. Ineffaceable is the -impression made on my mind by the calm nights of the torrid zone, on -the waters of the Pacific. I still see the dark azure of the firmament, -the constellation of the Ship near the zenith, and that of the Cross -declining towards the horizon, shedding through the perfumed air their -soft and planetary lustre; while bright furrows of flashing light -marked the track of the dolphins through the midst of the foaming waves. - -Not only the ocean, but also the waters of our marshes, hide from us -an innumerable multitude of strange forms. The naked eye can with -difficulty distinguish the Cyclidias, the Euglenes, and the host of -Naids divisible by branches like the Lemna or Duckweed, of which -they seek the shade. Other creatures inhabit receptacles where the -light cannot penetrate, and an atmosphere variously composed, but -differing from that which we breathe: such are the spotted Ascaris, -which lives beneath the skin of the earthworm; the Leucophra, of -a bright silvery colour, in the interior of the shore Naid; and a -Pentastoma, which inhabits the large pulmonary cells of the rattlesnake -of the tropics.[6] There are animalculæ in the blood of frogs and of -salmon, and even, according to Nordmann, in the fluids of the eyes of -fishes and in the gills of the Bleak. Thus the most hidden recesses -of creation teem with life. We propose in these pages to direct our -attention to the vegetable world, on the existence of which that of -animals is dependent. Plants are incessantly engaged in disposing -into order towards subsequent organization the raw materials of which -the earth is composed: it is their office, by their vital forces or -powers, to prepare those substances which, after undergoing a thousand -modifications, are gradually converted to nobler purposes in the -formation of nervous tissues. In directing our consideration towards -the various families of plants, we shall at the same time glance at -the multitude of animated beings to which they afford nutriment and -protection. - -The carpet of flowers and of verdure spread over the naked crust of -our planet is unequally woven; it is thicker where the sun rises high -in the ever cloudless heavens, and thinner towards the poles, in the -less happy climes where returning frosts often destroy the opening -buds of spring, or the ripening fruits of autumn. Everywhere, however, -man finds some plants to minister to his support and enjoyment. If -new lands are formed, the organic forces are ever ready to cover the -naked rock with life. Sometimes, as at an early period among the -Greek Islands, volcanic forces suddenly elevate above the surface -of the boiling waves a rock covered with Scoriæ: sometimes, by a -long-continued and more tranquil series of phenomena, the collective -labours of united Lithophytes[7] raise their cellular dwellings on the -crests of submarine mountains, until, after thousands of years, the -structure reaches the level of the ocean, when the creatures which have -formed it die, leaving a low flat coral island. How are the seeds of -plants brought so immediately to these new shores? by wandering birds, -or by the winds and waves of the ocean? The distance from other coasts -makes it difficult to determine this question; but, no sooner is the -rock of the newly raised islands in direct contact with the atmosphere, -than there is formed on its surface, in our northern countries, a -soft silky net-work, appearing to the naked eye as coloured spots and -patches. Some of these patches are bordered by single or double raised -lines running round their margins; other patches are crossed by similar -lines traversing them in various directions. Gradually the light colour -of the patches becomes darker, the bright yellow which was visible -at a distance changes to brown, and the bluish gray of the Leprarias -becomes a dusty black. The edges of neighbouring patches approach and -run into each other; and on the dark ground thus formed there appear -other lichens, of a circular shape and dazzling whiteness. Thus an -organic film or covering establishes itself by successive layers; and -as mankind, in forming settled communities, pass through different -stages of civilisation, so is the gradual propagation and extension -of plants connected with determinate physical laws. Lichens form the -first covering of the naked rock, where afterwards lofty forest trees -rear their airy summits. The successive growth of mosses, grasses, -herbaceous plants, and shrubs or bushes, occupies the intervening -period of long but undetermined duration. The part which lichens and -mosses perform in the northern countries is effected within the tropics -by Portulacas, Gomphrenas, and other low and succulent shore plants. -The history of the vegetable covering of our planet, and its gradual -propagation over the desert crust of the earth, has its epochs, as -well as that of the migrations of the animal world. - -Yet although organic life is everywhere diffused, and the organic -powers are incessantly at work in reconnecting with each other the -elements set free by death or dissolution, the abundance and variety -of organised beings, and the rapidity with which they are renewed, -differ in different climates. In the cold zones, the activity of -organic life undergoes a temporary suspension during a portion of the -year by frost; fluidity is an essential condition of life or vital -action, and animals and plants, with the exception of mosses and other -cryptogamia, are in those regions buried for several months of each -year in winter sleep. Over a large part of the earth, therefore, there -could only be developed organic forms capable of supporting either -a considerable diminution of heat, or, being without leaves, a long -interruption of the vital functions. Thus we see variety and grace of -form, mixture of colours, and generally the perpetually youthful energy -and vigour of organic life, increase as we approach the tropics. This -increase can be denied only by those who have never quitted Europe, or -who have neglected the study of physical geography. When, leaving our -oak forests, we traverse the Alps or the Pyrenees, and enter Italy or -Spain, or when we direct our attention to some of the African shores -of the Mediterranean, we might easily be led to draw the erroneous -inference that hot countries are marked by the absence of trees. But -those who do so, forget that the South of Europe wore a different -aspect on the first arrival of Pelasgian or Carthaginian colonies; they -forget that an ancient civilisation causes the forests to recede more -and more, and that the wants and restless activity of large communities -of men gradually despoil the face of the earth of the refreshing -shades which still rejoice the eye in Northern and Middle Europe, and -which, even more than any historic documents, prove the recent date -and youthful age of our civilization. The great catastrophe which -occasioned the formation of the Mediterranean, when the swollen waters -of what was previously an immense lake burst through the barriers -of the Dardanelles and of the Pillars of Hercules, appears to have -stripped the adjacent countries of a large portion of their coating of -vegetable mould. The traditions of Samothrace,[8] handed down to us -by Grecian writers, appear to indicate the recentness of the epoch of -the ravages caused by this great change. In all the countries which -surround the Mediterranean, and which are characterised by beds of the -tertiary and cretaceous periods (nummulitic limestone and neocomian -rocks), great part of the surface of the earth consists of naked rock. -One especial cause of the picturesque beauty of Italian scenery is the -contrast thus afforded between the bare rock, and the islands if I -may so call them of luxuriant vegetation scattered over its surface. -Wherever the rock is less intersected with fissures, so that it retains -water at the surface, and where it is covered with vegetable mould, -there, as on the enchanting shores of the Lake of Albano, Italy has her -oak forests, with glades as deeply embowered and verdure as fresh as -those which we admire in the North of Europe. - -The deserts to the south of the Atlas, and the immense plains or -steppes of South America, must be regarded as only local phenomena. The -latter, the South American steppes, are clothed, in the rainy season -at least, with grass, and with low-growing almost herbaceous mimosas. -The African deserts are, indeed, at all seasons devoid of vegetation; -seas of sand, surrounded by forest shores clothed with perpetual -verdure. A few scattered fan-palms alone recall to the wanderer’s -recollection that these awful solitudes belong to the domain of the -same animated terrestrial creation which is elsewhere so rich and so -varied. The fantastic play of the mirage, occasioned by the effects of -radiant heat, sometimes causes these palm trees to appear divided from -the ground and hovering above its surface, and sometimes shews their -inverted image reflected in strata of air undulating like the waves of -the sea. On the west of the great Peruvian chain of the Andes, on the -coasts of the Pacific, I have passed entire weeks in traversing similar -deserts destitute of water. - -The origin of extensive arid tracts destitute of plants, in the midst -of countries rich in luxuriant vegetation, is a geognostical problem -which has hitherto been but little considered, but which has doubtless -depended on ancient revolutions of nature, such as inundations or great -volcanic changes. When once a region has lost the covering of plants -with which it was invested, if the sands are loose and mobile and are -destitute of springs, and if the heated atmosphere, forming constantly -ascending currents, prevents precipitation taking place from clouds[9], -thousands of years may elapse ere organic life can pass from the -verdant shores to the interior of the sandy sea, and repossess itself -of the domain from which it had been banished. - -Those, therefore, who can view nature with a comprehensive glance and -apart from local phenomena, may see from the poles to the equator -organic life and vigour gradually augment with the augmentation of -vivifying heat. But, in the course of this progressive increase there -are reserved to each zone its own peculiar beauties; to the tropics, -variety and grandeur of vegetable forms; to the north, the aspect of -its meadows and green pastures, and the periodic reawakening of nature -at the first breath of the mild air of spring. Each zone, besides its -own peculiar advantages, has its own distinctive character. Primeval -laws of organisation, notwithstanding a certain degree of freedom in -the abnormal development of single parts, bind all animal and vegetable -forms to fixed ever-recurring types. As we recognise in distinct -organic beings a determinate physiognomy, and as descriptive botany and -zoology, in the restricted sense of the terms, consist in a detailed -analysis of animal and vegetable forms, so each region of the earth -has a natural physiognomy peculiar to itself. The idea indicated by -the painter by expressions such as “Swiss nature,” “Italian sky,” &c., -rests on a partial perception of this local character in the aspect -of nature. The azure of the sky, the lights and shadows, the haze -resting on the distance, the forms of animals, the succulency of the -plants and herbage, the brightness of the foliage, the outline of -the mountains, are all elements which determine the total impression -characteristic of each district or region. It is true that in every -zone the same kinds of rocks, trachyte, basalt, porphyritic schists, -and dolomite, form groups having the same physiognomy and aspect. -The greenstone precipices of South America and Mexico resemble those -of the Fichtel-Gebirge of Germany, just as among animals the form of -the Allco, or native race of dogs of the New Continent, corresponds -perfectly with that of the European race. For the inorganic crust of -the globe shews itself independent of climatic influences; whether it -be that differences of climate depending on differences of latitude -were more recent than the formation of the rocks, or that the mass -of the earth in solidifying and parting with its heat regulated its -own temperature,[10] instead of receiving it from without. Thus all -the kinds of rock with which we are acquainted may be met with in all -parts of the globe, and everywhere affect the same characteristic -forms. Everywhere basalt rises in twin mountains and truncated cones; -everywhere the porphyritic trap appears in grotesquely arranged masses, -and granite in rounded summits. Also similar forms of trees--pines -and oaks--adorn the declivities of the mountains of Sweden, and -those of the most southern part of Mexico.[11] Yet, notwithstanding -these correspondences of form, and this similarity of outline in the -component parts of the picture, their grouping gives to the whole the -greatest difference of character. - -Mineralogy is not more distinct from geology than is the individual -description of natural objects from a general description of the -physiognomy of nature. George Forster, in the narrative of his voyages, -and in his other publications,--Goethe, in the descriptions of nature -which so many of his immortal works contain,--Buffon, Bernardin de -St. Pierre, and Chateaubriand, have traced with inimitable truth of -description the character of some of the zones into which the earth -is divided. Not only do such descriptions afford us mental enjoyment -of a high order, but the knowledge of the character which nature -assumes in different regions is moreover intimately connected with the -history of man, and of his civilisation. For although the commencement -of this civilisation is not solely determined by physical relations, -yet the direction which it takes, the national character, and the -more grave or gay dispositions of men, are dependent in a very high -degree on climatic influences. How powerfully have the skies of Greece -acted on its inhabitants! The nations settled in the fair and happy -regions bounded by the Euphrates, the Halys, and the Egean Sea, also -early attained amenity of manners and delicacy of sentiment. When in -the middle ages religious enthusiasm suddenly re-opened the sacred -East to the nations of Europe who were sinking back into barbarism, -our ancestors in returning to their homes brought with them gentler -manners, acquired in those delightful valleys. The poetry of the -Greeks, and the ruder songs of the primitive northern nations, owe -great part of their peculiar character to the aspect of the plants and -animals seen by the bard, to the mountains and valleys which surrounded -him, and to the air which he breathed. And to recall more familiar -objects, who does not feel himself differently affected in the dark -shade of the beech, on hills crowned with scattered fir-trees, or on -the turfy pasture, where the wind rustles in the trembling foliage -of the birch? These trees of our native land have often suggested or -recalled to our minds images and thoughts, either of a melancholy, of a -grave and elevating, or of a cheerful character. The influence of the -physical on the moral world,--that reciprocal and mysterious action -and reaction of the material and the immaterial,--gives to the study -of nature, when regarded from higher points of view, a peculiar charm, -still too little recognised. - -But if the characteristic aspect of different portions of the earth’s -surface depends conjointly on all external phenomena,--if the contours -of the mountains, the physiognomy of plants and animals, the azure -of the sky, the form of the clouds, and the transparency of the -atmosphere, all combine in forming that general impression which is -the result of the whole, yet it cannot be denied that the vegetable -covering with which the whole earth is adorned is the principal -element in the impression. Animal forms are deficient in mass, and the -individual power of motion which animals possess, as well as often the -smallness of their size, withdraw them from our sight. The vegetable -forms, on the contrary, produce a greater effect by their magnitude -and by their constant presence. The age of trees is marked by their -size, and the union of age with the manifestation of constantly renewed -vigour is a charm peculiar to the vegetable kingdom. The gigantic -Dragon-tree of Orotava,[12] (as sacred in the eyes of the inhabitants -of the Canaries as the olive-tree in the Citadel of Athens, or the -Elm of Ephesus), the diameter of which I found, when I visited those -Islands, to be more than 16 feet, had the same colossal size, when the -French adventurers, the Béthencourts, conquered these gardens of the -Hesperides in the beginning of the fifteenth century; yet it still -flourishes, as if in perpetual youth, bearing flowers and fruit. A -tropical forest of Hymenæas and Cæsalpinieæ may perhaps present to us a -monument of more than a thousand years’ standing. - -If we embrace in one general view the different species of phænogamous -plants at present contained in herbariums, the number of which may -now be estimated at considerably above 80000,[13] we shall recognise -in this prodigious multitude certain leading forms to which many -others may be referred. In determining these leading forms or types, -on the individual beauty, the distribution, and the grouping of which -the physiognomy of the vegetation of a country depends, we must not -follow the march of systems of botany, in which from other motives -the parts chiefly regarded are the smaller organs of propagation, the -flowers and the fruit; we must, on the contrary, consider solely that -which by its mass stamps a peculiar character on the total impression -produced, or on the aspect of the country. Among the leading forms of -vegetation to which I allude, there are, indeed, some which coincide -with families belonging to the “natural systems” of botanists. Such are -the forms of Bananas, Palms, Casuarineæ, and Coniferæ. But the botanic -systematist divides many groups which the physiognomist is obliged to -unite. When plants or trees present themselves in masses, the outlines -and distribution of the leaves and the form of the stems and of the -branches are blended together. The painter (and here the artist’s -delicate tact and appreciation of nature are demanded) can distinguish -in the middle distance and background of a landscape groves of palms or -pines from beech woods, but he cannot distinguish the latter from woods -consisting of other deciduous forest trees. - -Above sixteen different forms of vegetation are principally concerned -in determining the aspect or physiognomy of Nature. I mention only -those which I have observed in the course of my travels both in the -New and Old Continents, where during many years I have attentively -examined the vegetation of the regions comprised between the 60th -degree of North and the 12th degree of South latitude. The number of -these forms will no doubt be considerably augmented when travellers -shall have penetrated farther into the interior of Continents, and -discovered new genera of plants. In the South-eastern part of Asia, -the interior of Africa and of New Holland, and in South America from -the river of the Amazons to the province of Chiquitos, the vegetation -is still entirely unknown to us. How if at some future time a country -should be discovered in which ligneous fungi, Cenomyce rangiferina, -or mosses, should form tall trees? The Neckera dendroides, a German -species of moss, is in fact arborescent; and bamboos (which are -arborescent grasses) and the tree ferns of the tropics, which are often -higher than our lime-trees and alders, now present to the European a -sight as surprising as would be that of a forest of tree mosses to its -discoverer. The absolute size and the degree of development attained by -organic forms of the same family (whether plants or animals), depend -on laws which are still unknown to us. In each of the great divisions -of the animal kingdom, insects, crustacea, reptiles, birds, fishes, -or mammalia, the size of the body oscillates between certain extreme -limits. But these limits, which have been established by observation as -far as it has yet gone, may be corrected by the discovery of species -with which we are still unacquainted. - -In land animals the higher temperatures of the low latitudes appear -to have favoured organic development. The small and slender form of -our lizards is exchanged in the south for the gigantic, heavy, and -cuirassed bodies of crocodiles. In the formidable tiger, lion, and -jaguar, we see repeated, on a larger scale, the form of the common -cat, one of the smallest of our domestic animals. If we penetrate -into the interior of the earth, and search the cemeteries in which -the plants and animals of the ancient world lie entombed, the fossil -remains which we discover not only announce a distribution inconsistent -with our present climates,--they also disclose to us gigantic forms -that contrast no less with those which now surround us, than does the -simple heroism of the Greeks with the character of human greatness in -modern times. Has the temperature of our planet undergone considerable -changes,--possibly of periodical recurrence? If the proportion -between land and sea, and even the height of the aerial ocean and -its pressure,[14] have not always been the same, the physiognomy -of nature, and the dimensions and forms of organised beings, must -also have been subjected to various alterations. Huge Pachydermata, -Mastodons, Owen’s Mylodon robustus, and the Colossochelys, a -land-tortoise above six feet high, have existed, and in the vegetable -kingdom there have been forests composed of gigantic Lepidodendra, -cactus-like Stigmarias, and numerous kinds of Cycadeæ. Unable to -depict fully according to its present features the physiognomy of -our planet in this its later age, I will only venture to attempt to -indicate the characters which principally distinguish those vegetable -groups which appear to me to be most strongly marked by physiognomic -differences. However favoured by the richness and flexibility of our -native language, it is still an arduous and hazardous undertaking -when we attempt to trace in words that which belongs rather to the -imitative art of the painter. I feel also the necessity of avoiding as -much as possible the wearisome impression almost inseparable from all -lengthened enumerations. - -We will begin with palms,[15] the loftiest and noblest of all vegetable -forms, that to which the prize of beauty has been assigned by the -concurrent voice of nations in all ages; for the earliest civilisation -of mankind belonged to countries bordering on the region of palms, -and to parts of Asia where they abound. Their lofty, slender, ringed, -and, in some cases, prickly stems, terminate in aspiring and shining -either fanlike or pinnated foliage. The leaves are frequently curled, -like those of some gramineæ. Smooth polished stems of palms carefully -measured by me had attained 192 English feet in height. In receding -from the equator and approaching the temperate zone, palms diminish in -height and beauty. The indigenous vegetation of Europe only comprises a -single representative of this form of plants, the sea-coast Dwarf-palm -or Chamærops, which, in Spain and Italy, extends as far north as the -44th parallel of latitude. The true climate of palms has a mean annual -temperature of 20°.5-22° Reaumur (78°.2-81°.5 Fahr). The Date, which -is much inferior in beauty to several other genera, has been brought -from Africa to the south of Europe, where it lives, but can scarcely be -said to flourish, in a mean temperature not exceeding 12°-13°.5 Reaumur -(59°-62°.4 Fahr). Stems of palms and fossil bones of elephants are -found buried beneath the surface of the earth in northern countries, in -positions which make it appear probable that their presence is not to -be accounted for by their having been drifted thither from the tropics, -and we are led to infer that in the course of the great revolutions -which our planet has undergone, great changes of climate, and of the -physiognomy of nature as dependent on climate, have taken place. - -In all parts of the globe the palm form is accompanied by that of -Plantains or Bananas; the Scitamineæ and Musaceæ of botanists, -Heliconia, Amomum, and Strelitzia. In this form, the stems, which are -low, succulent, and almost herbaceous, are surmounted by long, silky, -delicately-veined leaves of a thin loose texture, and bright and -beautiful verdure. Groves of plantains and bananas form the ornament -of moist places in the equatorial regions. It is on their fruits -that the subsistence of a large part of the inhabitants of the torrid -zone chiefly depends, and, like the farinaceous cereals of the north, -they have followed man from the infancy of his civilisation[16]. The -aboriginal site of this nutritious plant is placed by some Asiatic -fables or traditions on the banks of the Euphrates, and by others, with -more probability, at the foot of the Himalaya. Grecian fables named -the fields of Enna as the happy native land of the cereals; and if in -northern climes, where corn is cultivated in immense unbroken fields, -their monotonous aspect adds but little to the beauty of the landscape, -the inhabitant of the tropics, on the other hand, in rearing groves -of plantains wherever he fixes his habitation, contributes to the -adornment of the earth’s surface by the extension of one of the most -noble and beautiful forms of the vegetable world. - -The form of Malvaceæ[17] and Bombaceæ, represented by Ceiba, -Cavanillesia, and the Mexican hand-tree Cheirostemon, has enormously -thick trunks; large, soft, woolly leaves, either heart-shaped or -indented; and superb flowers frequently of a purple or crimson hue. -It is to this group of plants that the Baobab, or monkey bread-tree, -(Adansonia digitata), belongs, which, with a very moderate elevation, -has a diameter of 32 English feet, and is probably the largest and most -ancient organic monument on our planet. In Italy the Malvaceæ already -begin to impart to the vegetation a peculiar southern character. - -The delicately pinnated foliage of the Mimosa form[18], of which -Acacia, Desmanthus, Gleditschia, Porleria, and Tamarindus are -important members, is entirely wanting in our temperate zone in the old -continent, though found in the United States, where, in corresponding -latitudes, vegetation is more varied and more vigorous than in Europe. -The umbrella-like arrangement of the branches, resembling that seen in -the stone pine of Italy, is very frequent among the Mimosas. The deep -blue of the tropic sky seen through their finely divided foliage has an -extremely picturesque effect. - -The Heath form[19] belongs more especially to the old world, and -particularly to the African continent and islands: taking for our -guides physiognomic character and general aspect, we may class under -it the Epacrideæ and Diosmeæ, many Proteaceæ, and those Australian -Acacias which have mere leaf-stalks instead of leaves (phyllodias). -This form has some points of similarity with that of needle trees, and -the partial resemblance enhances the effect of the pleasing contrast -which, when these two are placed together, is afforded by the abundant -bell-shaped blossoms of the heaths. Arborescent heaths, like some other -African plants, extend to the northern shores of the Mediterranean: -they adorn Italy, and the cistus-covered grounds of the south of -Spain. The declivity of the Peak of Teneriffe is the locality where I -have seen them growing with the greatest luxuriance. In the countries -adjoining the Baltic, and farther to the north, the aspect of this form -of plants is unwelcome, as announcing sterility. Our heaths, Erica -(Calluna) vulgaris, Erica tetralix, E. carnea, and E. cinerea, are -social plants, and for centuries agricultural nations have combated -their advance with little success. It is remarkable that the extensive -genus which is the leading representative of this form appears to be -almost limited to one side of our planet. Of the 300 known species of -Erica only one has been discovered across the whole extent of the New -Continent, from Pensylvania and Labrador to Nootka and Alashka. - -The Cactus form,[20], on the other hand, is almost exclusively -American. Sometimes spherical, sometimes articulated or jointed, -and sometimes assuming the shape of tall upright polygonal columns -resembling the pipes of an organ, this group presents the most striking -contrast to those of Liliaceæ and Bananas. It comprises some of the -plants to which Bernardin de St. Pierre has applied the term of -“vegetable fountains in the desert.” In the waterless plains of South -America the animals suffering from thirst seek the melon-cactus, a -spherical plant half buried in the dry sand, and encased in formidable -prickles, but of which the interior abounds in refreshing juice. The -stems of the columnar cactus rise to a height of 30 or 32 feet; they -are often covered with lichens, and, dividing into candelabra-like -branches, resemble, in physiognomy, some of the Euphorbias of Africa. - -While the above-mentioned plants flourish in deserts almost devoid of -other vegetation, the Orchideæ[21] enliven the clefts of the wildest -rocks, and the trunks of tropical trees blackened by excess of heat. -This form (to which the Vanilla belongs) is distinguished by its bright -green succulent leaves, and by its flowers of many colours and strange -and curious shape, sometimes resembling that of winged insects, and -sometimes that of the birds which are attracted by the perfume of the -honey vessels. Such is their number and variety that, to mention only -a limited district, the entire life of a painter would be too short -for the delineation of all the magnificent Orchideæ which adorn the -recesses of the deep valleys of the Andes of Peru. - -The Casuarina form[22], leafless, like almost all species of Cactus, -consists of trees with branches resembling the stalks of our -Equisetums. It is found only in the islands of the Pacific and in -India, but traces of the same singular rather than beautiful type are -seen in other parts of the world. Plumier’s Equisetum altissimum, -Forskäl’s Ephedra aphylla from the north of Africa, the Peruvian -Colletias, and the Siberian Calligonum pallasia, are nearly allied to -the Casuarina form. - -As the Banana form shews the greatest expansion, so the greatest -contraction of the leaf-vessels is shewn in Casuarinas, and in the form -of Needle trees[23] (Coniferæ). Pines, Thuias, and Cypresses, belong -to this form, which prevails in northern regions, and is comparatively -rare within the tropics: in Dammara and Salisburia the leaves, though -they may still be termed needle-shaped, are broader. In the colder -latitudes the never-failing verdure of this form of trees cheers the -desolate winter landscape, and tells to the inhabitants of those -regions that when snow and ice cover the ground the inward life of -plants, like the Promethean fire, is never extinct upon our planet. - -Like mosses and lichens in our latitudes, and like orchideæ in the -tropical zone, plants of the Pothos form[24] clothe parasitically the -trunks of aged and decaying forest trees: succulent herbaceous stalks -support large leaves, sometimes sagittate, sometimes either digitate -or elongate, but always with thick veins. The flowers of the Aroideæ -are cased in hooded spathes or sheaths, and in some of them when they -expand a sensible increase of vital heat is perceived. Stemless, they -put forth aerial roots. Pothos, Dracontium, Caladium, and Arum, all -belong to this form, which prevails chiefly in the tropical world. On -the Spanish and Italian shores of the Mediterranean, Arums combine -with the succulent Tussilago, the Acanthus, and Thistles which are -almost arborescent, to indicate the increasing luxuriance of southern -vegetation. - -Next to the last-mentioned form of which the Pothos and Arum are -representatives, I place a form with which, in the hottest parts of -South America, it is frequently associated,--that of the tropical -twining rope-plants, or Lianes,[25] which display in those regions, in -Paullinias, Banisterias, Bignonias, and Passifloras, the utmost vigour -of vegetation. It is represented to us in the temperate latitudes by -our twining hops, and by our grape vines. On the banks of the Orinoco -the leafless branches of the Bauhinias are often between 40 and 50 feet -long: sometimes they hang down perpendicularly from the high top of the -Swietenia, and sometimes they are stretched obliquely like the cordage -of a ship: the tiger-cats climb up and descend by them with wonderful -agility. - -In strong contrast with the extreme flexibility and fresh -light-coloured verdure of the climbing plants, of which we have -just been speaking, are the rigid self-supporting growth and bluish -hue of the form of Aloes,[26] which, instead of pliant stems and -branches of enormous length, are either without stems altogether, or -have branchless stems. The leaves, which are succulent, thick, and -fleshy, and terminate in long points, radiate from a centre and form -a closely crowded tuft. The tall-stemmed aloes are not found in close -clusters or thickets like other social or gregarious plants or trees; -they stand singly in arid plains, and impart thereby to the tropical -regions in which they are found a peculiar, melancholy, and I would -almost venture to call it, African character. Taking for our guides -resemblance in physiognomy, and influence on the impression produced by -the landscape, we place together under the head of the Aloe form, (from -among the Bromeliaceæ) the Pitcairnias, which in the chain of the Andes -grow out of clefts in the rocks; the great Pournetia pyramidata, (the -Atschupalla of the elevated plains of New Granada); the American Aloe, -(Agave); Bromelia aranas and B. karatas; from among the Euphorbiaceæ -the rare species which have thick short candelabra-like divided -stems; from the family of Asphodeleæ the African Aloe and the Dragon -tree, (Dracæna draco); and lastly, from among the Liliaceæ, the tall -flowering Yucca. - -If the Aloe form is characterised by an almost mournful repose and -immobility, the form of Gramineæ,[27] especially the physiognomy -of arborescent grasses, is characterised, on the contrary, by an -expression of cheerfulness and of airy grace and tremulous lightness, -combined with lofty stature. Both in the East and West Indies groves of -Bamboo form shaded over-arching walks or avenues. The smooth polished -and often lightly-waving and bending stems of these tropical grasses -are taller than our alders and oaks. The form of Gramineæ begins -even in Italy, in the Arundo donax, to rise from the ground, and to -determine by height as well as mass the natural character and aspect of -the country. - -The form of Ferns,[28] as well as that of Grasses, becomes ennobled -in the hotter parts of the globe. Arborescent ferns, when they reach -a height of above 40 feet, have something of a palm-like appearance; -but their stems are less slender, shorter, and more rough and scaly -than those of palms. Their foliage is more delicate, of a thinner and -more translucent texture, and the minutely indented margins of the -fronds are finely and sharply cut. Tree ferns belong almost entirely -to the tropical zone, but in that zone they seek by preference the -more tempered heat of a moderate elevation above the level of the sea, -and mountains two or three thousand feet high may be regarded as their -principal seat. In South America the arborescent ferns are usually -found associated will the tree which has conferred such benefits on -mankind by its fever-healing bark. Both indicate by their presence the -happy region where reigns a soft perpetual spring. - -I will next name the form of Liliaceeous plants,[29] (Amaryllis, -Ixia, Gladiolus, Pancratium) with their flag-like leaves and superb -blossoms, of which Southern Africa is the principal country; also the -Willow form[30], which is indigenous in all parts of the globe, and -is represented in the elevated plains of Quito, (not in the shape -of the leaves but in that of the ramification), by Schinus Molle; -Myrtaceæ[31], (Metrosideros, Eucalyptus, Escallonia myrtilloides); -Melastomaceæ[32], and the Laurel form[33]. - -It would be an enterprise worthy of a great artist to study the aspect -and character of all these vegetable groups, not merely in hot-houses -or in the descriptions of botanists, but in their native grandeur in -the tropical zone. How interesting and instructive to the landscape -painter[34] would be a work which should present to the eye, first -separately and then in combination and contrast, the leading forms -which have been here enumerated! How picturesque is the aspect of -tree-ferns spreading their delicate fronds above the laurel-oaks of -Mexico; or groups of plantains over-shadowed by arborescent grasses -(Guaduas and Bamboos)! It is the artist’s privilege, having studied -these groups, to analyse them: and thus in his hands the grand and -beautiful form of nature which he would pourtray resolves itself, (if -I may venture on the expression) like the written works of men, into a -few simple elements. - -It is under the burning rays of a tropical sun that vegetation displays -its most majestic forms. In the cold north the bark of trees is covered -with lichens and mosses, whilst between the tropics the Cymbidium and -fragrant Vanilla enliven the trunks of the Anacardias, and of the -gigantic fig trees. The fresh verdure of the Pothos leaves, and of the -Dracontias, contrasts with the many-coloured flowers of the Orchideæ. -Climbing Bauhinias, Passifloras, and yellow flowering Banisterias, -twine round the trunks of the forest trees. Delicate blossoms spring -from the roots of the Theobroma, and from the thick and rough bark of -the Crescentias and the Gustavia.[35] In the midst of this profusion of -flowers and fruits, and in the luxuriant intertwinings of the climbing -plants, the naturalist often finds it difficult to discover to which -stem the different leaves and flowers really belong. A single tree -adorned with Paullinias, Bignonias, and Dendrobium, forms a group of -plants which, if disentangled and separated from each other, would -cover a considerable space of ground. - -In the tropics vegetation is generally of a fresher verdure, more -luxuriant and succulent, and adorned with larger and more shining -leaves than in our northern climates. The “social” plants, which often -impart so uniform and monotonous a character to European countries, -are almost entirely absent in the Equatorial regions. Trees almost as -lofty as our oaks are adorned with flowers as large and as beautiful -as our lilies. On the shady banks of the Rio Magdalena in South -America, there grows a climbing Aristolochia bearing flowers four -feet in circumference, which the Indian boys draw over their heads -in sport, and wear as hats or helmets.[36] In the islands of the -Indian Archipelago the flower of the Rafflesia is nearly three feet in -diameter, and weighs above fourteen pounds. - -The great elevation attained in several tropical countries not only -by single mountains but even by extensive districts, enables the -inhabitants of the torrid zone--surrounded by palms, bananas, and the -other beautiful forms proper to those latitudes--to behold also those -vegetable forms which, demanding a cooler temperature, would seem to -belong to other zones. Elevation above the level of the sea gives -this cooler temperature even in the hottest parts of the earth; and -Cypresses, Pines, Oaks, Berberries and Alders, (nearly allied to our -own) cover the mountainous districts and elevated plains of Southern -Mexico and the chain of the Andes at the Equator. Thus it is given to -man in those regions to behold without quitting his native land all -the forms of vegetation dispersed over the globe, and all the shining -worlds which stud the heavenly vault from pole to pole.[37] - -These and many other of the enjoyments which Nature affords are wanting -to the nations of the North. Many constellations, and many vegetable -forms,--and of the latter, those which are most beautiful, (palms, tree -ferns, plantains, arborescent grasses, and the finely-divided feathery -foliage of the Mimosas),--remain for ever unknown to them. Individual -plants languishing in our hot-houses can give but a very faint idea of -the majestic vegetation of the tropical zone. But the high cultivation -of our languages, the glowing fancy of the poet, and the imitative art -of the painter, open to us sources whence flow abundant compensations, -and from whence our imagination can derive the living image of that -more vigorous nature which other climes display. In the frigid North, -in the midst of the barren heath, the solitary student can appropriate -mentally all that has been discovered in the most distant regions, and -can create within himself a world free and imperishable as the spirit -by which it is conceived. - - - - -ANNOTATIONS AND ADDITIONS. - - -[1] p. 3.--“_On the Chimborazo, eight thousand feet higher than Etna._” - -Small singing birds, and even butterflies, are found at sea at great -distances from the coast, (as I have several times had opportunities of -observing in the Pacific), being carried there by the force of the wind -when storms come off the land. In the same involuntary manner insects -are transported into the upper regions of the atmosphere, 16000 or -19000 feet above the plains. The heated crust of the earth occasions -an ascending vertical current of air, by which light bodies are borne -upwards. M. Boussingault, an excellent chemist who, as Professor at -the newly instituted Mining Academy at Santa Fé de Bogota, visited -the Gneiss Mountains of Caraccas, in ascending to the summit of the -Silla witnessed, together with his companion Don Mariano de Rivero, -a phenomenon affording a remarkable ocular demonstration of the fact -of a vertically ascending current. They saw in the middle of the day, -about noon, whitish shining bodies rise from the valley of Caraccas to -the summit of the Silla, which is 5400 (5755 E.) feet high, and then -sink down towards the neighbouring sea coast. These movements continued -uninterruptedly for the space of an hour, and the objects, which at -first were mistaken for a flock of small birds, proved to be small -agglomerations of straws or blades of grass. Boussingault sent me some -of the straws, which were immediately recognised by Professor Kunth -for a species of Vilfa, a genus which, together with Agrostis, is very -abundant in the provinces of Caraccas and Cumana: it was the Vilfa -tenacissima of our Synopsis Plantarum æquinoctialium Orbis Novi, T. i. -p. 205. Saussure found butterflies on Mont Blanc, as did Ramond in the -solitudes which surround the summit of the Mont Perdu. When Bonpland, -Carlos Montufar, and myself, reached, on the 23d of June, 1802, on the -eastern declivity of the Chimborazo, the height of 18096 (19286 E.) -feet--a height at which the barometer sank to 13 inches 11-1/5 lines -(14.850 English inches), we saw winged insects fluttering around us. -We could see that they were Dipteras, resembling flies, but on a sharp -ridge of rock (cuchilla) often only ten inches wide, between steeply -descending masses of snow, it was impossible to catch the insects. The -height at which we saw them was nearly the same at which the uncovered -trachytic rock, piercing through the eternal snows, gave to our view, -in Lecidea geographica, the last traces of vegetation. The insects were -flying at a height of about 2850 toises (18225 E. feet), or about 2600 -E. feet higher than Mont Blanc. Somewhat lower down, at about 2600 -toises (10626 E. feet), also therefore within the region of perpetual -snow, Bonpland had seen yellow butterflies flying very near the ground. -According to our present knowledge the Mammalia which live nearest to -the region of perpetual snow are in the Swiss Alps, the Marmot which -sleeps through the winter, and a very small field-mouse (Hypudæus -nivalis), described by Martins, which on the Faulhorn lays up a store -of the roots of phænogamous alpine plants almost under the snow. (Actes -de la Société Helvétique, 1843, p. 324.) The beautiful Chinchilla, of -which the bright and silky fur is so much prized, is often supposed by -Europeans to be an inhabitant of the high mountain regions of Chili: -this, however, is an error; the Chinchilla laniger (Gray) only lives in -the mild temperature of the lower zone, and is not found farther south -than the parallel of 35°. (Claudio Gay, Historia fisica y politica de -Chile, Zoologia, 1844, p. 91.) - -While on our European Alps, Lecideas, Parmelias, and Umbilicarias form -only a few coloured patches on the rocks which are not completely -covered with snow, in the Andes, beautiful flowering phænogamous -plants, first described by us, live at elevations of thirteen to -fourteen thousand feet (13700 to nearly 15000 E.) We found there -woolly species of Culcitium and Espeletia (C. nivale, C. rufescens, -and C. reflexum, E. grandiflora, and E. argentea), Sida pichinchensis, -Ranunculus nubigenus, R. Gusmanni with red or orange-coloured blossoms, -the small moss-like umbelliferous plant Myrrhis andicola, and -Fragosa arctioides. On the declivity of the Chimborazo the Saxifraga -boussingaulti, described by Adolph Brongniart, grows beyond the -limit of perpetual snow on loose boulders of rock, at 14796 (15770 -E.) feet above the level of the sea, not at 17000, as stated in two -estimable English journals. (Compare my Asie Centrale, T. iii. p. 262, -with Hooker, Journal of Botany, vol. i. 1834, p. 327, and Edinburgh -New Philosophical Journal, vol. xvii. 1834, p. 380.) The Saxifrage -discovered by Boussingault is certainly, up to the present time, the -highest known phænogamous plant on the surface of the earth. - -The perpendicular height of the Chimborazo is, according to my -trigonometrical measurement, 3350 toises (21422 E. feet.) (Recueil -d’Observ. Astron., vol. i., Introd. p. lxxii.) This result is -intermediate between those given by French and Spanish academicians. -The differences depend not on different assumptions for refraction, -but on differences in the reduction of the measured base lines to -the level of the sea. In the Andes this reduction could only be made -by the barometer, and thus every measurement called a trigonometric -measurement is also a barometric one, of which the result differs -according to the first term in the formula employed. If in chains of -mountains of great mass, such as the Andes, we insist on determining -the greater part of the whole altitude trigonometrically, measuring -from a low and distant point in the plain or nearly at the level of -the sea, we can only obtain very small angles of altitude. On the -other hand, not only is it difficult to find a convenient base among -mountains, but also every step increases the portion of the height -which must be determined barometrically. These difficulties have to be -encountered by every traveller who selects, among the elevated plains -which surround the Andes, the station at which he may execute his -geodesical measurements. My measurement of the Chimborazo was made -from the plain of Tapia, which is covered with pumice. It is situated -to the west of the Rio Chambo, and its elevation, as determined by the -barometer, is 1482 toises (9477 E. feet.) The Llanos de Luisa, and -still more the plain of Sisgun, which is 1900 toises (12150 E. feet) -high, would have given greater angles of altitude; I had prepared -everything for making the measurement at the latter station when thick -clouds concealed the summit of Chimborazo. - -Those who are engaged in investigations on languages may not be -unwilling to find here some conjectures respecting the etymology of -the widely celebrated name of Chimborazo. Chimbo is the name of the -Corregimiento or District in which the mountain of Chimborazo is -situated. La Condamine (Voyage à l’Equateur, 1751, p. 184) deduces -Chimbo from “chimpani,” “to pass over a river.” Chimbo-raço signifies, -according to him, “la neige de l’autre bord,” because at the village -of Chimbo one crosses a stream in full view of the enormous snow-clad -mountain. (In the Quichua language “chimpa” signifies the “other, or -farther, side;” and chimpani signifies to pass or cross over a river, -a bridge, &c.) Several natives of the province of Quito have assured -me that Chimborazo signifies merely “the snow of Chimbo.” We find the -same termination in Carguai-razo. But razo appears to be a provincial -word. The Jesuit Holguin, (whose excellent “Vocabulario de la Lengua -general de todo el Peru llamada Lengua Qquichua ó del Inca,” printed at -Lima in 1608, is in my possession,) knows nothing of the word “razo.” -The genuine word for snow is “ritti.” On the other hand, my learned -friend Professor Buschmann remarks that in the Chinchaysuyo dialect -(spoken north of Cuzco up to Quito and Pasto,) raju (the _j_ apparently -guttural) signifies snow; see the word in Juan de Figueredo’s notice -of Chinchaysuyo words appended to Diego de Torres Rubio, Arte, y -Vocabulario de la Lengua Quichua, reimpr. en Lima, 1754; fol. 222, -b. For the two first syllables of the name of the mountain, and for -the village of Chimbo, (as chimpa and chimpani suit badly on account -of the _a_), we may find a definite signification by means of the -Quichua word chimpu, an expression used for a coloured thread or fringe -(señal de lana, hilo ó borlilla de colores),--for the red of the sky -(arreboles),--and for a halo round the sun or moon. One may try to -derive the name of the mountain directly from this word, without the -intervention of the village or district. In any case, and whatever -the etymology of Chimborazo may be, it must be written in Peruvian -Chimporazo, as we know that the Peruvians have no _b_. - -But what if the name of this giant mountain should have nothing in -common with the language of the Incas, but should have descended from a -more remote antiquity? According to the generally received tradition, -it was not long before the arrival of the Spaniards that the Inca -or Quichua language was introduced into the kingdom of Quito, where -the Puruay language, which has now entirely perished, had previously -prevailed. Other names of mountains, Pichincha, Ilinissa, and Cotopaxi, -have no signification at all in the language of the Incas, and are -therefore certainly older than the introduction of the worship of the -sun and the court language of the rulers of Cuzco. In all parts of the -world the names of mountains and rivers are among the most ancient -and most certain monuments or memorials of languages; and my brother -Wilhelm von Humboldt has employed these names with great sagacity in -his researches on the former diffusion of Iberian nations. A singular -and unexpected statement has been put forward in recent years (Velasco -Historia de Quito, T. i. p. 185) to the effect that “the Incas Tupac -Yupanqui and Huayna Capac were astonished to find at their first -conquest of Quito a dialect of the Quichua language already in use -among the natives.” Prescott, however, appears to regard this statement -as doubtful. (Hist. of the Conquest of Peru, Vol. i. p. 115.) - -If the Pass of St. Gothard, Mount Athos, or the Rigi, were placed on -the summit of the Chimborazo, it would form an elevation equal to -that now ascribed to the Dhawalagiri in the Himalaya. The geologist -who rises to more general views connected with the interior of the -earth, regards, not indeed the direction, but the relative height of -the rocky ridges which we term mountain chains, as a phenomenon of so -little import, that he would not be astonished if there should one day -be discovered between the Himalaya and the Altai, summits which should -surpass the Dhawaligiri and the Djawahir as much as these surpass -the Chimborazo. (See my Vues des Cordillères et Monumens des peuples -indigènes de l’Amérique, T. i. p. 116; and my Notice on two attempts -to ascend the Chimborazo, in 1802 and 1831, in Schumacher’s Jahrbuch -for 1847, S. 176.) The great height to which the snow line on the -northern side of the Himalaya is raised _in summer_, by the influence -of the heat returned by radiation from the high plains of the interior -of Asia, renders those mountains, although situated in 29 to 30-1/2 -degrees of latitude, as accessible as the Peruvian Andes within the -tropics. Captain Gerard has attained on the Tarhigang an elevation as -great, and perhaps (as is maintained in the Critical Researches on -Philosophy and Geography) 117 English feet greater than that reached by -me on the Chimborazo. Unfortunately, as I have shewn more at large in -another place, these mountain journies beyond the limits of perpetual -snow (however they may engage the curiosity of the public) are of only -very inconsiderable scientific use. - -[2] p. 4.--“_The Condor, the giant of the Vulture tribe._” - -In my Recueil d’Observations de Zoologie et d’Anatomie comparée, -vol. i. pp. 26-45, I have given the natural history of the Condor, -which, before my journey to the equatorial regions, had been much -misrepresented. (The name of the bird is properly Cuntur in the Inca -language; in Chili, in the Araucan, Mañque; Sarcoramphus Condor of -Duméril.) I made and had engraved a drawing of the head from the living -bird, and of the size of nature. Next to the Condor, the Lämmergeier -of Switzerland, and the Falco destructor of Daudin, probably the Falco -Harpyia of Linnæus, are the largest _flying_ birds. - -The region which may be regarded as the ordinary haunt of the Condor -begins at the height of Etna, and comprises atmospheric strata from -ten to eighteen thousand (about 10600 to 19000 English) feet above -the level of the sea. Humming birds, which make summer excursions as -far as 61° N. latitude on the north-west coast of America on the one -hand, and the Tierra del Fuego on the other, have been seen by Von -Tschudi (Fauna Peruana, Ornithol. p. 12) in Puna as high as 13700 -(14600 English) feet. There is a pleasure in comparing the largest -and the smallest of the feathered inhabitants of the air. Of the -Condors, the largest individuals found in the chain of the Andes round -Quito measured, with extended wings, 14 (nearly 15 English) feet, -and the smallest 8 (8-1/2 English) feet. From these dimensions, and -from the visual angle at which the bird often appeared vertically -above our heads, we are enabled to infer the enormous height to which -the Condor soars when the sky is serene. A visual angle of 4´, for -example, gives a perpendicular height above the eye of 6876 (7330 -English) feet. The cave (Machay) of Antisana, which is opposite the -mountain of Chussulongo, and from whence we measured the height of -the soaring bird, is 14958 (15942 English) feet above the surface -of the Pacific. This would give the absolute height attained by the -Condor at fully 21834 (23270 English) feet; an elevation at which the -barometer would hardly reach 12 French inches, but which yet does -not surpass the highest summits of the Himalaya. It is a remarkable -physiological phenomenon, that the same bird, which can fly round in -circles for hours in regions of an atmosphere so rarified, should -sometimes suddenly descend, as on the western declivity of the Volcano -of Pichincha, to the sea-shore, thus passing rapidly through all -gradations of climate. The membranous air-bags of the Condor, if filled -in the lower regions of the atmosphere, must undergo extraordinary -distension at altitudes of more than 23000 English feet. Ulloa, more -than a century ago, expressed his astonishment that the vulture of -the Andes could soar in regions where the atmospheric pressure is -less than 14 French inches, (Voyage de l’Amérique meridionale, T. -ii. p. 2, 1752; Observations astronomiques et physiques, p. 110). It -was then believed, in analogy with experiments under the air-pump, -that no animal could live in so low a pressure. I have myself, as I -have already noticed, seen the barometer sink on the Chimborazo to -13 French inches 11·2 lines (14.850 English inches). Man, indeed, at -such elevations, if wearied by muscular exertion, finds himself in a -state of very painful exhaustion; but the Condor seems to perform the -functions of respiration with equal facility under pressures of 30 and -13 English inches. It is apparently of all living creatures on our -planet the one which can remove at pleasure to the greatest distance -from the surface of the earth; I say at pleasure, for minute insects -and siliceous-shelled infusoria are carried by the ascending current -to possibly still greater elevations. The Condor probably flies higher -than the altitude found as above by computation. I remember on the -Cotopaxi, in the pumice plain of Suniguaicu, 13578 (14470 English) -feet above the sea, to have seen the bird soaring at a height at which -he appeared only as a small black speck. What is the smallest angle -under which feebly illuminated objects can be discerned? Their form, -(linear extension) has a great influence on the minimum of this angle. -The transparency of the mountain atmosphere at the equator is such -that, in the province of Quito, as I have elsewhere noticed, the white -mantle or Poncho of a horseman was distinguished with the naked eye at -a horizontal distance of 84132 (89665 English) feet; therefore under a -visual angle of 13 seconds. It was my friend Bonpland, whom, from the -pleasant country seat of the Marques de Selvalegre, we saw moving along -the face of a black precipice on the Volcano of Pichincha. Lightning -conductors, being long thin objects, are seen, as has already been -remarked by Arago, from the greatest distances, and under the smallest -angles. - -The accounts of the habits of the Condor in the mountainous districts -of Quito and Peru, given by me in a monograph on this powerful bird, -have been confirmed by a later traveller, Gay, who has explored the -whole of Chili, and has described that country in an excellent work -entitled Historia fisica y politica de Chile. The Condor, which, like -the Lamas, Vicunas, Alpacas, and Guanacos, does not extend beyond the -equator into New Granada, is found as far south as the Straits of -Magellan. In Chili, as in the mountain plains of Quito, the Condors, -which at other times live either solitarily or in pairs, assemble in -flocks to attack lambs and calves, or to carry off young Guanacos -(Guanacillos). The ravages annually committed among the herds of sheep, -goats, and cattle, as well as among the wild Vicunas, Alpacas, and -Guanacos of the Andes, are very considerable. The inhabitants of Chili -assert that, in captivity, the Condor can support forty days’ hunger; -when free, his voracity is excessive, and, vulture-like, is directed by -preference to dead flesh. - -The mode of capture of Condors in Peru by means of palisades, as -described by me, is practised with equal success in Chili. When the -bird has gorged himself with flesh, he cannot rise into the air without -first running for some little distance with his wings half expanded. A -dead ox, in which decomposition is beginning to take place, is strongly -fenced round, leaving within the fence only a small space, in which -the Condors attracted by the prey are crowded together. When they -have gorged themselves with food, the palisades not permitting them -to obtain a start by running, they become, as remarked above, unable -to rise, and are either killed with clubs by the country people, or -taken alive by the lasso. On the first declaration of the political -independence of Chili, the Condor appeared on the coinage as the -symbol of strength. (Claudio Gay, Historia fisica y politica de Chile, -publicada bajo los auspicios del Supremo Gobierno; Zoologia, pp. -194-198.) - -Far more useful than the Condor in the great economy of Nature, in the -removal of putrefying animal substances and in thus purifying the air -in the neighbourhood of human habitations, are the different species -of Gallinazos, of which the number of individuals is much greater. In -tropical America I have sometimes seen as many as 70 or 80 assembled at -once round a dead animal; and I am able, as an eye-witness, to confirm -the fact long since stated, but which has recently been doubted by -ornithologists, of the whole assembly of these birds in such cases -taking flight on the appearance of a single king-vulture, who yet is -no larger than the Gallinazos. No combat ever takes place; but the -Gallinazos (the two species of which, Cathartes urubu and C. aura, -have been confounded with each other by an unfortunately fluctuating -nomenclature) appear to be terrified by the sudden appearance and -courageous demeanour of the richly coloured Sarcoramphus papa. As -the ancient Egyptians protected the bird which rendered them similar -services towards the purification of their atmosphere, so in Peru the -careless or wanton killing of the Gallinazos is punished with a fine, -which in some towns amounts, according to Gay, to 300 piastres for -each bird. It is a remarkable circumstance, stated so long ago as by -Don Felix de Azara, that these species of vultures, if taken young and -reared, will so accustom themselves to the person who feeds them, that -they will follow him on a journey for many miles, flying after the -waggon in which he travels over the Pampas. - -[3] p. 4.--“_Their rotating bodies._” - -Fontana, in his excellent work “Über das Viperngift,” Bd. i. S. 62, -relates that he succeeded, in the course of two hours, by means of a -drop of water, in bringing to life a rotifera which had lain for two -years and a half dried up and motionless. On the action and effect of -water, see my “Versuche über die gereizte Muskel- und Nervenfaser,” Bd. -ii. S. 250. - -What has been called the revivification of Rotiferæ, since observations -have been more exact and have had to undergo stricter criticism, has -been the subject of much animated discussion. Baker affirmed that he -had resuscitated, in 1771, paste-eels which Needham had given him in -1744! Franz Bauer saw his Vibrio tritici, which had been dried up for -four years, move again on being moistened. An extremely careful and -experienced observer, Doyère, in his Mémoire sur les Tardigrades, et -sur leur propriété de revenir à la vie (1842), draws from his own fine -experiments the following conclusions:--Rotiferæ come to life, _i. e._ -pass from a motionless state to a state of motion, after having been -exposed to temperatures of 19°.2 Reaumur below, and 36° Reaumur above, -the freezing point; _i. e._ from 11°.2 to 113°.0 Fah. They preserve -the capability of apparent revivification, in _dry sand_, up to 56°.4 -R. (158°.9 Fah.); but they lose it, and cannot be excited afresh, if -heated in _moist sand_ to 44° only (131°.0 Fah.) Doyère, p. 119. The -possibility of revivification or reanimation is not prevented by their -being placed for twenty-eight days in barometer tubes in vacuo, or even -by the application of chloride of lime or sulphuric acid (pp. 130-133). -Doyère has also seen the rotiferæ come to life again very slowly after -being dried without sand (desséchés à nu), which Spallanzani had denied -(pp. 117 and 129). “Toute dessiccation faite à la température ordinaire -pourroit souffrir des objections auxquelles l’emploi du vide sec n’eût -peut-être pas complètement repondu: mais en voyant les Tardigrades -périr irrévocablement à une température de 44°, si leurs tissus sont -pénétrés d’eau, tandis que desséchés ils supportent sans périr une -chaleur qu’on peut évaluer a 96° Reaumur, on doit être disposé à -admettre que la revivification n’a dans l’animal d’autre condition -que l’intégrité de composition et de connexions organiques.” In the -same way, in the vegetable kingdom, the sporules of cryptogamia, which -Kunth compares to the propagation of certain phænogamous plants by buds -(bulbillæ), retain their germinating power in the highest temperatures. -According to the most recent experiments of Payen, the sporules of a -minute fungus (Oïdium aurantiacum), which covers the crumb of bread -with a reddish feathery coating, do not lose their power of germination -by being exposed for half an hour in closed tubes to a temperature of -from 67° to 78° Reaumur (182°.75 to 207°.5 Fah.), before being strewed -on fresh perfectly unspoilt dough. May not the newly discovered monad -(Monas prodigiosa), which causes blood-like spots on mealy substances, -have been mingled with this fungus? - -Ehrenberg, in his great work on Infusoria (S. 492-496), has given the -most complete history of all the investigations which have taken place -on what is called the revivification of rotiferæ. He believes that, in -spite of all the means of desiccation employed, the organization-fluid -still remains in the apparently dead animal. He contests the hypothesis -of “latent life;” death, he says, is not “life latent, but the want of -life.” - -We have evidence of the diminution, if not of the entire disappearance -or suspension of organic functions, in the hybernation or winter sleep -both of warm and cold-blooded animals, in the dormice, marmots, sand -martins (Hirundo riparia) according to Cuvier (Règne animal, 1829, T. -i. p. 396), frogs and toads. Frogs, awakened from winter-sleep by -warmth, can support an eight times’ longer stay under water without -being drowned, than frogs in the breeding season. It would seem as if -the functions of the lungs in respiration, for some time after their -excitability had been suspended, required a less degree of activity. -The circumstance of the sand-martin sometimes burying itself in a -morass is a phenomenon which, while it seems not to admit of doubt, is -the more surprising, as in birds respiration is so extremely energetic, -that, according to Lavoisier’s experiments, two small sparrows, in -their ordinary state, decomposed, in the same space of time, as much -atmospheric air as a porpoise. (Lavoisier, Mémoires de Chimie, T. i. p, -119.) The winter-sleep of the swallow in question (the Hirundo riparia) -is not supposed to belong to the entire species, but only to have been -observed in some individuals. (Milne Edwards, Elémens de Zoologie, -1834, p. 543.) - -As in the cold zone the deprivation of heat causes some animals to fall -into winter-sleep, so the hot tropical countries afford an analogous -phænomenon, which has not been sufficiently attended to, and to which -I have applied the name of summer-sleep. (Relation historique, T. ii. -pp. 192 and 626.) Drought and continuous high temperatures act like the -cold of winter in diminishing excitability. In Madagascar, (which, with -the exception of a very small portion at its southern extremity, is -entirely within the tropical zone,) as Bruguière had before observed, -the hedgehog-like Tenrecs (Centenes, Illiger), one species of which (C. -ecaudatus) has been introduced into the Isle of France, sleep during -great heat. Desjardins makes, it is true, the objection that the time -of their slumber is the winter season of the southern hemisphere; but -in a country in which the mean temperature of the coldest month is 3° -Reaumur (6°.75 Fah.) above that of the hottest month in Paris, this -circumstance cannot change the three months’ “summer-sleep” of the -Tenrec in Madagascar and at Port Louis, into what we understand by a -winter-sleep, or state of hybernation. - -In the hot and dry season, the crocodile in the Llanos of Venezuela, -the land and water tortoises of the Orinoco, the huge boa, and several -smaller kinds of serpents, become torpid and motionless, and lie -incrusted in the indurated soil. The missionary Gili relates that the -natives, in seeking for the slumbering Terekai (land tortoises), which -they find lying at a depth of sixteen or seventeen inches in dried -mud, are sometimes bitten by serpents which become suddenly aroused, -and which had buried themselves at the same time as the tortoise. An -excellent observer, Dr. Peters, who has just returned from the East -Coast of Africa, writes thus to me on the subject:--“During my short -stay at Madagascar I could obtain no certain information respecting -the Tenrec; but, on the other hand, I know that in the East of -Africa, where I lived for several years, different kinds of tortoises -(Pentonyx and Trionchydias) pass months during the dry season of this -tropical country inclosed in the dry hard earth, and without food. The -Lepidosiren also, in places where the swamps are dried up, remains -coiled up and motionless, encased in indurated earth, from May to -December.” - -Thus we find an annual enfeeblement of certain vital functions in -many and very different classes of animals, and, what is particularly -striking, without the same phenomena being presented by other living -creatures nearly allied to them, and belonging to the same family. The -northern glutton (Gulo), though allied to the badger (Meles), does -not like him sleep during the winter; whereas, according to Cuvier’s -remark, “a Myoxus (dormouse) of Senegal (Myoxus coupeii), which could -never have known winter-sleep in his tropical home, being brought -to Europe fell asleep the first year on the setting in of winter.” -This torpidity or enfeeblement of the vital functions and vital -activity passes through several gradations, according as it extends -to the processes of nutrition, respiration, and muscular motion, or -to depression of the activity of the brain and nervous system. The -winter-sleep of the solitary bears and of the badger is not accompanied -by any rigidity, and hence the reawakening of these animals is so -easy, and, as was often related to me in Siberia, so dangerous to the -hunters and country people. The first recognition of the gradation and -connection of these phenomena leads us up to what has been called the -“vita minima” of the microscopic organisms, which, occasionally with -green ovaries and undergoing the process of spontaneous division, fall -from the clouds in the Atlantic sand-rain. The apparent revivification -of rotiferæ, as well as of the siliceous-shelled infusoria, is only the -renewal of long-enfeebled vital functions,--a state of vitality which -was never entirely extinct, and which is fanned into a fresh flame, or -excited anew, by the appropriate stimulus. Physiological phenomena can -only be comprehended by being traced throughout the entire series of -analogous modifications. - -[4] p. 5.--“_Winged insects._” - -Formerly the fertilization of flowers in which the sexes are separated -was ascribed principally to the action of the wind: it has been -shown by Kölreuter, and with great ingenuity by Sprengel, that bees, -wasps, and a host of smaller winged insects, are the chief agents. -I say the chief agents, because to assert that no fertilization is -possible without the intervention of these little animals appears to -me not to be in conformity with nature, as indeed has been shown in -detail by Willdenow. (Grundriss der Kräuterkunde, 4te Aufl., Berl. -1805, S. 405-412.) On the other hand, Dichogamy, coloured spots or -marks indicating honey-vessels (maculæ indicantes), and fertilization -by insects, are, in much the greater number of cases, inseparably -associated. (Compare Auguste de St. Hilaire, Leçons de Botanique, 1840, -p. 565-571.) - -The statement which has been often repeated since Spallanzani, that the -diœcious common hemp (Cannabis sativa) yields perfect seeds without -the neighbourhood of pollen-bearing vessels, has been refuted by later -experiments. When seeds have been obtained, anthers in a rudimentary -state, capable of furnishing some grains of fertilizing dust, have -been discovered near the ovarium. Such hermaphroditism is frequent -in the entire family of Urticeæ, but a peculiar and still unexplained -phenomenon has been presented in the forcing-houses at Kew by a small -New Holland shrub, the Cœlebogyne of Smith. This phænogamous plant -produces in England perfect seeds without trace of male organs, or the -hybridising introduction of the pollen of other species. An ingenious -botanist, Adrien de Jussieu, in his “Cours Elementaire de Botanique,” -1840, p. 463, expresses himself on the subject as follows:--“Un genre -d’Euphorbiacées (?) assez nouvellement décrit mais cultivé depuis -plusieurs années dans les serres d’Angleterre, le Cœlebogyne, y a -plusieurs fois fructifié, et ses graines étaient évidemment parfaites, -puisque non seulement on y a observé un embryon bien constitué, mais -qu’en le semant cet embryon s’est développé en une plante semblable. -Or les fleurs sont dioïques; on ne connait et ne possède pas (en -Angleterre) de pieds mâles, et les recherches les plus minutieuses, -faites par les meilleurs observateurs, n’ont pu jusqu’ici faire -découvrir la moindre trace d’anthères ou seulement de pollen. L’embryon -ne venait donc pas de ce pollen, qui manque entièrement: il a dû se -former de toute pièce dans l’ovule.” - -In order to obtain a fresh confirmation or elucidation of this highly -important and isolated phenomenon, I addressed myself not long since -to my young friend Dr. Joseph Hooker, who, after making the Antarctic -voyage with Sir James Ross, has now joined the great Thibeto-Himalayan -expedition. Dr. Hooker wrote to me in reply, on his arrival at -Alexandria near the end of December 1847, before embarking at Suez: -“Our Cœlebogyne still flowers with my father at Kew as well as in the -Gardens of the Horticultural Society. It ripens its seeds regularly: I -have examined it repeatedly very closely and carefully, and have never -been able to discover a penetration of pollen-tubes either in the style -or ovarium. In my herbarium the male blossoms are in small catkins.” - -[5] p. 7.--“_Shine like stars._” - -The luminosity of the ocean is one of those superb natural phenomena -which continue to excite our admiration even when we have seen them -recur every night for months. The sea is phosphorescent in every zone; -but those who have not witnessed the phenomenon within the tropics, and -especially in the Pacific, have only an imperfect idea of the grand -and majestic spectacle which it affords. When a man-of-war, impelled -by a fresh breeze, cuts the foaming waves, the voyager standing at the -ship’s side feels as if he could never be satisfied with gazing on the -spectacle which presents itself to his view. Every time that in the -rolling of the vessel her side emerges from the water, blue or reddish -streams of light appear to dart upwards like flashes of lightning from -her keel. Nor can I describe the splendour of the appearance presented -on a dark night in the tropic seas by the sports of a troop of -porpoises. As they cut through the foaming waves, following each other -in long winding lines, one sees their mazy track marked by intense -and sparkling light. In the Gulf of Cariaco, between Cumana and the -Peninsula of Maniquarez, I have stood for hours enjoying this spectacle. - -Le Gentil and the elder Forster attributed the flashing to the electric -friction excited by the ship in moving through the water, but the -present state of our knowledge does not permit us to receive this as a -valid explanation. (Joh. Reinh. Forster’s Bemerkungen auf seiner Reise -um die Welt, 1783, S. 57; Le Gentil, Voyage dans les Mers de l’Inde, -1779, T. i. p. 685-698.) - -Perhaps there are few natural subjects of observation which have been -so long and so much debated as the luminosity of the waters of the -sea. What we know with certainty on the subject may be reduced to the -following simple facts. There are several luminous animals which, -when alive, give out at pleasure a faint phosphoric light: this light -is, in most instances, rather bluish, as in Nereis noctiluca, Medusa -pelagica var. β (Forskäl, Fauna Ægyptiaco-arabica, s. Descriptiones -animalium quæ in itinere orientali observavit, 1775, p. 109), and in -the Monophora noctiluca, discovered in Baudin’s expedition, (Bory de -St.-Vincent, Voyage dans les Iles des Mers d’Afrique, 1804, T. i. p. -107, pl. vi.) The luminous appearance of the sea is due partly to -living animals, such as are spoken of above, and partly to organic -fibres and membranes derived from the destruction of these living -torch-bearers. The first of these causes is undoubtedly the most -usual and most extensive. In proportion as travellers engaged in the -investigation of natural phenomena have become more zealous in their -researches, and more experienced in the use of excellent microscopes, -we have seen in our zoological systems the groups of Mollusca and -Infusoria, which become luminous either at pleasure or when excited by -external stimulus, increase more and more. - -The luminosity of the sea, so far as it is produced by living organic -beings, is principally due, in the class of Zoophytes, to the Acalephæ -(the families of Medusa and Cyanea), to some Mollusca, and to a -countless host of Infusoria. Among the small Acalephæ, the Mammaria -scintillans offers the beautiful spectacle of, as it were, the starry -firmament reflected by the surface of the sea. This little creature, -when full grown, hardly equals in size the head of a pin. Michaelis, at -Kiel, was the first to show that there are luminous siliceous-shelled -infusoria: he observed the flashing light of the Peridinium (a ciliated -animalcule), of the cuirassed Monad the Prorocentrum micans, and of -a rotifera to which he gave the name of Synchata baltica. (Michaelis -über das Leuchten der Ostsee bei Kiel, 1830, S. 17.) The same Synchata -baltica was subsequently discovered by Focke in the Lagunes of Venice. -My distinguished friend and Siberian travelling companion, Ehrenberg, -has succeeded in keeping luminous infusoria from the Baltic alive -for almost two months in Berlin. He shewed them to me in 1832 with -a microscope in a drop of sea-water: placed in the dark I saw their -flashes of light. The largest of these little infusoria were 1-8th, and -the smallest from 1-48th to 1-96th of a Paris line in length (a Paris -line is about nine-hundredths of an English inch): after they were -exhausted, and had ceased to send forth sparkles of light, the flashing -was renewed on their being stimulated by the addition of acids or of a -little alcohol to the sea-water. - -By repeatedly filtering water taken up fresh from the sea, Ehrenberg -succeeded in obtaining a fluid in which a greater number of these -luminous creatures were concentrated. (Abhandlungen der Akad. der -Wiss. zu Berlin aus dem J. 1833, S. 307; 1834, S. 537-575; 1838, -S. 45 and 258.) This acute observer has found in the organs of the -Photocaris, which emits flashes of light either at pleasure or when -irritated or stimulated, a cellular structure with large cells and -gelatinous interior resembling the electric organs of the Gymnotus and -the Torpedo. “When the Photocaris is irritated, one sees in each cirrus -a kindling and flickering of separate sparks, which gradually increase -in intensity until the whole cirrus is illuminated; until at last the -living fire runs also over the back of the small Nereis-like animal, -so that it appears in the microscope like a thread of sulphur burning -with a greenish-yellow light. It is a circumstance very deserving of -attention, that in the Oceania (Thaumantias) hemisphærica the number -and situation of the sparks correspond exactly with the thickened base -of the larger cirri or organs which alternate with them. The exhibition -of this wreath of fire is a vital act, and the whole development of -light is an organic vital process which in the Infusoria shows itself -as an instantaneous spark of light, and is repeated after short -intervals of repose.” (Ehrenberg über das Leuchten des Meeres, 1836, S. -110, 158, 160, and 163.) - -According to these suppositions, the luminous creatures of the ocean -show the existence of a magneto-electric light-evolving process -in other classes of animals than fishes, insects, Mollusca, and -Acalephæ. Is the secretion of the luminous fluid which is effused in -some luminous creatures, and which continues to shine for some time -_without any farther influence of the living animal_ (for example, in -Lampyrides and Elaterides, in the German and Italian glow-worms, and -in the South American Cucuyo which lives on the sugar-cane), only a -consequence of the first electric discharge, or is it simply dependent -on chemical mixture? The shining of insects surrounded by air has -doubtless other physiological causes than those which occasion the -luminosity of inhabitants of the water, fishes, Medusæ, and Infusoria. -The small Infusoria of the ocean, being surrounded by strata of salt -water which is a good conducting fluid, must be capable of an enormous -electric tension of their light-flashing organs to enable them to shine -so intensely in the water. They strike like Torpedos, Gymnoti, and -the Tremola of the Nile, through the stratum of water; while electric -fishes, in connexion with the galvanic circuit, decompose water and -impart magnetism to steel bars, as I showed more than half a century -ago (Versuche über die gereizte Muskel- und Nervenfaser, Bd. i. S. -438-441, and see also Obs. de Zoologie et d’Anatomie comparée, vol. -i. p. 84); and as John Davy has since confirmed (Phil. Trans, for -1834, Part ii. p. 545-547), do not pass a flash through the smallest -intervening stratum. - -The considerations which have been developed make it probable that -it is one and the same process which operates in the smallest living -organic creatures, so minute that they are not perceived by the naked -eye,--in the combats of the serpent-like gymnoti,--in flashing luminous -infusoria which raise the phosphorescence of the sea to such a degree -of brilliancy;--as well as in the thunder-cloud, and in the auroral, -terrestrial, or polar light (silent magnetic lightnings), which, as -the result of an increased tension in the interior of the globe, are -announced for hours beforehand by the suddenly altered movements of the -magnetic needle. (See my letter to the Editor of the Annalen der Physik -und Chemie, Bd. xxxvii. 1836, S. 242-244). - -Sometimes one cannot even with high magnifying powers discern any -animalcules in the luminous water; and yet, whenever the wave strikes -and breaks in foam against a hard body, a light is seen to flash. In -such case the cause of the phenomenon probably consists in the decaying -animal fibres, which are disseminated in immense abundance throughout -the body of water. If this luminous water is filtered through fine and -closely woven cloths, these little fibres and membranes are separated -in the shape of shining points. When we bathed at Cumana in the waters -of the Gulf of Cariaco, and afterwards lingered awhile on the solitary -beach in the mild evening air without our clothes, parts of our bodies -continued luminous from the shining organic particles which had -adhered to the skin, and the light only became extinct at the end of -some minutes. Considering the enormous quantity of animal life in all -tropical seas, it is, perhaps, not surprising that the sea water should -be luminous, even where no visible organic particles can be detached -from it. From the almost infinite subdivision of the masses of dead -Dagysæ and Medusæ, the sea may perhaps be looked on as a gelatinous -fluid, which as such is luminous, distasteful to, and undrinkable by -man, and capable of affording nourishment to many fish. If one rubs -a board with part of a Medusa hysocella, the part so rubbed regains -its luminosity on friction with a dry finger. On my passage to South -America I sometimes placed a Medusa on a tin plate. When I struck -another metallic substance against the plate, the slightest vibrations -of the tin were sufficient to cause the light. What is the manner in -which in this case the blow and the vibrations act? Is the temperature -momentarily augmented? Are new surfaces exposed? or does the blow press -out a fluid, such as phosphuretted hydrogen, which may burn on coming -into contact with the oxygen of the atmosphere or of the air held in -solution by the sea-water. This light-exciting influence of a shock or -blow is particularly remarkable in a “cross sea,” _i. e._ when waves -coming from opposite directions meet and clash. - -I have seen the sea within the tropics appear luminous in the most -different states of weather; but the light was most brilliant -when a storm was near, or with a sultry atmosphere and a vaporous -thickly-clouded sky. Heat and cold appear to have little influence on -the phenomenon, for on the Banks of Newfoundland the phosphorescence -is often very bright during the coldest winter weather. Sometimes -under apparently similar external circumstances the sea will be highly -luminous one night and not at all so the following night. Does the -atmosphere influence the disengagement of light, or do all these -differences depend on the accident of the observer sailing through a -part of the sea more or less abundantly impregnated with gelatinous -animal substances? Perhaps it is only in certain states of the -atmosphere that the light-evolving animalculæ come in large numbers to -the surface of the sea. It has been asked why the fresh water of our -marshes, which is filled with polypi, is never seen to become luminous. -Both in animals and plants, a particular mixture of organic particles -appears to be required in order to favour the production of light. -Willow-wood is oftener found to be luminous than oak-wood. In England -experiments have succeeded in making saltwater shine by pouring into -it the liquor from pickled herrings. It is easy to shew by galvanic -experiments that in living animals the evolution of light depends on -an irritation of the nerves. I have seen an Elater noctilucus which -was dying emit strong flashes of light when I touched the ganglion of -his fore leg with zinc and silver. Medusæ sometimes shew increased -brightness at the moment of completing the galvanic circuit. (Humboldt, -Relat. Hist. T. i. p. 79 and 533.) - -Respecting the wonderful development of mass and power of increase in -Infusoria, see Ehrenberg, Infus. S. xiii. 291 and 512. He observes that -“the galaxy of the minutest organisms passes through the genera of -Vibrio and Bacterium and that of Monas, (in the latter they are often -only 1/3000 of a line,)” S. xix. and 244. - -[6] p. 7.--“_Which inhabits the large pulmonary cells of the -rattle-snake of the tropics._” - -This animal, which I formerly called an Echinorhynchus or even a -Porocephalus, appears on closer investigation, and according to the -better founded judgment of Rudolphi, to belong to the division of -the Pentastomes. (Rudolphi, Entozoorum Synopsis, p. 124 and 434.) It -inhabits the ventral cavities and wide-celled lungs of a species of -Crotalus which lives in Cumana, sometimes in the interior of houses, -where it pursues the mice. Ascaris lumbrici (Gözen’s Eingeweidewürmer, -Tab. iv. Fig. 10,) lives under the skin of the common earthworm, and -is the smallest of all the species of Ascaris. Leucophra nodulata, -Gleichen’s pearl-animalcule, has been observed by Otto Friedrich Müller -in the interior of the reddish Nais littoralis. (Müller, Zoologia -danica, Fasc. II. Tab. lxxx. a--e.) Probably these microscopic animals -are again inhabited by others. All are surrounded by air poor in oxygen -and variously mixed with hydrogen and carbonic acid. Whether any animal -can live in _pure nitrogen_ is very doubtful. It might formerly have -been believed to be the case with Fischer’s Cistidicola farionis, -because according to Fourcroy’s experiments the swimming bladders -of fish appeared to contain an air entirely deprived of oxygen. -Erman’s experience and my own shew, however, that fresh-water fishes -never contain pure nitrogen in their swimming bladders. (Humboldt et -Provençal, sur la respiration des Poissons, in the Recueil d’Observ. de -Zoologie, Vol. ii. p. 194-216.) In sea-fish as much as 0·80 of oxygen -has been found, and according to Biot the purity of the air would -appear to depend on the depth at which the fish live. (Mémoires de -Physique et de Chimie de la Societé d’Arcueil, T. i. 1807, p. 252-281.) - -[7] p. 8.--“_The collected labours of united Lithophytes._” - -Following Linnæus and Ellis, the calcareous zoophytes,--among which -Madrepores, Meandrinæ, Astreæ, and Pocilloporæ, especially, produce -wall-like coral-reefs,--are inhabited by living creatures which were -long believed to be allied to the Nereids belonging to Cuvier’s -Annelidæ. The anatomy of these gelatinous little creatures has been -elucidated by the ingenious and extensive researches of Cavolini, -Savigny, and Ehrenberg. We have learnt that in order to understand the -entire organization of what are called the rock-building coral animals, -the scaffolding which survives them, _i. e._, the layers of lime, which -in the form of thin delicate plates or lamellæ are elaborated by vital -functions, must not be regarded as something extraneous to the soft -membranes of the food-receiving animal. - -Besides the more extended knowledge of the wonderful formation of the -animated coral stocks, there have been gradually established more -accurate views respecting the influence exercised by corals on other -departments of Nature,--on the elevation of groups of low islands -above the level of the sea,--on the migrations of land-plants and the -successive extension of the domains of particular Floras,--and, lastly, -in some parts of the ocean, on the diffusion of races of men, and the -spread of particular languages. - -As minute organic creatures living in society, corals do indeed perform -an important part in the general economy of Nature, although they -do not, as was begun to be believed at the time of Cook’s voyages, -enlarge continents and build up islands from fathomless depths of -the ocean. They excite the liveliest interest, whether considered as -subjects of physiology and of the study of the gradation of animal -forms, or whether they are regarded in reference to their influence on -the geography of plants and on the geological relations of the crust -of the Earth. According to the great views of Leopold von Buch, the -whole formation of the Jura consists of “large raised coral-banks of -the ancient world surrounding the ancient mountain chains at a certain -distance.” - -In Ehrenberg’s Classification, (Abhandlungen der Akad. der Wiss. zu -Berlin aus dem, J. 1882, S. 393-432) Coral-animals, (often improperly -called, in English works, Coral-insects) are divided into two great -classes: the single-mouthed Anthozoa, which are either free or capable -of detaching themselves, being the animal-corals, Zoocorallia; and -those in which the attachment is permanent and plant-like, being the -Phyto-corals. To the first order, the Zoocorallia, belong the Hydras -or Arm-polypi of Trembley, the Actiniæ decked with beautiful colours, -and the mushroom-corals; to the second order or Phyto-corals belong the -Madrepores, the Astræids, and the Ocellinæ. The Polypi of the second -order are those which, by the cellular wave-defying ramparts which -they construct, are the principal subject of the present note. These -ramparts consist of an aggregate of coral trunks, which, however, do -not instantly lose their common vitality as does a forest tree when cut -down. - -Every coral-trunk is a whole which has arisen by a formation of buds -taking place according to certain laws, the parts of which the whole -consists forming a number of organically distinct individuals. In the -group of Phyto-corals these individuals cannot detach themselves at -pleasure, but remain united with each other by thin plates of carbonate -of lime. It is not, therefore, by any means the case that each trunk of -coral has a central point of common vitality or life. (See Ehrenberg’s -Memoir above referred to, S. 419.) The propagation of coral-animals -takes place, in the one order, by eggs or by spontaneous division; and -in the other order, by the formation of buds. It is the latter mode of -propagation which, in the development of individuals, is the most rich -in variety of form. - -Coral-reefs, (according to the definition of Dioscorides, sea-plants, a -forest of stone-trees, Lithodendra), are of three kinds;--coast reefs, -called by the English “shore or fringing reefs,” which are immediately -connected with the coasts of continents or islands, as almost all the -coral banks of the Red Sea seen during an eighteen months’ examination -by Ehrenberg and Hemprich;--“barrier-reefs,” “encircling-reefs,” as -the great Australian barrier-reef on the north-east coast of New -Holland, extending from Sandy Cape to the dreaded Torres Strait; and -as the encircling-reefs surrounding the islands of Vanikoro (between -the Santa Cruz group and the New Hebrides) and Poupynete (one of -the Carolinas);--and lastly, coral banks enclosing lagoons, forming -“Atolls” or “Lagoon-islands.” This highly natural division and -nomenclature have been introduced by Charles Darwin, and are intimately -connected with the explanation which that ingenious and excellent -investigator of nature has given of the gradual production of these -wonderful forms. As on the one hand Cavolini, Ehrenberg, and Savigny -have perfected the scientific-anatomical knowledge of the organisation -of coral-animals, so on the other hand the geographical and geological -relations of coral-islands have been investigated and elucidated, -first by Reinhold and George Forster in Cook’s Second Voyage, and -subsequently, after a long interval, by Chamisso, Péron, Quoy and -Gaimard, Flinders, Lütke, Beechey, Darwin, d’Urville, and Lottin. - -The coral-animals and their stony cellular structures or scaffolding -belong principally to the warm tropical seas, and the reefs are found -more frequently in the Southern than in the Northern Hemisphere. The -Atolls or Lagoon Islands are crowded together in what has been called -the Coral-Sea, off the north-east coast of New Holland, including New -Caledonia, the Salomon’s Islands, and the Louisiade Archipelago; in -the group of the Low islands (Low Archipelago), eighty in number; in -the Fidji, Ellice, and Gilbert groups; and in the Indian Ocean, on the -north-east of Madagascar, under the name of the Atoll-group of Saya de -Malha. - -The great Chagos bank, of which the structure and rocks of dead coral -have been thoroughly examined by Captain Moresby and by Powell, is so -much the more interesting, because we may regard it as a continuation -of the more northerly Laccadives and Maldives. I have already called -attention elsewhere (Asie Centrale, T. i. p. 218), to the importance -of the succession of these Atolls, running exactly in the direction -of a meridian and continued as far as 7° south latitude, to the -general system of mountains and the configuration of the earth’s -surface in Central Asia. They form a kind of continuation to the great -rampart-like mountain elevations of the Ghauts and the more northern -chain of Bolor, to which correspond in the trans-Gangetic Peninsula the -North and South Chains which are intersected near the great bend of the -Thibetian Tzang-bo River by several transverse mountain systems running -east and west. In this eastern peninsula are situated the chains of -Cochin China, Siam, and Malacca which are parallel with each other, as -well as those of Ava and Arracan which all, after courses of unequal -length, terminate in the Gulfs or Bays of Siam, Martaban, and Bengal. -The Bay of Bengal appears like an arrested attempt of nature to form an -inland sea. A deep invasion of the ocean, between the simple western -system of the Ghauts, and the eastern very complex trans-Gangetic -system of mountains, has swallowed up a large portion of the low -lands on the eastern side, but met with an obstacle more difficult to -overcome in the existence of the extensive high plateau of Mysore. - -Such an invasion of the ocean has occasioned two almost pyramidal -peninsulas of very different dimensions, and differently proportioned -in breadth and length; and the continuations of two mountain systems -(both running in the direction of the meridian, _i. e._, the mountain -system of Malacca on the east, and the Ghauts of Malabar on the west), -shew themselves in submarine chains of mountains or symmetrical -series of islands, on the one side in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands -which are very poor in corals, and on the other side in the three -long-extended groups or series of Atolls of the Laccadives, the -Maldives, and Chagos. The latter series, called by navigators the -Chagos-bank, forms a lagoon encircled by a narrow and already much -broken, and in great measure submerged, coral reef. The longer and -shorter diameters of this lagoon, or its length and breadth, are -respectively 90 and 70 geographical miles. Whilst the enclosed lagoon -is only from seventeen to forty fathoms deep, the depth of water at a -small distance from the outer margin of the coral, (which appears to be -gradually sinking), is such, that at half a mile no bottom was found -in sounding with a line of 190 fathoms, and, at a somewhat greater -distance, none with 210 fathoms. (Darwin, Structure of Coral Reefs, p. -39, 111, and 183.) At the coral lagoon called Keeling-Atoll, Captain -Fitz-Roy, at a distance of only two thousand yards from the reef, found -no soundings with 1200 fathoms. - -“The corals which, in the Red Sea, form thick wall-like masses, are -species of Meandrina, Astræa, Favia, Madrepora (Porites), Pocillopora -(hemprichii), Millepora, and Heteropora. The latter are among the most -massive, although they are somewhat branched. The corals which lie -deepest below the surface of the water in this locality, and which, -being magnified by the refraction of the rays of light, appear to the -eye like the domes or cupolas of a cathedral or other large building, -belong, so far as we were enabled to judge, to Meandrina and Astræa.” -(Ehrenberg, manuscript notices.) It is necessary to distinguish between -separate and in part free and detached polypifers, and those which -form wall-like structures and rocks. - -If we are struck with the great accumulation of building polypifers -in some regions of the globe, it is not less surprising to remark the -entire absence of their structures in other and often nearly adjoining -regions. These differences must be determined by causes which have not -yet been thoroughly investigated; such as currents, local temperature -of the water, and abundance or deficiency of appropriate food. That -certain thin-branched corals, with less deposit of lime on the side -opposite to the opening of the mouth, prefer the repose of the interior -of the lagoon, is not to be denied; but this preference for the -unagitated water must not, as has too often been done (Annales des -Sciences Naturelles, 1825, T. vi. p. 277), be regarded as a property -belonging to the entire class. According to Ehrenberg’s experience in -the Red Sea, that of Chamisso in the Atolls of the Marshall Islands -east of the Caroline group, the observations of Captain Bird Allen in -the West Indies, and those of Capt. Moresby in the Maldives, living -Madrepores, Millepores, and species of Astræa and of Meandrina, -can support the most violent action of the waves,--“a tremendous -surf,”--(Darwin, Coral Reefs, pp. 63-65), and even appear to prefer the -most stormy exposure. The living organic forces or powers regulating -the cellular structure, which with age acquires the hardness of rock, -resist with wonderful success the mechanical forces acting in the shock -of the agitated water. - -In the Pacific, the Galapagos Islands, and the whole Western Coast of -America, are entirely without coral reefs, although so near to the many -Atolls of the Low Islands, and the Archipelago of the Marquesas. This -absence of corals might perhaps be ascribed to the presence of colder -water, since we know that the coasts of Chili and Peru are washed by -a cold current coming from the south and turning to the westward off -Punta Parina, the temperature of which I found, in 1802, to be only -12°.5 Reaumur (60°.2 Fah.), while the undisturbed adjacent masses of -water were from 22° to 23° Reaumur (81°.5 to 83°.8 Fah.); and there are -also among the Galapagos small currents running between the islands, -having a temperature of only 11°.7 Reaumur (58°.2 Fah.) But these lower -temperatures do not extend farther to the north along the shores of the -Pacific, and are not found upon the coasts of Guayaquil, Guatimala, -and Mexico; nor does a low temperature prevail at the Cape de Verd -Islands on the West Coast of Africa, or at the small islands of St. -Paul (St. Paul’s rocks), or at St. Helena, Ascension, or San Fernando -Noronha,--which yet are all without coral reefs. - -While this absence of coral reefs appears to characterise the _western_ -coasts of Africa, America, and Australia, on the other hand such reefs -abound on the _eastern_ coasts of tropical America, of Africa, on the -coasts of Zanzibar and Australia, and on that of New South Wales. The -coral banks which I have chiefly had opportunities of observing are -those of the interior of the Gulf of Mexico, and those to the south -of the Island of Cuba, in what are called the “Gardens of the King -and Queen” (Jardines y Jardinillos del Rey y de la Reyna). It was -Columbus himself who, on his second voyage, in May 1494, gave that -name to this little group of islands, because the agreeable mixture -of the silver-leaved arborescent Tournefortia gnapholoides, flowering -species of Dolichos, Avicennia nitida, and mangrove hedges, gave to -the coral islands the appearance of a group of floating gardens. “Son -Cayos verdes y graciosos llenos de arboledas,” says the Admiral. On the -passage from Batabano to Trinidad de Cuba, I remained several days in -these gardens, situated to the east of the larger island, called the -Isla de Pinos, which is rich in mahogany trees: my stay was for the -purpose of determining the longitude of the different keys (Cayos). The -Cayo Flamenco, Cayo Bonito, Cayo de Diego Perez, and Cayo de piedras, -are coral islands rising only from eight to fourteen inches above the -level of the sea. The upper edge of the reef does not consist simply -of blocks of dead coral; it is rather a true conglomerate, in which -angular pieces of coral, cemented together with grains of quartz, are -embedded. In the Cayo de piedras I saw such embedded pieces of coral -measuring as much as three cubic feet. Several of the small West -Indian coral islands have fresh water, a phenomenon which, wherever it -presents itself, (for example, at Radak in the Pacific; see Chamisso -in Kotzebue’s Entdeckungs-Reise, Bd. iii. S. 108), is deserving of -examination, as it has sometimes been ascribed to hydrostatic pressure -operating from a distant coast, (as at Venice, and in the Bay of Xagua -east of Batabano), and sometimes to the filtration of rain water. (See -my Essai politique sur l’Ile de Cuba, T. ii. p. 137.) - -The living gelatinous investment of the stony calcareous part of the -coral attracts fish, and even turtles, who seek it as food. In the time -of Columbus the now unfrequented locality of the Jardines del Rey was -enlivened by a singular kind of fishery, in which the inhabitants of -the coasts of the Island of Cuba engaged, and in which they availed -themselves of the services of a small fish. They employed in the -capture of turtle the Remora, once said to detain ships (probably the -Echeneis Naucrates), called in Spanish “Reves,” or reversed, because -at first sight his back and abdomen are mistaken for each other. The -remora attaches itself to the turtle by suction through the interstices -of the indented and moveable cartilaginous plates which cover the -head of the latter, and “would rather,” says Columbus, “allow itself -to be cut in pieces than lose its hold.” The natives; therefore, -attach a line, formed of palm fibres, to the tail of the little fish, -and after it has fastened itself to the turtle draw both out of the -water together. Martin Anghiera, the learned secretary of Charles V., -says, “Nostrates piscem reversum appellant, quod versus venatur. Non -aliter ac nos canibus gallicis per æquora campi lepores insectamur, -illi (incolæ Cubæ insulæ) venatorio pisce pisces alios capiebant.” -(Petr. Martyr, Oceanica, 1532, Dec. I. p. 9; Gomara, Hist. de las -Indias, 1553, fol. xiv.) We learn by Dampier and Commerson that this -piscatorial artifice, the employing a sucking-fish to catch other -inhabitants of the water, is much practised on the East Coast of -Africa, at Cape Natal and on the Mozambique Channel, and also in the -Island of Madagascar. (Lacépède, Hist. nat. des Poissons, T. i. p. -55.) The same necessities combine with a knowledge of the habits of -animals to induce the same artifices and modes of capture among nations -who are entirely unconnected with each other. - -Although, as we have already remarked, the zone included between 22 -or 24 degrees of latitude on either side of the equator, appears to -be the true region of the calcareous saxigenous lithophytes which -raise wall-like structures, yet coral reefs are also found, favoured -it is supposed by the warm current of the Gulf-stream, in lat. 32° -23´, at the Bermudas, where they have been extremely well described by -Lieutenant Nelson. (Transactions of the Geological Society, 2d Series, -1837, Vol. V. Pt. i. p. 103.) In the southern hemisphere, corals, -(Millepores and Cellepores), are found singly as far south as Chiloe, -the Archipelago of Chonos, and Tierra de Fuego, in 53° lat.; and -Retepores are even found in lat. 72-1/2°. - -Since the second voyage of Captain Cook there have been many defenders -of the hypothesis put forward by him as well as by Reinhold and George -Forster, according to which the low coral islands of the Pacific have -been built up by living creatures from the depths of the bottom of -the sea. The distinguished investigators of nature, Quoy and Gaimard, -who accompanied Captain Freycinet in his voyage round the world in -the frigate Uranie, were the first who ventured, in 1823, to express -themselves with great boldness and freedom in opposition to the views -of the two Forsters (father and son), of Flinders, and of Péron. -(Annales des Sciences Naturelles, T. vi., 1825, p. 273.) “En appelant -l’attention des naturalistes sur les animalcules des coraux, nous -espérons démontrer que tout ce qu’on a dit ou cru observer jusqu’à -ce jour relativement aux immenses travaux qu’il sont susceptibles -d’exécuter, est le plus souvent inexact et toujours excessivement -exagéré. Nous pensons que les coraux, loin d’élever des profondeurs -de l’océan des murs perpendiculaires, ne forment que des couches ou -des encroûtemens de quelques toises d’èpaisseur.” Quoy and Gaimard -also propounded (p. 289) the conjecture that the Atolls, (coral walls -enclosing a lagoon), probably owed their origin to submarine volcanic -craters. Their estimate of the depth below the surface of the sea at -which the animals which form the coral reefs (the species of Astræa, -for example) could live, was doubtless too small, being at the utmost -from 25 to 30 feet (26-1/2 to 32 E.) An investigator and lover of -nature who has added to his own many and valuable observations a -comparison with those of others in all parts of the globe, Charles -Darwin, places with greater certainty the depth of the region of -living corals at 20 to 30 fathoms. (Darwin, Journal, 1845, p. 467; and -the same writer’s Structure of Coral Reefs, p. 84-87; and Sir Robert -Schomburgk, Hist. of Barbadoes, 1848, p. 636.) This is also the depth -at which Professor Edward Forbes found the greatest number of corals -in the Egean Sea: it is his “fourth region” of marine animals in his -very ingenious memoir on the “Provinces of Depth” and the geographical -distribution of Mollusca at vertical distances from the surface. -(Report on Ægean Invertebrata in the Report of the 13th Meeting of the -British Association, held at Cork in 1843, pp. 151 and 161.) The depths -at which corals live would seem, however, to be very different in -different species, and especially in the more delicate ones which do -not form such large masses. - -Sir James Ross, in his Antarctic Expedition, brought up corals with -the sounding lead from great depths, and entrusted them to Mr. Stokes -and Professor Forbes for more thorough examination. On the west of -Victoria Land, near Coulman Island, in S. lat. 72° 31´, at a depth of -270 fathoms, Retepora cellulosa, a species of Hornera, and Prymnoa -Rossii, were found quite fresh and living. Prymnoa Rossii is very -analogous to a species found on the coast of Norway. (See Ross, Voyage -of Discovery in the Southern and Antarctic Regions, vol. i. pp. 334 and -337.) In a similar manner in the high northern regions the whalers have -brought up Umbellaria grænlandica, living, from depths of 236 fathoms. -(Ehrenberg, in the Abhandl. der Berl. Akad. aus dem J. 1832, S. 430.) -We find similar relations of species and situation among sponges, -which, indeed, are now considered to belong rather to plants than to -zoophytes. On the coasts of Asia Minor the common sponge is found by -those engaged in the fishery at depths varying from 5 to 30 fathoms; -whereas a very small species of the same genus is not found at a less -depth than 180 fathoms. (Forbes and Spratt, Travels in Lycia, 1847, -Vol. ii. p. 124.) It is difficult to divine the reason which prevents -Madrepores, Meandrina, Astræa, and the entire group of tropical -Phyto-corals which raise large cellular calcareous structures, from -living in strata of water at a considerable depth below the surface of -the sea. The diminution of temperature in descending takes place but -slowly; that of light almost equally so; and the existence of numerous -Infusoria at great depths shews that the polypifers would not want for -food. - -In opposition to the hitherto generally received opinion of the -entire absence of organic life in the Dead Sea, it is deserving of -notice that my friend and fellow labourer, M. Valenciennes, has -received through the Marquis Charles de l’Escalopier, and also the -French consul Botta, fine specimens of Porites elongata from the -Dead Sea. This fact is the more interesting because this species is -not found in the Mediterranean, but belongs to the Red Sea, which, -according to Valenciennes, has but few organic forms in common with -the Mediterranean. I have before remarked that in France a sea fish, a -species of Pleuronectes, advances far up the rivers into the interior -of the country, thus becoming accustomed to gill-respiration in -fresh water; so we find that the coral-animal above spoken of, the -Porites elongata of Lamarck, has a not less remarkable flexibility of -organisation, since it lives in the Dead Sea, which is over-saturated -with salt, and in the open ocean near the Seychelle Islands. (See my -Asie Centrale, T. ii. p. 517.) - -According to the most recent chemical analyses made by the younger -Silliman, the genus Porites, as well as many other cellular polypifers, -(Madrepores, Andræas, and Meandrinas of Ceylon and the Bermudas), -contain, besides 92-95 per cent. of carbonate of lime and magnesia, -some fluoric and phosphoric acids. (See p. 124-131 of “Structure and -Classification of Zoophytes,” by James Dana, Geologist of the United -States’ Exploring Expedition, under the command of Captain Wilkes.) -The presence of fluorine in the solid parts of polypifers reminds -us of the fluorate of lime in the bones of fishes, according to the -experiments of Morechini and Gay Lussac at Rome. Silex is only found -mixed in very small quantity with fluorate and phosphate of lime in -coral stocks; but a coral-animal allied to the Horn-coral, Gray’s -Hyalonema, has an axis of pure fibres of silex resembling a queue or -braided tress of hair. Professor Forchhammer, who has been lately -engaged in a thorough analysis of the sea-water from the most different -parts of the globe, finds the quantity of lime in the Caribbean Sea -remarkably small, being only 247 parts in ten thousand, while in -the Categat it amounts to 371 parts in ten thousand. He is disposed -to attribute this difference to the many coral-banks among the West -Indian Islands, which appropriate the lime, and lower the per centage -remaining in the sea-water. (Report of the 16th Meeting of the British -Association for the Advancement of Science, held in 1846, p. 91.) - -Charles Darwin has developed in a very ingenious manner the probable -genetic connection between fringing or shore-reefs, island-encircling -reefs, and lagoon-islands, _i. e._, narrow ring-shaped reefs enclosing -interior lagoons. According to his views these three varieties of -form are dependent on the oscillating condition of the bottom of the -sea, or on periodic elevations and subsidences. The hypothesis which -has been several times put forward, according to which the closed -ring or annular form of the coral-reefs in Atolls or Lagoon Islands -marks the configuration of a submarine volcano, the structure having -been raised on the margin of the crater, is opposed by their great -dimensions, the diameters of many of them being 30, 40, and sometimes -even 60 geographical miles. Our fire-emitting mountains have no such -craters; and if we would compare the lagoon, with its submerged -interior and narrow enclosing reef, to one of the annular mountains -of the moon, we must not forget that those lunar mountains are not -volcanoes, but wall-surrounded districts. According to Darwin, the -process of formation is the following:--He supposes a mountainous -island surrounded by a coral-reef, (a “fringing reef” attached to the -shore), to undergo subsidence: the “fringing reef” which subsides with -the island is continually restored to its level by the tendency of the -coral-animals to regain the surface of the sea, and becomes thus, as -the island gradually sinks and is reduced in size, first an “encircling -reef” at some distance from the included islet, and subsequently, when -the latter has entirely disappeared, an atoll. According to this view, -in which islands are regarded as the culminating points of a submerged -land, the relative positions of the different coral islands would -disclose to us that which we could hardly learn by the sounding line, -concerning the configuration of the land which was above the surface of -the sea at an earlier epoch. The entire elucidation of this attractive -subject, (to the connection of which with the migrations of plants and -the diffusion of races of men attention was called at the commencement -of the present note), can only be hoped for when inquirers shall have -succeeded in obtaining greater knowledge than is now possessed of the -depth and the nature of the rocks on which the lowest strata of the -dead corals rest. - -[8] p. 11.--“_Traditions of Samothrace._” - -Diodorus has preserved to us this remarkable tradition, the probability -of which renders it in the eyes of the geologist almost equivalent to -a historical certainty. The Island of Samothrace, formerly called also -Æthiopea, Dardania, Leucania or Leucosia in the Scholiast to Apollonius -Rhodius, and which was a seat of the ancient mysteries of the Cabiri, -was inhabited by the remains of an ancient nation, several words of -whose language were preserved to a later period in the ceremonies -accompanying sacrifices. The situation of this island, opposite to the -Thracian Hebrus and near the Dardanelles, renders it not surprising -that a more detailed tradition of the catastrophe of the breaking forth -of the waters of the Euxine should have been preserved there. Rites -were performed at altars supposed to mark the limits of the irruption -of the waves; and in Samothrace as well as in Bœotia, a belief in the -periodically recurring destruction of mankind, (a belief which was also -found among the Mexicans in the form of a myth of four destructions of -the world), was connected with historical recollections of particular -inundations. (Otfr. Müller Geschichten Hellenischer Stämme und Städte, -Bd. i. S. 65 and 119.) According to Diodorus, the Samothracians related -that the Black Sea had once been an inland lake, but that, being -swollen by the rivers which flow into it, it had broken through, first -the strait of the Bosphorus, and afterwards that of the Hellespont; and -this long before the inundations spoken of by other nations. (Diod. -Sicul. lib. v. cap. 47, p. 369, Wesseling.) These ancient revolutions -of nature have been treated of in a special work by Dureau de la Malle, -and all the information possessed on the subject has been collected in -Carl von Hoff’s important work, entitled Geschichte der natürlichen -Veränderungen der Erdoberfläche, Th. i. 1822, S. 105-162; and in -Creuzer’s Symbolik, 2te Aufl. Th. ii. S. 285, 318, and 361. A reflex, -as it were, of the traditions of Samothrace appears in the “Sluice -theory” of Strato of Lampsacus, according to which the swelling of the -waters of the Euxine first opened the passage of the Dardanelles, and -afterwards caused the outlet through the pillars of Hercules. Strabo -has preserved to us in the first book of his Geography, among critical -extracts from the works of Eratosthenes, a remarkable fragment of the -lost writings of Strato, presenting views which extend to almost the -entire circumference of the Mediterranean. - -“Strato of Lampsacus,” says Strabo (Lib. i. p. 49 and 50, Casaub.), -“is even more disposed than the Lydian Xanthus,” (who had described -impressions of shells at a distance from the sea) “to expound the -causes of the things which we see. He asserts that the Euxine had -formerly no outlet at Byzantium, but the sea becoming swollen by the -rivers which ran into it, had by its pressure opened the passage -through which the waters flow into the Propontis and the Hellespont. -He also says that the same thing has happened to our Sea (the -Mediterranean);” “for here, too, when the sea had become swollen by the -rivers, (which in flowing into it had left dry their marshy banks), it -forced for itself a passage through the isthmus of land connecting the -Pillars. The proofs which Strato gives of this are, first that there is -still a bank under water running from Europe to Libya, shewing that the -outer and inner seas were formerly divided; and next that the Euxine -is the shallowest, the Cretan, Sicilian, and Sardoic Seas being on the -contrary very deep; the reason being that the Euxine has been filled -with mud by the many and large rivers flowing into it from the North, -while the other seas continued deep. The Euxine is also the freshest, -and the waters flow towards the parts where the bottom of the sea is -lowest. Hence he inferred that the whole of the Euxine would finally -be choked with mud if the rivers were to continue to flow into it: and -this is already in some degree the case on the west side of the Euxine -towards Salmydessus (the Thracian Apollonia), and at what are called -by mariners the “Breasts” off the mouth of the Ister and along the -shore of the Scythian Desert. Perhaps the Temple of Ammon (in Lybia) -may once have stood on the sea-shore, and causes such as these may -explain why it is now far inland. This Strato thought might account -for the celebrity of the Oracle, which would be less surprising if it -had been on the sea-shore; whereas its great distance from the coast -made its present renown inexplicable. Egypt, too, had been formerly -overflowed by the sea as far as the marshes of Pelusium, Mount Casius, -and Lake Serbonis; for, on digging beneath the surface, beds of -sea-sand and shells are found; shewing that the country was formerly -overflowed, and the whole district round Mount Casius and Gerrha was -a marshy sea which joined the gulf of the Red Sea. When our Sea (the -Mediterranean) retreated, the land was uncovered; still, however, -leaving the Lake of Serbonis: subsequently this lake also broke through -its bounds and the water flowed off, so that the lake became a swamp. -The banks of Lake Mœris are also more like sea than river banks.” An -erroneously corrected reading introduced by Grosskurd on account of -a passage in Strabo, Lib. xvii. p. 809, Cas., gives instead of Mœris -“the Lake Halmyris:” but this latter lake was situated not far from the -mouth of the Danube. - -The sluice-theory of Strato led Eratosthenes of Cyrene (the most -celebrated of the series of librarians of Alexandria, but less -happy than Archimedes in writing on floating bodies), to examine -the problem of the equality of level of all external seas, _i. e._, -seas surrounding the Continents. (Strabo, Lib. i. p. 51-56; Lib. ii. -p. 104, Casaub). The varied outlines of the northern shores of the -Mediterranean, and the articulated form of the peninsulas and islands, -had given occasion to the geognostical myth of the ancient land of -Lyctonia. The supposed mode of origin of the smaller Syrtis and of the -Triton Lake (Diod. iii. 53-55) as well as that of the whole Western -Atlas (Maximus Tyrius, viii. 7) were drawn in to form part of an -imaginary scheme of igneous eruptions and earthquakes. (See my Examen -crit. de l’hist. de la Géographie, Vol. i. p. 179; T. iii. p. 136.) I -have recently touched more in detail on this subject (Kosmos, Bd. ii. -S. 153; Engl. ed. p. 118-119) in a passage which I permit myself to -subjoin:-- - -A more richly varied and broken outline gives to the northern shore -of the Mediterranean an advantage over the southern or Lybian shore, -which according to Strabo was remarked by Eratosthenes. The three great -peninsulas, the Iberian, the Italian, and the Hellenic, with their -sinuous and deeply indented shores, form, in combination with the -neighbouring islands and opposite coasts, many straits and isthmuses. -The configuration of the continent and the islands, the latter either -severed from the main or volcanically elevated in lines, as if over -long fissures, early led to geognostical views respecting eruptions, -terrestrial revolutions, and overpourings of the swollen higher seas -into those which were lower. The Euxine, the Dardanelles, the Straits -of Gades, and the Mediterranean with its many islands, were well fitted -to give rise to the view of such a system of sluices. The Orphic -Argonaut, who probably wrote in Christian times, wove antique legends -into his song; he describes the breaking up of the ancient Lyktonia -into several islands, when ‘the dark-haired Poseidon, being wroth -with Father Kronion, smote Lyktonia with the golden trident.’ Similar -phantasies, which indeed may often have arisen from imperfect knowledge -of geographical circumstances, proceeded from the Alexandrian school, -where erudition abounded, and a strong predilection was felt for -antique legends. It is not necessary to determine here whether the myth -of the Atlantis broken into fragments should be regarded as a distant -and western reflex of that of Lyktonia (as I think I have elsewhere -shewn to be probable), or whether, as Otfried Müller considers, -“the destruction of Lyktonia (Leuconia) refers to the Samothracian -tradition of a great flood which had changed the form of that district.” - -[9] p. 12.--“_Prevents precipitation taking place from clouds._” - -The vertically-ascending current of the atmosphere is a principal -cause of many most important meteorological phenomena. When a desert -or a sandy plain partly or entirely destitute of plants is bounded -by a chain of high mountains, we see the sea breeze drive the dense -clouds over the desert without any precipitation taking place before -they have reached the mountain-ridge. This phenomenon was formerly -explained in a very inappropriate manner by a supposed superior -attraction exercised by the mountains on the clouds. The true reason -of the phenomenon appears to consist in the ascending column of warm -air which rises from the sandy plain, and prevents the vesicles -of vapour from being dissolved. The more complete the absence of -vegetation, and the more the sand is heated, the greater is the height -of the clouds, and the less can any fall of rain take place. When the -clouds reach the mountains these causes cease to operate; the play of -the vertically-ascending atmospheric current is feebler, the clouds -sink lower, and dissolve in rain in a cooler stratum of air. Thus, -in deserts, the _want of rain_, and the _absence of vegetation_, act -and react upon each other. It does not rain, because the naked sandy -surface having no vegetable covering, becomes more powerfully heated by -the solar rays, and thus radiates more heat; and the absence of rain -forbids the desert being converted into a steppe or grassy plain, -because without water no organic development is possible. - -[10] p. 14.--“_The mass of the earth in solidifying and parting with -its heat._” - -If, according to the hypothesis of the Neptunists, now long since -obsolete, the so-called primitive rocks were precipitated from a fluid, -the transition of the crust of the earth from a fluid to a solid state -must have been accompanied by an enormous disengagement of heat, which -would in turn have caused fresh evaporation and fresh precipitations. -The later these precipitations, the more rapid, tumultuous, and -uncrystalline they would have been. Such a sudden disengagement of heat -_might_ cause local augmentations of temperature independent of the -height of the pole or the latitude of the place, and independent of the -position of the earth’s axis; and the temperatures thus caused would -influence the distribution of plants. The same sudden disengagement of -heat might also occasion a species of porosity, of which there seem to -be indications in many enigmatical geological phenomena in sedimentary -rocks. I have developed these conjectures in detail in a small memoir -“über ursprungliche Porosität.” (See my work entitled Versuche über -die chemische Zersetzung des Luftkreises, 1799, S. 177; and Moll’s -Jahrbücher der Berg- und Hüttenkunde, 1797, S. 234.) According to the -newer views which I now entertain, the shattered and fissured earth, -with her molten interior, may long have maintained a high temperature -on her oxydised surface, independently of position in respect to the -sun and of latitude. Would not the climate of Germany be wonderfully -altered, and that perhaps for centuries, if there were opened a fissure -a thousand fathoms in depth, reaching from the shores of the Adriatic -to the Baltic? If in the present condition of our planet, the stable -equilibrium of temperature, first calculated by Fourier in his Théorie -analytique de la chaleur, has been almost completely restored by -radiation from the earth into space; and if the external atmosphere now -only communicates with the molten interior through the inconsiderable -openings of a few volcanoes,--in the earlier state of things numerous -clefts and fissures, produced by the frequently recurring corrugations -of the rocky strata of the globe, emitted streams of heated air which -mingled with the atmosphere and were entirely independent of latitude. -Every planet must thus in its earliest condition have for a time -determined its own temperature, which afterwards becomes dependent on -the position relatively to the central body, the Sun. The surface of -the Moon also shows traces of this reaction of the interior upon the -crust. - -[11] p. 14.--“_The mountain declivities of the southern part of -Mexico._” - -The greenstone in globular concretions of the mountain district of -Guanaxuato is quite similar to that of the Franconian Fichtel-Gebirge. -Both form grotesquely shaped summits, which pierce through and cover -the transition argillaceous schists. In the same manner, pearl stone, -porphyritic schists, trachyte, and pitch-stone porphyry, constitute -rocks similar in form in the Mexican mountains near Cinapecuaro and -Moran, in Hungary, in Bohemia, and in Northern Asia. - -[12] p. 16.--“_The dragon-tree of Orotava._” - -This colossal dragon-tree, Dracæna draco, stands in the garden of Dr. -Franqui in the small town of Oratava, the ancient Taoro, one of the -most delightful spots in the world. In June 1799, when we ascended the -Peak of Teneriffe, we measured the circumference of the tree, and found -it nearly 48 English feet. Our measurement was taken several feet above -the root. Lower down, and nearer to the ground, Le Dru made it nearly -79 English feet. Sir George Staunton found the diameter still as much -as 12 feet at the height of 10 feet above the ground. The height of -the tree is not much above 69 English feet. According to tradition, -this tree was venerated by the Guanches (as was the ash-tree of Ephesus -by the Greeks, or as the Lydian plane-tree which Xerxes decked with -ornaments, and the sacred Banyan-tree of Ceylon), and at the time of -the first expedition of the Béthencourts in 1402, it was already as -thick and as hollow as it now is. Remembering that the Dracæna grows -extremely slowly, we are led to infer the high antiquity of the tree -of Orotava. Bertholet, in his description of Teneriffe, says, “En -comparant les jeunes Dragonniers, voisins de l’arbre gigantesque, les -calculs qu’on fait sur l’age de ce dernier effraient l’imagination.” -(Nova Acta Acad. Leop. Carol. Naturæ Curiosorum, T. xiii. 1827, p. -781.) The dragon-tree has been cultivated in the Canaries, and in -Madeira and Porto Santo, from the earliest times; and an accurate -observer, Leopold von Buch, has even found it wild in Teneriffe, near -Igueste. Its original country, therefore, is not India, as had long -been believed; nor does its appearance in the Canaries contradict the -opinion of those who regard the Guanches as having been an isolated -Atlantic nation without intercourse with African or Asiatic nations. -The form of the Dracænas is repeated at the southern extremity of -Africa, in the Isle of Bourbon, and in New Zealand. In all these -distant regions species of the genus in question are found, but none -have been met with in the New Continent, where its form is replaced by -that of the Yucca. Dracæna borealis of Aiton is a true Convallaria, -and has all the “habitus” of that genus. (Humboldt, Rel. hist. T. i. -p. 118 and 639.) I have given a representation of the dragon-tree of -Orotava, taken from a drawing made by F. d’Ozonne in 1776, in the -last plate of the Picturesque Atlas of my American journey. (Vues -des Cordillères et Monumens des Peuples indigènes de l’Amérique, Pl. -lxix.) I found d’Ozonne’s drawing among the manuscripts left by the -celebrated Borda, in the still unprinted travelling journal entrusted -to me by the Dépôt de la Marine, and from which I borrowed important -astronomically-determined geographical, as well as barometric and -trigonometric notices. (Rel. hist. T. i. p. 282.) The measurement of -the dragon-tree of the Villa Franqui was made on Borda’s first voyage -with Pingré, in 1771; not in his second voyage, in 1776, with Varela. -It is affirmed that in the early times of the Norman and Spanish -Conquests, in the 15th century, Mass was said at a small altar erected -in the hollow trunk of the tree. Unfortunately the dragon-tree of -Orotava lost one side of its top in the storm of the 21st of July, -1819. There is a fine and large English copperplate engraving which -represents the present state of the tree with remarkable truth to -nature. - -The monumental character of these colossal living vegetable forms, -and the kind of reverence which has been felt for them among all -nations, have occasioned in modern times the bestowal of greater -care in the numerical determination of their age and the size of -their trunks. The results of these inquiries have led the author -of the important treatise, “De la longévité des Arbres,” the elder -Decandolle, Endlicher, Unger, and other able botanists, to consider -it not improbable that the age of several individual trees which are -still alive goes back to the earliest historical periods, if not of -Egypt, at least of Greece and Italy. It is said in the Bibliothèque -Universelle de Genève, 1831, T. lxvii. p. 50:--“Plusieurs exemples -semblent confirmer l’idée qu’il existe encore sur le globe des arbres -d’une antiquité prodigieuse, et peut-être témoins de ses dernières -révolutions physiques. Lorsqu’on regarde un arbre comme un agrégat -d’autant d’individus soudés ensemble qu’il s’est développé de bourgeons -à sa surface, on ne peut pas s’étonner si, de nouveaux bourgeons -s’ajoutant sans cesse aux anciens, l’agrégat qui en résulte n’a point -de terme nécessaire à son existence.” In the same manner Agardh -says:--“If in trees there are produced in each solar year new parts, -so that the older hardened parts are replaced by new ones capable of -conducting sap, we see herein a type of growth limited only by external -causes.” He ascribes the shortness of the life of herbs, or of such -plants as are not trees, “to the preponderance of the production of -flowers and fruit over the formation of leaves.” Unfruitfulness is to -a plant a prolongation of life. Endlicher cites the example of a plant -of Medicago sativa, var. β versicolor, which, bearing no fruit, lived -eighty years. (Grundzüge der Botanik, 1843, S. 1003). - -With the dragon trees, which, notwithstanding the gigantic development -of their closed vascular bundles, must by reason of their floral parts -be placed in the same natural family with asparagus and garden onions, -we must associate the Adansonia (monkey bread-tree, Baobab,) as being -certainly among the largest and oldest inhabitants of our planet. In -the very first voyages of discovery of the Catalans and Portuguese, the -navigators were accustomed to cut their names on these two species of -trees, not merely to gratify the desire of handing down their names, -but also to serve as marks or signs of possession, and of whatever -rights nations claim on the ground of being the first discoverers. -The Portuguese navigators often used as their “marco” or token of -possession the French motto of the Infant Don Henrique the Discoverer. -Manuel de Faria y Sousa says in his Asia Portuguesa (T. i. cap. 2, pp. -14 and 18):--“Era uso de los primeros Navegantes de dexar inscrito -el Motto del Infante, _talent de bien faire_, en la corteza de los -arboles.” (Compare also Barros, Asia, Dec. I. liv. ii. cap. 2, T. i. p. -148; Lisboa, 1778.) - -The above-named motto cut on the bark of two trees by Portuguese -navigators in 1435, twenty-eight years therefore before the death of -the Infante, is curiously connected in the history of discoveries with -the elucidations to which the comparison of Vespucci’s fourth voyage -with that of Gonzalo Coelho, in 1503, has given rise. Vespucci relates -that Coelho’s admiral’s ship was wrecked on an island which has been -sometimes supposed to be San Fernando Noronha, sometimes the Peñedo -de San Pedro, and sometimes the problematical Island of St. Matthew. -This last-named island was discovered by Garcia Jofre de Loaysa on -the 15th of October, 1525, in 2-1/2° S. lat., in the meridian of Cape -Palmas, almost in the Gulf of Guinea. He remained there eighteen days -at anchor, found crosses, as well as orange trees which had been -planted and had become wild, and on two trunks of trees inscriptions -dating back ninety years. (Navarrete, T. v. pp. 8, 247, and 401.) I -have examined the questions presented by this account more in detail -in my inquiries into the trustworthiness of Amerigo Vespucci. (Examen -critique de l’hist. de la Geographie, T. v. pp. 129-132.) - -The oldest description of the Baobab (Adansonia digitata), is that -given by the Venetian Aloysius Cadamosto (the real name was Alvise da -Ca da Mosto), in 1454. He found at the mouth of the Senegal, trunks -of which he estimated the circumference at seventeen fathoms, or 102 -feet, (Ramusio, Vol. i. p. 109): he might have compared them with -Dragon trees which he had seen before. Perrottet says in his “Flore de -Sénégambie” (p. 76), that he had seen monkey bread-trees which, with -a height of only about 70 or 80 feet, had a diameter of 32 English -feet. The same dimensions had been given by Adanson, in the account -of his voyage in 1748; the largest trunks which he himself saw (in -1749) in one of the small Magdalena islands near Cape de Verd, and -in the vicinity of the mouth of the Senegal River, were from 26 to -28-1/2 English feet in diameter, with a height of little more than 70 -feet, and a top about 180 feet broad; but he adds at the same time, -that other travellers had found trunks of nearly 32 English feet -diameter. French and Dutch sailors had cut their names on the trees -seen by Adanson in letters half a foot long; the dates added to the -names shewed these inscriptions to be all of the 16th century, except -one which belonged to the 15th. (In Adanson’s “Familles des Plantes,” -1763, P. I. pp. ccxv.-ccxviii., it stands as the 14th century, but -this is doubtless an error of inadvertence.) From the depth of the -inscriptions, which were covered with new layers of wood, and from the -comparison of the thickness of different trunks of the same species -in which the relative age of the trees was known, Adanson computed -the probable age of the larger trees, and found for a diameter of 32 -English feet 5150 years. (Voyage au Sènegal, 1757, p. 66.) He prudently -adds (I do not alter his curious orthography):--“Le calcul de l’aje -de chake couche n’a pas d’exactitude géometrike.” In the village of -Grand Galarques, also in Senegambia, the negroes have ornamented the -entrance of a hollow Baobab tree with sculptures cut out of the still -fresh wood; the interior serves for holding meetings in which their -interests are debated. Such a hall of assembly reminds one of the -hollow or cave (specus) of the plane tree in Lycia, in which Lucinius -Mutianus, who had previously been consul, feasted with twenty-one -guests. Plino (xii. 8) assigns to such a cavity in a hollow tree -the somewhat large allowance of a breadth of eighty Roman feet. The -Baobab was seen by Réné Caillié in the Valley of the Niger near Jenne, -by Caillaud in Nubia, and by Wilhelm Peters along the whole eastern -coast of Africa (where it is called Mulapa, _i. e._ Nlapa-tree, more -properly Muti-nlapa) as far as Lourenzo Marques, almost to 26° of S. -lat. Although Cadamosto said in the 15th century “eminentia non quadrat -magnitudini,” and although Golberry (Fragmens d’un Voyage en Afrique, -T. ii. p. 92) found in the “Vallée des deux Gagnacks” trunks which, -with 36 English feet diameter near the roots, were only 64 English feet -high, yet this great disproportion between height and thickness must -not be regarded as general. The learned traveller Peters remarks that -“very old trees lose height by the gradual decay of the top, while they -continue to increase in girth. On the East Coast of Africa one sees -not unfrequently trunks of little more than ten feet diameter reach a -height of 69 English feet.” - -If, according to what has been said, the bold estimations of Adanson -and Perottet assign to the Adansonias measured by them an age of from -5150 to 6000 years, which would make them contemporaneous with the -epoch of the building of the Pyramids or even with that of Menes, a -period when the constellation of the Southern Cross was still visible -in Northern Germany (Kosmos, Bd. iii. S. 402 and 487; Eng. ed. p. 293, -and note 146), on the other hand, the more secure estimations made -from the annual rings of trees in our northern temperate zone, and -from the ratio which has been found to subsist between the thickness -of the layer of wood and the time of growth, give us shorter periods. -Decandolle finds as the result of his inquiries, that of all European -species of trees the yew is that which attains the greatest age. He -assigns to the yew (Taxus baccata) of Braborne, in the county of Kent, -thirty centuries; to the Scotch yew of Fortingal, from twenty-five -to twenty-six; and to those of Crowhurst in Surrey, and Ripon in -Yorkshire, respectively, fourteen and a half and twelve centuries. -(Decandolle, de la longévité des arbres, p. 65.) Endlicher remarks -that the age of another yew tree, in the Churchyard of Grasford, in -North Wales, which measures 52 English feet in circumference below the -branches, is estimated at 1400 years, and that of a yew in Derbyshire -at 2096 years. In Lithuania lime trees have been cut down which were 87 -English feet in circumference, and in which 815 annual rings have been -counted. (Endlicher, Grundzüge der Botanik, S. 399.) In the temperate -zone of the southern hemisphere some species of Eucalyptus attain an -enormous girth, and as they also reach to a great stature (above 230 -Paris, 245 English, feet), they are singularly contrasted with our yew -trees, whose great dimension is in thickness only. Mr. Backhouse found -in Emu Bay, on the coast of Van Diemen Land, trunks of Eucalyptus which -measured 70 English feet round the trunk near the ground, and five feet -higher up 50 English feet. (Gould, Birds of Australia, Vol. I. Introd. -p. xv.) - -It is not, as is commonly stated, Malpighi, but the ingenious Michel -Montaigne, who has the merit of having been the first, in 1581, in his -Voyage en Italie, to notice the relation of the annual rings to the age -of the tree. (Adrien de Jussieu, Cours élémentaire de Botanique, 1840, -p. 61.) A skilful artist, engaged in the preparation of astronomical -instruments, had called the attention of Montaigne to the annual -rings; and he also maintained that the rings were narrower on the north -side of the tree. Jean Jacques Rousseau had the same belief; and his -Emile, if he loses himself in a forest, is to direct himself by the -indications afforded by the relative thickness of the layers of wood. -More recent observations on the anatomy of plants teach us, however, -that both the acceleration and also the retardation or intermission -of growth, or the varying production of circles of ligneous fascicles -(annual deposits) from the Cambium cells, depend on influences which -are wholly distinct from the quarter of the heavens towards which one -side of the annual rings is turned. (Kunth, Lehrbuch der Botanik, 1847, -T. i. S. 146 and 164; Lindley, Introduction to Botany, 2d edition, p. -75.) - -Trees which in individual cases attain a diameter of more than twenty -feet, and an age extending to many centuries, belong to the most -different natural families. I may name here Baobabs, Dragon-trees, some -species of Eucalyptus, Taxodium disticum (Rich.), Pinus Lambertiana -(Douglas), Hymenæa courbaril, Cæsalpinieæ, Bombax, Swietenia mahagoni, -the Banyan tree (Ficus religiosa), Liriodendron tulipifera? Platanus -orientalis, and our Limes, Oaks, and Yews. The celebrated Taxodium -distichon, the Ahuahuete of the Mexicans, (Cupressus disticha Linn., -Schubertia disticha Mirbel); at Santa Maria del Tule, in the state -of Oaxaca, has not a diameter of 57, as Decandolle says, but of -exactly 38 French (40-1/2 English) feet. (Mühlenpfordt, Versuch einer -getreuen Schilderung der Republik Mexico, Bd. i. S. 153.) The two fine -Ahuahuetes near Chapoltepec, which I have often seen, and which are -probably the surviving remnants of an ancient garden or pleasure-ground -of Montezuma, measure, (according to Burkart’s account of his travels, -Bd. i. S. 268, a work which otherwise contains much information), -only 36 and 38 English feet in circumference; not in diameter, as has -often been erroneously asserted. The Buddhists in Ceylon venerate the -gigantic trunk of the sacred fig-tree of Anourahdepoura. The Indian -fig-tree or Banyan, of which the branches take root round the parent -stem, forming, as Onesicritus well described, a leafy canopy resembling -a many-pillared tent, often attain a thickness of 28 (29-1/2 English) -feet diameter. (Lassen, Indische Alterthumskunde, Bd. i. S. 260.) On -the Bombax ceiba, see early notices of the time of Columbus, in Bembo’s -Historiæ Venetæ, 1551, fol. 83. - -Among oak-trees, of those which have been accurately measured, the -largest in Europe is no doubt that near the town of Saintes, in the -Departement de la Charente Inférieure, on the road to Cozes. This -tree, which is 60 (64 English) feet high, has a diameter of 27 feet -8-1/2 inches (29-1/2 English feet) near the ground; 21-1/2 (almost 23 -English) feet five feet higher up; and where the great boughs commence -6 Parisian feet (6 feet 5 inches English.) In the dead part of the -trunk a little chamber has been arranged, from 10 feet 8 inches to 12 -feet 9 inches wide, and 9 feet 8 inches high (all English measure), -with a semi-circular bench cut out of the fresh wood. A window gives -light to the interior, so that the sides of the chamber (which is -closed with a door) are clothed with ferns and lichens, giving it a -pleasing appearance. Judging by the size of a small piece of wood which -has been cut out above the door, and in which the marks of 200 annular -rings have been counted, the oak of Saintes would be between 1800 and -2000 years old. (Annales de la Société d’Agriculture de la Rochelle, -1843, p. 380.) - -In the wild rose-tree of the crypt of the Cathedral of Hildesheim, said -to be a thousand years old, it is the root only, and not the stem, -which is eight centuries old, according to accurate information derived -from ancient and trustworthy original documents, for the knowledge of -which I am indebted to the kindness of Stadtgerichts-Assessor Römer. A -legend connects the rose-tree with a vow made by the first founder of -the cathedral, Ludwig the Pious; and an original document of the 11th -century says, “that when Bishop Hezilo rebuilt the cathedral which -had been burnt down, he enclosed the roots of the rose-tree with a -vault which still exists, raised upon this vault the crypt, which was -re-consecrated in 1061, and spread out the branches of the rose-tree -upon the walls.” The stem now living is 26-1/2 feet high and about two -inches thick, and the outspread branches cover about 32 feet of the -external wall of the eastern crypt; it is doubtless of considerable -antiquity, and well deserving of the celebrity which it has gained -throughout Germany. - -If extraordinary development in point of size is to be regarded as -a proof of long continued organic life, particular attention is due -to one of the thalassophytes of the sub-marine vegetable world, _i. -e._, to the Fucus giganteus, or Macrocystis pyrifera of Agardh. -According to Captain Cook and George Forster, this sea-plant attains -a length of 360 English feet; surpassing, therefore, the height of -the loftiest Coniferæ, even that of the Sequoia gigantea, Endl., or -Taxodium sempervirens, Hook and Arnott, which grows in California. -(Darwin, Journal of Researches into Natural History, 1845, p. 239; -and Captain Fitz-Roy in the Narrative of the Voyages of the Adventure -and Beagle, vol. ii. p. 363.) Macrocystis pyrifera is found from 64° -south to 45° north latitude, as far as San Francisco on the north-west -coast of America; and Joseph Hooker believes it to extend as far as -Kamtschatka. In the Antarctic seas it is even seen floating among the -pack-ice. (Joseph Hooker, Botany of the Antarctic Voyage under the -command of Sir James Ross, 1844, pp. 7, 1, and 178; Camille Montagne, -Botanique cryptogame du Voyage de la Bonite, 1846, p. 36.) The immense -length to which the bands or ribbands and the cords or lines of the -cellular tissue of the Macrocystis attain, appears to be limited only -by accidental injuries. - -[13] p. 17.--“_Species of phænogamous plants already contained in -herbariums._” - -We must carefully distinguish between three different questions: -How many species of plants are described in printed works? how many -have been discovered, _i. e._ are contained in herbariums, though -without being described? how many are probably existing on the -globe? Murray’s edition of the Linnean system contains, including -cryptogamia, only 10042 species. Willdenow, in his edition of the -Species Plantarum, between the years 1797 and 1807, had already -described 17457 phænogamous species, (from Monandria to Polygamia -diœcia.) If we add 3000 cryptogamous species, we obtain the number -which Willdenow mentions, viz. 20000 species. More recent researches -have shown how much this estimation of the number of species described -and contained in herbariums falls short of the truth. Robert Brown -counted above 37000 phænogamous plants. (General Remarks on the -Botany of Terra Australis, p. 4.) I afterwards attempted to give the -geographical distribution (in different parts of the earth already -explored), of 44000 phænogamous and cryptogamous plants. (Humboldt, -de distributione geographica Plantarum, p. 23.) Decandolle found, -in comparing Persoon’s Enchiridium with his Universal System in -12 several families, that the writings of botanists and European -herbariums taken together might be assumed to contain upwards of -56000 species of plants. (Essai élementaire de Géographie botanique, -p. 62.) If we consider how many species have since that period been -described by travellers,--(my expedition alone furnished 3600 of the -5800 collected species of the equinoctial zone),--and if we remember -that in all the botanical gardens taken together there are certainly -above 25000 phænogamous plants cultivated, we shall easily perceive -how much Decandolle’s number falls short of the truth. Completely -unacquainted as we still are with the larger portions of the interior -of South America,--(Mato-Grosso, Paraguay, the eastern declivity of -the Andes, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, and all the countries between -the Orinoco, the Rio Negro, the Amazons, and Puruz),--of Africa, -Madagascar, Borneo, and Central and Eastern Asia,--the thought rises -involuntarily in the mind that we may not yet know the third, or -probably even the fifth part of the plants existing on the earth! -Drège has collected 7092 species of phænogamous plants in South Africa -alone. (See Meyer’s pflanzen geographische Documente, S. 5 and 12.) He -believes that the Flora of that district consists of more than 11000 -phænogamous species, while on a surface of equal area (12000 German, -or 192000 English square geographical miles) von Koch has described -in Germany or Switzerland 3300, and Decandolle in France 3645 species -of phænogamous plants. I would also recall that even now new Genera, -(some even consisting of tall forest trees), are being discovered in -the small West Indian Islands which have been visited by Europeans -for three centuries, and in the vicinity of large commercial towns. -These considerations, which I propose to develop in further detail -at the close of the present annotation, make it probable that the -actual number of species exceeds that spoken of in the old myth of the -Zend-Avesta, which says that “the Primeval Creating Power called forth -from the blood of the sacred bull 120000 different forms of plants!” - -If, then, we cannot look for any direct scientific solution of the -question of how many forms of the vegetable kingdom,--including -leafless Cryptogamia (water Algæ, funguses, and lichens), Characeæ, -liver-worts, mosses, Marsilaceæ, Lycopodiaceæ, and ferns,--exist on -the dry land and in the ocean in the present state of the organic -life of our globe, we may yet attempt an approximate method by which -we may find some probable “lowest limits” or numerical minima. Since -1815, I have sought, in arithmetical considerations relating to the -geography of plants, to examine first the ratios which the number -of species in the different natural families bear to the entire -mass of the phænogamous vegetation in countries where the latter is -sufficiently well known. Robert Brown, the greatest botanist among our -cotemporaries, had previously determined the numerical proportions -of the leading divisions of the vegetable kingdom; of Acotyledons -(Agamæ, Cryptogamic or cellular plants) to Cotyledons (Phanerogamic -or vascular plants), and of Monocotyledonous (Endogenous) to -Dicotyledonous (Exogenous) plants. He finds the ratio of Monocotyledons -to Dicotyledons in the tropical zone as 1 : 5, and in the cold zones -of the parallels of 60° N. and 55° S. latitude, as 1 : 2-1/2. (Robert -Brown, General Remarks on the Botany of Terra Australis, in Flinders’ -Voyage, vol. ii. p. 338.) The absolute number of species in the three -leading divisions of the vegetable kingdom are compared together in -that work according to the method there laid down. I was the first -to pass from these leading divisions to the divisions of the several -families, and to consider the ratio which the number of species of -each family bears to the entire mass of phænogamous plants belonging -to a zone of the earth’s surface. (Compare my memoir entitled De -distributione geographica Plantarum secundum cœli temperiem et -altitudinem montium, 1817, p. 24-44; and the farther development of the -subject of these numerical relations given by me in the Dictionnaire -des Sciences naturelles, T. xviii. 1820, p. 422-436; and in the Annales -de Chimie et de Physique, T. xvi. 1821, p. 267-292.) - -The numerical relations of the forms of plants, and the laws observed -in their geographical distribution, may be considered in two very -different ways. If plants are studied in their arrangement according to -natural families, without regard to their geographical distribution, -it is asked, What are the fundamental forms or types of organisation -to which the greatest number of species correspond? Are there on the -entire surface of the earth more Glumaceæ than Compositæ? Do these -two orders make up between them one-fourth part of the whole number -of phænogamous plants? What is the proportion of Monocotyledons to -Dicotyledons? These are questions of General Phytology, or of the -science which investigates the organisation of plants and their mutual -connection, or the present state of the entire vegetable world. - -If, on the other hand, the species of plants which have been grouped -according to the analogy of their structure are considered, not -abstractedly, but according to their climatic relations, or according -to their distribution over the surface of the earth, we have questions -offering quite another and distinct interest. We then examine what are -the families which prevail more in proportion to other Phanerogamæ -in the torrid zone than towards the polar circle? Are Compositæ more -numerous, either in the same geographical latitudes or on the same -isothermal lines, in the New than in the Old Continent? Do the forms -which gradually lose their predominance in advancing from the equator -towards the poles follow a similar law of decrease in ascending -mountains situated in the equatorial regions? Do the proportions of -particular families to the whole mass of Phanerogamæ differ in the -temperate zones, and on equal isothermal lines, north and south of the -equator? These questions belong properly to the Geography of Plants, -and connect themselves with the most important problems of meteorology -and terrestrial physics. The character of a landscape or country is -also in a high degree dependent on the predominance of particular -families of plants, which render it either desolate or adorned, smiling -or majestic. Grasses forming extensive savannahs, Palms and other trees -affording food, or social Coniferæ forming forests, have powerfully -influenced nations in respect to their material condition, to their -manners, to their mental dispositions, and to the more or less rapid -development of their prosperity. - -In studying the geographical distribution of forms, we may consider -species, genera, and natural families, separately. In social plants, a -single species often covers extensive tracts of country; as in northern -regions forests of Pines or Firs and extensive heaths (ericeta), in -Spain cistus-covered grounds, and in tropical America assemblages of -the same species of Cactus, Croton, Brathys, or Bambusa Guadua. It is -interesting to examine these relations more closely, and to view in -one case the great multiplicity of individuals, and in another the -variety of organic development. We may inquire what species produces -the greatest number of individuals in a particular zone, or we may -ask which are the families to which, in different climates, the -greatest number of species belong. In a high northern region, where the -Compositæ and the Ferns are to the sum of all the phænogamous plants -in the ratio of 1 : 13 and 1 : 25 (_i. e._ where these ratios are -found by dividing the sum total of all the Phanerogamæ by the number -of species belonging to the family of Compositæ or to that of Filices -or Ferns), it may nevertheless happen that a single species of fern -covers ten times more ground than do all the species of Compositæ taken -together. In this case Ferns predominate over Compositæ by their mass, -or by the number of individuals belonging to the same species of Pteris -or Polypodium; but they do not so predominate if we only compare the -number of the different specific forms of Filices and Compositæ with -the sum of all the phænogamous plants. Since, then, multiplication of -plants does not follow the same law in all species,--that is to say, -all species do not produce the same number of individuals,--therefore -the quotients given by dividing the sum of the phænogamous plants -by the number of species belonging to one family, do not suffice -by themselves to determine the character of the landscape, or the -physiognomy which Nature assumes in different regions of the earth. If -the attention of the travelling botanist is engaged by the frequent -repetition of the same species, their mass, and the uniformity of -vegetation thus produced, it is even more arrested by the rarity or -infrequency of several other species which are valuable to mankind. -In tropical regions, where the Rubiaceæ, Myrtaceæ, Leguminosæ, or -Terebinthaceæ, form forests, one is astonished to find the trees of -Cinchona, particular species of Swietenia (Mahogany), Hæmatoxylon, -Styrax, and balsamic Myroxylum, so sparingly distributed. We had -occasion, on the declivities of the high plains of Bogota and Popayan, -and in the country round Loxa, in descending towards the unhealthy -valley of the Catamayo and to the Amazons River, to remark the manner -in which the trees which furnish the precious fever-bark (species of -Cinchona) are found singly and at considerable distances from each -other. The China Hunters, Cazadores de Cascarilla (the name given -at Loxa to the Indians and Mestizoes who collect each year the most -efficacious of all fever-barks, that of the Cinchona Condaminea, among -the lonely mountains of Caxanuma, Uritusinga, and Rumisitana), climb, -not without peril, to the summits of the loftiest forest trees in -order to gain a wide prospect, and to discern the solitarily scattered -slender aspiring trunks of the trees of which they are in search, and -which they recognise by the shining reddish tint of their large leaves. -The mean temperature of this important forest region, situated in 4° -to 4-1/2° S. lat. and at an elevation of about 6400 to 8000 English -feet, is from 12-1/2° to 16° Réaumur (60°·2 to 68° Fahr.) (Humboldt and -Bonpland, Plantes équinoxiales, T. i. p. 88, tab. 10.) - -In considering the distribution of species, we may also proceed, -without regard to the multiplication of individuals, to the masses -which they form or the space which they occupy, and may simply compare -together the absolute number of species belonging to a particular -family in each country. This is the mode of comparison which Decandolle -has employed in the work entitled Regni vegetabilis Systema naturale -(T. i. p. 128, 396, 439, 464, and 510), and Kunth has carried it out -in regard to the whole number of species of Compositæ at present known -(above 3300). It does not show which is the predominant family either -in the number of species or in the quantity of individuals as compared -with other families; it merely tells how many of the species of one and -the same family are indigenous in each country or each quarter of the -world. The results of this method are on the whole more exact, because -they are obtained by the careful study of single families without the -necessity of being acquainted with the whole number of the phanerogamæ -belonging to each country. The most varied forms of Ferns, for example, -are found between the tropics; it is there, in the tempered heat -of moist and shaded places in mountainous islands, that each genus -presents the largest number of species: this variety of species in -each genus diminishes in passing from the tropical to the temperate -zone, and decreases still farther in approaching nearer to the pole. -Nevertheless, as in the cold zone--in Lapland, for example--those -plants succeed best which can best resist the cold, so the species -of Ferns, although the _absolute number_ is less than in France or -Germany, are yet _relatively_ more numerous than in those countries; -_i. e._ their number bears a greater proportion to the sum total of all -the phanerogamous plants of the country. These proportions or ratios, -given as above-mentioned by quotients, are in France and Germany 1/73 -and 1/71, and in Lapland 1/25. I published numerical ratios of this -kind,--(_i. e._ the entire quantity of phænogamous plants in each -of the different Floras divided by the number of species in each -family)--in my Prolegomenis de distributione geographica Plantarum, in -1817; and in the Memoir on the distribution of plants over the Earth’s -surface, subsequently published in the French language, I corrected -my previously published numbers by Robert Brown’s great works. In -advancing from the Equator to the Poles, the ratios taken in this -manner vary considerably from the numbers which would be obtained -from a comparison of the _absolute_ number of species belonging to -each family. We often find the value of the fraction increase by the -decrease of the denominator, while yet the absolute number of species -has diminished. In the method by fractions, which I have followed as -more instructive in reference to the geography of plants, there are two -variables; for in proceeding from one isothermal line, or one zone of -equal temperature, to another, we do not see the sum total of all the -phanerogamæ change in the same proportion as does the number of species -belonging to a particular family. - -We may, if we please, pass from the consideration of species to that -of divisions formed in the natural system of botany according to an -ideal series of abstractions, and direct our attention to Genera, to -Families, and even to the still higher, _i. e._ more comprehensive, -Classes. There are some genera, and even some entire families, which -belong exclusively to particular zones of the Earth’s surface; and this -not only because they can only flourish under a particular combination -of climatic conditions, but also because both the localities in -which they originated, and their migrations, have been limited. It -is otherwise with the greater number of genera and of families, -which have their representatives in all regions of the globe, and -at all latitudes of elevation. The earliest investigations into the -distribution of vegetable forms related solely to genera; we find them -in a valuable work of Treviranus, in his Biology (Bd. ii. S. 47, 63, -83, and 129). This method is, however, less fitted to afford general -results than that which compares either the number of species of each -family, or the great leading divisions (of Acotyledons, Monocotyledons, -and Dicotyledons) with the sum of all the phanerogamæ. We find that -in the cold zones the variety of forms does not decrease so much if -estimated by genera as if estimated by species; in other words, we -find relatively more genera and fewer species. (Decandolle, Théorie -élémentaire de la Botanique, p. 190; Humboldt, Nova genera et species -Plantarum, T. i pp. xvi. and 1.) It is almost the same in the case of -high mountains whose summits support single members of a large number -of genera, which we should have been _à priori_ inclined to regard as -belonging exclusively to the vegetation of the plains. - -I have thought it desirable to indicate the different points of view -from which the laws of the geographical distribution of plants may -be considered. It is by confounding these different points of view -that apparent contradictions are found; which are unjustly attributed -to uncertainties of observation. (Jahrbücher der Gewächskunde, Bd. i -Berlin, 1818, S. 18, 21, 30.) When such expressions as the following -are made use of--“This form, or this family, diminishes as the -cold zones are approached;--it has its true home in such or such a -latitude;--it is a southern form;--it predominates in the temperate -zone;” care should always be taken to state expressly whether the -writer is speaking of the absolute number of species, and its increase -or decrease with the change of latitude; or whether he means that the -family in question prevails over other families of plants as compared -with the entire number of phanerogamæ of which a Flora consists. The -impression of prevalence as conveyed by the eye depends on relative -quantity. - -Terrestrial physics have their numerical elements, as has the System -of the Universe, or Celestial Physics, and by the united labours of -botanical travellers we may expect to arrive gradually at a true -knowledge of the laws which determine the geographical and climatic -distribution of vegetable forms. I have already remarked that in the -temperate zone the Compositæ (Synanthereæ), and the Glumaceæ (including -under this latter name the three families of Grasses, Cyperoidæ and -Juncaceæ), make up the fourth part of all phænogamous plants. The -following numerical ratios are the results of my investigations for 7 -great families of the vegetable kingdom in the same temperate zone. - - Glumaceæ 1/8 (Grasses alone 1/12) - Compositæ 1/8 - Leguminosæ 1/18 - Labiatæ 1/24 - Umbelliferæ 1/40 - Amentaceæ (Cupuliferæ, Betulineæ, and Salicineæ) 1/45 - Cruciferæ 1/19 - -The forms of organic beings are in reciprocal dependence on each -other. In the unity of nature these forms limit each other according -to laws which are probably attached to periods of long duration. If -on any particular part of the globe we know with accuracy the number -of species of one of the great families of Glumaceæ, Leguminosæ, -or Compositæ, we may with a tolerable degree of probability form -approximative inferences, both as to the sum of all the phanerogamæ of -the country, and also as to the number of species belonging to the rest -of the leading families of plants. The number of Cyperoidæ determines -that of Compositæ, and the number of Compositæ that of Leguminosæ; -they even enable us to judge in what classes or orders the Floras of -countries are still incomplete, and teach us, if we are on our guard -against confounding together very different systems of vegetation, what -harvest may still remain to be reaped in the several families. - -The comparison of the numerical ratios of families in different already -well explored zones, has conducted me to the recognition of laws -according to which, in proceeding from the equator to the poles, the -vegetable forms constituting a natural family decrease or increase as -compared with the whole mass of phanerogamæ belonging to each zone. -We have here to regard not only the direction of the change (whether -an increase or a decrease), but also its rapidity or measure. We see -the denominator of the fraction which expresses the ratio increase -or decrease: let us take as our example the beautiful family of -Leguminosæ, which decreases in going from the equinoctial zone towards -the North Pole. If we find its proportion or ratio for the torrid -zone (from 0° to 10° of latitude) at 1/10, we obtain for the part of -the temperate zone which is between 45° and 52° latitude 1/18, and for -the frigid zone (lat. 67° to 70°) only 1/35. The direction followed by -the great family of Leguminosæ (increase on approaching the equator), -is also that of the Rubiaceæ, the Euphorbiaceæ, and especially the -Malvaceæ. On the contrary, the Grasses and Juncaceæ (the latter still -more than the former), diminish in approaching the equator, as do -also the Ericeæ and Amentaceæ. The Compositæ, Labiatæ, Umbelliferæ, -and Cruciferæ, decrease in proceeding from the temperate zone, either -towards the pole or towards the equator, the Umbelliferæ and Cruciferæ -decreasing most rapidly in the last-named direction; while at the same -time in the temperate zone the Cruciferæ are three times more numerous -in Europe than in the United States of North America. On reaching -Greenland the Labiatæ have entirely disappeared with the exception of -one, and the Umbelliferæ with the exception of two species; the entire -number of phænogamous species, still amounting, according to Hornemann, -to 315 species. - -It must be remarked at the same time that the development of plants of -different families, and the distribution of vegetable forms, does not -depend exclusively on geographical, or even on isothermal latitude; the -quotients are not always on the same isothermal line in the temperate -zone, for example, in the plains of North America and those of the -Old Continent. Within the tropics there is a very sensible difference -between America, India, and the West Coast of Africa. The distribution -of organic beings over the surface of the earth does not depend -wholly on thermic or climatic relations, which are of themselves -very complicated, but also on geological causes almost unknown to us, -belonging to the original state of the earth, and to catastrophes which -have not affected all parts of our planet simultaneously. The large -pachydermatous animals are at the present time wanting in the New -Continent, while we still find them in analogous climates in Asia and -Africa. These differences ought not to deter us from endeavouring to -search out the concealed laws of nature, but should rather stimulate us -to the study of them through all their intricacies. - -The numerical laws of the families of plants, the often striking -agreement of the numbers expressing their ratios, where yet the -species of which the families consist are for the most part different, -conduct us into the mysterious obscurity which envelopes all that is -connected with the fixing of organic types in the species of plants -and animals, or with their original formation or creation. I will take -as examples two adjoining countries which have both been thoroughly -explored--France and Germany. In France, many species of Grasses, -Umbelliferæ and Cruciferæ, Compositæ, Leguminosæ, and Labiatæ, are -wanting which are common in Germany; and yet the numerical ratios of -these six great families are almost identical in the two countries, as -will be seen by the subjoined comparison. - - Families. Germany. France. - Gramineæ. 1/13 1/13 - Umbelliferæ. 1/22 1/21 - Cruciferæ. 1/18 1/19 - Compositæ. 1/8 1/7 - Leguminosæ. 1/18 1/16 - Labiatæ. 1/26 1/24 - -This agreement in the number of species in each family compared to -the whole number of phenogamous species in the Floras of France -and Germany, would not by any means exist if the German species -which are missing in France were not replaced there by other types -belonging to the same families. Those who are fond of imagining -gradual transformations of species, and suppose the different kinds -of parrots proper to two islands not far removed from each other to -present examples of such a change, will be inclined to attribute the -remarkable similarity between the two columns of figures which have -just been given, to a migration of species, which, having been the same -at first, have been altered gradually by the long-continued action -of climatic causes during thousands of years, so that their identity -being lost they appear to replace each other. But why is it that our -common heather (Calluna vulgaris), why is it that our oaks have never -advanced to the eastward of the Ural Mountains, and so passed from -Europe to Northern Asia? Why is there no species of the genus Rosa in -the Southern Hemisphere, and why are there scarcely any Calceolarias -in the Northern Hemisphere? The necessary conditions of temperature -are insufficient to explain this. Thermic relations alone cannot, any -more than the hypothesis of migrations of plants radiating from certain -central points, explain the present distribution of fixed organic -forms. Thermic relations are hardly sufficient to explain the limits -beyond which individual species do not pass, either in latitude towards -the pole at the level of the sea, or in vertical elevation towards the -summits of mountains. The cycle of vegetation in each species, however -different its duration may be, requires, in order to be successfully -passed through, a certain minimum of temperature. (Playfair, in the -Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, vol. v. 1805, p. 202; -Humboldt, on the sum of the degrees of temperature required for the -cycle of vegetation in the Cerealia, in Mem. sur les lignes isothermes, -p. 96; Boussingault, Economie rurale, T, ii. p. 659, 663, and 667; -Alphonse Decandolle sur les causes qui limitent les espèces végétales, -1847, p. 8.) But all the conditions necessary for the existence of a -plant, either as diffused naturally or by cultivation,--conditions -of latitude or minimum distance from the pole, and of elevation or -maximum height above the level of the sea,--are farther complicated by -the difficulty of determining the commencement of the thermic cycle -of vegetation, and by the influence which the unequal distribution of -the same quantity of heat into groups of successive days and nights -exercises on the excitability, the progressive development, and the -whole vital process; to all this must be farther added hygrometric -influences and those of atmospheric electricity. - -My investigations respecting the numerical laws of the distribution -of forms may possibly be applied at some future day with advantage to -the different classes of Rotiferæ in the animal creation. The rich -collections at the Museum d’Histoire Naturelle in the Jardin des -Plantes at Paris, already contained, in 1820, (according to approximate -estimations) above 56000 phænogamous and cryptogamous plants in -herbariums, 44000 insects (a number doubtless too small, though given -me by Latreille), 2500 species of fish, 700 reptiles, 4000 birds, and -500 mammalia. Europe has about 80 species of indigenous mammalia, 400 -birds, and 30 reptiles. In the Northern temperate zone, therefore, the -species of birds are five times more numerous than those of mammalia, -as there are in Europe five times as many Compositæ as there are -Amentaceæ and Coniferæ, and five times as many Leguminosæ as there -are Orchideæ and Euphorbiaceæ. In the southern hemisphere the ratio -of mammalia is in tolerably striking agreement, being as 1 to 4·3. -Birds, and still more reptiles, increase in the number of species in -approaching the torrid zone more than the mammalia. Cuvier’s researches -might lead us to believe that the proportion was different in the -earlier state of things, and that many more mammalia had perished by -revolutions of Nature than birds. Latreille has shewn what groups -of insects increase towards the pole, and what towards the equator. -Illiger has given the countries of 3800 species of birds according to -the quarters of the globe: it would have been much more instructive if -the same thing had been done according to zones. We should find little -difficulty in comprehending how on a given space of the earth’s surface -the individuals of a class of plants or animals limit each other’s -numbers, or how, after long continued contest and many fluctuations -caused by the requirements of nourishment and mode of life, a state -of equilibrium should be at last established; but the causes which -have limited not the number of individuals of a form, but the forms -themselves, in a particular space, and founded their typical diversity, -are placed beneath the impenetrable veil which still conceals from -our eyes all that relates to the manner of the first creation and -commencement of organic beings. - -If, then, we would attempt to solve the question spoken of in the early -part of this dissertation, by giving in an approximate manner the -numerical limit, (le nombre limite of French mathematicians), which -the whole phanerogamæ now existing on the surface of the earth cannot -be supposed to fall short of, we may perhaps find our safest guide -in a comparison of the numerical ratios (which, as we have seen, may -be assumed to exist between the different families of plants), with -the number of species contained in herbariums and cultivated in our -great botanic gardens. I have said that in 1820 the number of species -contained in the herbariums of the Jardin des Plantes at Paris was -already estimated at 56000. I do not permit myself to conjecture the -amount which the herbariums of England may contain; but the great Paris -herbarium, which was formed with much personal sacrifice by Benjamin -Delessert, and given by him for free and general use, was stated at his -death to contain 86000 species; a number almost equal to that which, as -late as 1835, was conjecturally assigned by Lindley as that of all the -species existing on the whole earth. (Lindley, Introduction to Botany, -2d edit. p. 504.) Few herbariums have been reckoned with care, after a -complete and strict separation and withdrawal of all mere varieties. -Not a few plants contained in smaller collections are still wanting in -the greater herbariums which are supposed to be general or complete. -Dr. Klotzsch estimates the present entire number of phænogamous plants -in the great Royal Herbarium at Schöneberg, near Berlin, of which he -is the curator, at 74000 species. - -Loudon’s useful work, Hortus Britannicus, gives an approximate view of -all the species which are, or at no remote time have been, cultivated -in British gardens: the edition of 1832 enumerates, including -indigenous plants, exactly 26660 phænogamous species. We must not -confound with this large number of plants which have grown or been -cultivated at any time and in any part of the whole British Islands, -the number of living plants which can be shewn at any single moment -of time in any single botanic garden. In this last-named respect the -Botanic Garden of Berlin has long been regarded as one of the richest -in Europe. The fame of its extraordinary riches rested formerly only -on uncertain and approximate estimations, and, as my fellow-labourer -and friend of many years’ standing, Professor Kunth, has justly -remarked (in manuscript notices communicated to the Gartenbau-Verein -in December 1846), “no real enumeration or computation could be -made until a systematic catalogue, based on a rigorous examination -of species, had been prepared. Such an enumeration has given rather -above 14060 species: if we deduct from this number 375 cultivated -Ferns, we have remaining 13685 phænogamous species; among which we -find 1600 Compositæ, 1150 Leguminosæ, 428 Labiatæ, 370 Umbelliferæ, -460 Orchideæ, 60 Palms, and 600 Grasses and Cyperaceæ. If we compare -with these numbers those of the species already described in recent -works,--Compositæ (Decandolle and Walpers) about 10000; Leguminosæ, -8070; Labiatæ (Bentham), 2190; Umbelliferæ, 1620; Grasses, 3544; and -Cyperaceæ (Kunth, Enumeratio Plantarum), 2000;--we shall perceive -that the Berlin Botanic Garden cultivates, of the very large families -(Compositæ, Leguminosæ, and Grasses), only 1-7th, 1-8th, and -1-9th;--and of the small families (Labiatæ and Umbelliferæ), about -1-5th, or 1-4th, of described species. If, then, we estimate the number -of all the different phænogamous plants cultivated at one time in all -the botanic gardens of Europe at 20000, we find that the cultivated -species appear to be about the eighth part of those which are already -either described or preserved in herbariums, and that these must nearly -amount to 160000. This estimate need not be thought excessive, since -of many of the larger families, (for example, Guttiferæ, Malpighiaceæ, -Melastomeæ, Myrtaceæ, and Rubiaceæ), hardly a hundredth part are found -in our garden.” If we take the number given by Loudon in his Hortus -Britannicus (26660 species) as a basis, we shall find, (according -to the justly drawn succession of inferences of Professor Kunth, in -the manuscript notices from which I have borrowed the above), the -estimate of 160000 species rise to 213000; and even this is still very -moderate, for Heynhold’s Nomenclator botanicus hortensis (1846) even -rates the phænogamous species then cultivated at 35600; whereas I have -employed Loudon’s number for 1832, viz. 26660. On the whole it would -appear from what has been said,--and the conclusion is at first sight -a sufficiently striking one,--that at present there are almost more -known species of phænogamous plants (with which we are acquainted by -gardens, descriptions, or herbariums), than there are known insects. -According to the average of the statements which I have received from -several of our most distinguished entomologists whom I have had the -opportunity of consulting, the number of insects at present described, -or contained in collections without being described, may be taken at -between 150000 and 170000 species. The rich Berlin collection does -not contain less than 90000 species, among which are about 82000 -Coleoptera. A very large number of plants have been collected in -distant parts of the globe, without the insects which live on them or -near them being brought at the same time. If, however, we limit the -estimates of numbers to a single part of the world, and that the one -which has been the best explored in respect to both plants and insects, -viz. Europe, we find a very different proportion; for while we can -hardly enumerate between seven and eight thousand European phænogamous -plants, more than three times that number of European insects are -already known. According to the interesting communications of my friend -Dohrn at Stettin, 8700 insects have already been collected from the -rich Fauna of that vicinity, (and many micro-Lepidopteræ are still -wanting), while the phænogamous plants of the same district scarcely -exceed 1000. The Insect Fauna of Great Britain is estimated at 11600 -species. Such a preponderance of animal forms need the less surprise -us, since large classes of insects subsist solely on animal substances, -and others on agamous vegetation (funguses, and even those which are -subterranean). Bombyx pini alone (the spider which infests the Scotch -fir, and is the most destructive of all forest insects), is visited, -according to Ratzeburg, by thirty-five parasitical Ichneumonides. - -If these considerations have led us to the proportion borne by the -species of plants cultivated in gardens to the entire amount of those -which are already either described or preserved in herbariums, we -have still to consider the proportion borne by the latter to what we -conjecture to be the whole number of forms existing upon the earth at -the present time; _i. e._ to test the assumed minimum of such forms by -the relative numbers of species in the different families, therefore, -by uncertain multipliers. Such a test, however, gives for the lowest -limit or minimum number results so low as to lead us to perceive -that even in the great families,--our knowledge of which has been of -late most strikingly enriched by the descriptions of botanists,--we -are still acquainted with only a small part of existing plants. The -Repertorium of Walpers completes Decandolle’s Prodromus of 1825, up -to 1846: we find in it, in the family of Leguminosæ, 8068 species. We -may assume the ratio, or relative numerical proportion of this family -to all phænogamous plants, to be 1/21--as we find it 1/10 within the -tropics, 1/18 in the middle temperate, and 1/33 in the cold northern -zone. The _described_ Leguminosæ would thus lead us to assume only -169400 existing phænogamous species on the whole surface of the -earth, whereas, as we have shewn, the Compositæ indicate more than -160000 already _known_ species. The discordance is instructive, and -may be further elucidated and illustrated by the following analogous -considerations. - -The major part of the Compositæ, of which Linnæus knew only 785 -species and which has now grown to 12000, appear to belong to the Old -Continent: at least Decandolle described only 3590 American, whilst the -European, Asiatic, and African species amounted to 5093. This apparent -richness in Compositæ is, however, illusive, and considerable only in -appearance; the ratio or quotient of the family, (1/15 between the -tropics, 1/7 in the temperate zone, and 1/13 in the cold zone), shews -that even more species of Compositæ than Leguminosæ must hitherto have -escaped the researches of travellers; for a multiplication by 12 would -give us only the improbably low number of 144000 Phænogamous species. -The families of Grasses and Cyperaceæ give still lower results, because -comparatively still fewer of their species have been described and -collected. We have only to cast our eyes on the map of South America, -remembering the wide extent of territory occupied by grassy plains, not -only in Venezuela and on the banks of the Apure and the Meta, but also -to the south of the forest-covered regions of the Amazons, in Chaco, -Eastern Tucuman, and the Pampas of Buenos Ayres and Patagonia, bearing -in mind that of all these extensive regions the greater part have never -been explored by botanists, and the remainder only imperfectly and -incompletely so. Northern and Central Asia offer an almost equal extent -of Steppes, but in which, however, dicotyledonous herbaceous plants are -more largely mingled with the Gramineæ. If we had sufficient grounds -for believing that we are now acquainted with half the phænogamous -plants on the globe, and if we took the number of known species only at -one or other of the before-mentioned numbers of 160000 or 213000, we -should still have to take the number of grasses (the general proportion -of which appears to be 1/12), in the first case at least at 26000, -and in the second case at 35000 different species, which would give -respectively in the two cases only either 1/8 or 1/10 part as known. - -The assumption that we already know half the existing species of -phænogamous plants is farther opposed by the following considerations. -Several thousand species of Monocotyledons and Dycotyledons, and -among them tall trees,--(I refer here to my own Expedition),--have -been discovered in regions, considerable portions of which had been -previously examined by distinguished botanists. The portions of the -great continents which have never even been trodden by botanical -observers considerably exceed in area those which have been traversed -by such travellers, even in a superficial manner. The greatest variety -of phænogamous vegetation, _i. e._ the greatest number of species on -a given area, is found between the tropics, and in the sub-tropical -zones. This last-mentioned consideration renders it so much the more -important to remember how almost entirely unacquainted we are, on -the New Continent, north of the equator, with the Floras of Oaxaca, -Yucatan, Guatimala, Nicaragua, the Isthmus of Panama, Choco, Antioquia, -and the Provincia de los Pastos;--and south of the equator, with the -Floras of the vast forest region: between the Ucayale, the Rio de la -Madera, and the Tocantin (three great tributaries of the Amazons), and -with those of Paraguay and the Provincia de los Missiones. In Africa, -except in respect to the coasts, we know nothing of the vegetation -from 15° north to 20° south latitude; in Asia we are unacquainted -with the Floras of the south and south-east of Arabia, where the -highlands rise to about 6400 English feet above the level of the -sea,--of the countries between the Thian-schan, the Kuenlün, and the -Himalaya, all the west part of China, and the greater part of the -countries beyond the Ganges. Still more unknown to the botanist are -the interior of Borneo, New Guinea, and part of Australia. Farther -to the south the number of species undergoes a wonderful diminution, -as Joseph Hooker has well and ably shewn from his own observation in -his Antarctic Flora. The three islands of which New Zealand consists -extend from 34-1/2° to 47-1/4° S. latitude, and as they contain, -moreover, snowy mountains of above 8850 English feet elevation, they -must include considerable diversity of climate. The Northern Island -has been examined with tolerable completeness from the voyage of Banks -and Solander to Lesson and the Brothers Cunningham and Colenso, and -yet in more than 70 years we have only become acquainted with less -than 700 phænogamous species. (Dieffenbach, Travels in New Zealand, -1843, vol. i. p. 419.) The paucity of vegetable corresponds to the -paucity of animal species. Joseph Hooker, in his Flora Antarctica, -p. 73-75, remarks that the “botany of the densely wooded regions of -the Southern Islands of the New Zealand groups and of Fuegia is much -more meagre not only than that of similarly clothed regions of Europe, -but of islands many degrees nearer to the Northern pole than these -are to the Southern one. Iceland, for instance, which is from 8 to 10 -degrees farther from the equator than the Auckland and the Campbell -Islands, contains certainly five times as many flowering plants. In -the Antarctic Flora, under the influence of a cool and moist, but -singularly equable climate, great uniformity, arising from paucity -of species, is associated with great luxuriance of vegetation. This -striking uniformity prevails both at different levels, (the species -found on the plains appearing also on the slopes of the mountains), and -over vast extents of country, from the south of Chili to Patagonia, -and even to Tierra del Fuego, or from lat. 45° to 56°. Compare, on the -other hand, in the northern temperate region, the Flora of the South -of France, in the latitude of the Chonos Archipelago on the coast of -Chili, with the Flora of Argyleshire in Scotland in the latitude of -Cape Horn, and how great a difference of species is found; while in -the Southern Hemisphere the same types of vegetation pass through -many degrees of latitude. Lastly, on Walden Island, in lat. 80-1/2° -N., or not ten degrees from the North Pole of the earth, ten species -of flowering plants have been collected, while in the southernmost -islet of the South Shetlands, though only in lat. 63° S., only a -solitary grass was found.” These considerations on the distribution -of plants confirm the belief that the great mass of still unobserved, -uncollected, and undescribed flowering plants must be sought for in -tropical countries, and in the latitudes from 12° to 15° distant from -the tropics. - -It has appeared to me not unimportant to show the imperfect state -of our knowledge in this still little cultivated department of -arithmetical botany, and to propound numerical questions in a more -distinct and determinate manner than could have been previously done. -In all conjectures respecting numerical relations we must seek first -for the possibility of deducing the lower or minimum limits; as in -a question treated of by me elsewhere, on the proportion of coined -gold and silver to the quantity of the precious metal fabricated in -other ways; or as in the questions of how many stars, from the 10th to -the 12th magnitude, are dispersed over the sky, and how many of the -smallest telescopic stars the Milky Way may contain. (John Herschel, -Results of Astron. Observ. at the Cape of Good Hope, 1847, p. 381.) -We may consider it as established, that if it were possible to know -completely and thoroughly by observation all the species belonging to -_one_ of the great families of phanerogamous or flowering plants, we -should learn thereby at the same time, approximatively, the entire -sum of _all_ such plants (including all the families). As, therefore, -by the progressive exploration of new countries we progressively and -gradually exhaust the remaining unknown species of any of the great -families, the previously assigned lowest limit rises gradually higher, -and since the forms reciprocally limit each other in conformity -with still undiscovered laws of universal organisation, we approach -continually nearer to the solution of the great numerical problem of -organic life. But is the number of organic forms itself a constant -number? Do new vegetable forms spring from the ground after long -periods of time, while others become more and more rare, and at last -disappear? Geology, by means of her historical monuments of ancient -terrestrial life, answers to the latter portion of this question -affirmatively. “In the Ancient World,” to use the remark of an eminent -naturalist, Link (Abhandl. der Akad. der Wiss. zu Berlin aus dem Jahr -1846, S. 322), “we see characters, now apparently remote and widely -separated from each other, associated or crowded together in wondrous -forms, as if a greater development and separation awaited a later age -in the history of our planet.” - -[14] p. 19.--“_If the height of the aerial ocean and its pressure have -not always been the same._” - -The pressure of the atmosphere has a decided influence on the form -and life of plants. From the abundance and importance of their leafy -organs provided with porous openings, plants live principally in and -through their surfaces; and hence their dependence on the surrounding -medium. Animals are dependent rather on internal impulses and stimuli; -they originate and maintain their own temperature, and, by means of -muscular movement, their own electric currents, and the chemical vital -processes which depend on and react upon those currents. A species -of skin-respiration is an active and important vital function in -plants, and this respiration, in so far as it consists in evaporation, -inhalation, and exhalation of fluids, is dependent on the pressure of -the atmosphere. Therefore it is that alpine plants are more aromatic, -and are hairy and covered with numerous pores. (See my work über die -gereizte Muskel- und Nervenfaser, Bd. ii. S. 142-145.) For according to -Zoonomic experience, organs become more abundant and more perfect in -proportion to the facility with which the conditions necessary for the -exercise of their functions are fulfilled,--as I have elsewhere shown. -In alpine plants the disturbance of their skin-respiration occasioned -by increased atmospheric pressure makes it very difficult for such -plants to flourish in the low grounds. - -The question whether the mean pressure of the aerial ocean which -surrounds our globe has always been the same is quite undecided: we -do not even know accurately whether the mean height of the barometer -has continued the same at the same place for a century past. According -to Poleni’s and Toaldo’s observations, the pressure would have seemed -to vary. The correctness of these observations has long been doubted, -but the recent researches of Carlini render it almost probable that -the mean height of the barometer is diminishing in Milan. Perhaps -the phenomenon is a very local one, and dependent on variations in -descending atmospheric currents. - -[15] p. 20.--“_Palms._” - -It is remarkable that of this majestic form of plants,--(some of which -rise to more than twice the height of the Royal Palace at Berlin, and -to which the Indian Amarasinha gave the characteristic appellation of -“Kings among the Grasses”),--up to the time of the death of Linnæus -only 15 species were described. The Peruvian travellers Ruiz and Pavon -added to these 8 more species. Bonpland and I, in passing over a more -extensive range of country from 12° S. lat. to 21° N. lat., described -20 new species of palms, and distinguished as many more, but without -being able to obtain complete specimens of their flowers. (Humboldt -de distrib. geogr. Plantarum, p. 225-233.) At the present time, 44 -years after my return from Mexico, there are from the Old and New -World, including the East Indian species brought by Griffith, above -440 regularly described species. The Enumeratio Plantarum of my friend -Kunth, published in 1841, had already 356 species. - -A few, but only a few species of palms, are, like our Coniferæ, -Quercineæ, and Betulineæ, social plants: such are the Mauritia -flexuosa, and two species of Chamærops, one of which, the Chamærops -humilis, occupies extensive tracts of ground near the Mouth of the Ebro -and in Valencia; and the other, C. mocini, discovered by us on the -Mexican shore of the Pacific and entirely without prickles, is also a -social plant. While some kinds of palms, including Chamærops and Cocos, -are littoral or shore-loving trees, there is in the tropics a peculiar -group of mountain palms, which if I am not mistaken was entirely -unknown previous to my South American travels. Almost all species -of the family of palms grow on the plains or low grounds in a mean -temperature of between 22° and 24° Reaumur (81°.5 and 86°, Fahr.); -rarely ascending so high as 1900 English feet on the declivities of the -Andes: but in the mountain palms to which I have alluded, the beautiful -Wax-palm (Ceroxylon andicola), the Palmeto of Azufral at the Pass of -Quindiu (Oreodoxa frigida), and the reed-like Kunthia montana (Caña de -la Vibora) of Pasto, attain elevations between 6400 and 9600 English -feet above the level of the sea, where the thermometer often sinks -at night as low as 4°.8 and 6° of Reaumur (42°.8 and 45.°5, Fahr.), -and the mean temperature scarcely amounts to 11° Reaumur, or 56°.8 -Fahrenheit. These Alpine Palms grow among Nut trees, yew-leaved species -of Podocarpus and Oaks (Quercus granatensis). I have determined by -exact barometrical measurement the upper and lower limits of the range -of the Wax-Palm. We first began to find it on the eastern declivity of -Andes of Quindiu, at the height of 7440 (about 7930 English) feet above -the level of the sea, and it extended upwards as far as the Garita del -Paramo and los Volcancitos, or to 9100 (almost 9700 English) feet: -several years after my departure from the country the distinguished -botanist Don Jose Caldas, who had been long our companion amidst the -mountains of New Granada, and who afterwards fell a victim to Spanish -party hatred, found three species of palms growing in the Paramo de -Guanacos very near the limits of perpetual snow; therefore probably at -an elevation of more than 13000 (13855 English) feet. (Semanario de -Santa Fé de Bogotá, 1809, No. 21, p, 163.) Even beyond the tropics, -in the latitude of 28° North, the Chamærops martiana reaches on the -sub-Himalayan mountains a height of 5000 English feet. (Wallich, Plantæ -Asiaticæ, Vol. iii. Tab. 211.) - -If we look for the extreme geographical limits of palms, (which are -also the extreme climatic limits in all the species which inhabit -localities but little raised above the level of the sea), we see -some, as the date-palm, the Chamærops humilis, C. palmetto, and the -Areca sapida of New Zealand, advance far into the temperate zones of -either hemisphere, into regions where the mean temperature of the year -hardly equals 11°.2 and 12°.5 Reaumur (57°.2, and 60°.2 Fahrenheit). -If we form a series of cultivated plants or trees, placed in order of -succession according to the degree of heat they require, and beginning -with the maximum, we have Cacao, Indigo, Plantains, Coffee, Cotton, -Date-palms, Orange and Lemon Trees, Olives, Sweet Chestnuts, and -Vines. In Europe, date-palms (introduced, not indigenous) grow mingled -with Chamærops humilis in the parallels of 43-1/2° and 44°, as on the -Genoese Rivera del Ponente, near Bordighera, between Monaco and San -Stefano, where there is an assemblage of more than 4000 palm-stems; and -in Dalmatia round Spalatro. It is remarkable that Chamærops humilis -is abundant both at Nice and in Sardinia, and yet is not found in the -island of Corsica which lies between those localities. In the New -Continent, the Chamærops palmetto, which is sometimes above 40 English -feet high, only advances as far North as 34° latitude, a difference -sufficiently explained by the inflexions of the isothermal lines. In -the Southern hemisphere, in New Holland, palms, of which there are -very few, (six or seven species) only advance to 34° of latitude (see -Robert Brown’s general remarks on the Botany of Terra Australis, p. -45); and in New Zealand, where Sir Joseph Banks first saw an Areca -palm, they reach the 38th parallel. In Africa, which, quite contrary to -the ancient and still widely prevailing belief, is poor in species of -palms, only one palm, the Hyphæne coriacea, advances to Port Natal in -30° latitude. The continent of South America presents almost the same -limits in respect to latitude. On the eastern side of the Andes, in the -Pampas of Buenos Ayres and in the Cis-Plata province, palms extend, -according to Auguste de St.-Hilaire, to 34° and 35° S. latitude. This -is also the latitude to which on the western side of the Andes the Coco -de Chile (our Jubæa spectabilis?), the only Chilian palm, extends, -according to Claude Gay, being as far as the banks of the Rio Maule. -(See also Darwin’s Journal, edition of 1845, p. 244 and 256). - -I will here introduce some detached remarks which I wrote in March, -1801, on board the ship in which we were sailing from the palmy shores -of the mouth of the Rio Sinu, west of Darien, to Cartagena de las -Indias. - -“We have now, in the course of the two years which we have spent in -South America, seen 27 different species of palms. How many must -Commerson, Thunberg, Banks, Solander, the two Forsters, Adanson, and -Sonnerat, have observed in their distant voyages! Yet, at the present -moment, when I write these lines, our systems of botany do not include -more than from 14 to 18 systematically described species. In truth, -the difficulty of procuring the flowers of palms is greater than can -readily be imagined. We have felt it so much the more from having -especially directed our attention to Palms, Grasses, Cyperaceæ, -Juncaceæ, Cryptogamous Plants, and such other objects as have been -least studied hitherto. Most species of palms flower only once a -year, in the neighbourhood of the Equator in the months of January -and February. But how often is it impossible for travellers to be -precisely at that season in places where palms are principally found. -In many species of palms the flowers last only so few days that one -almost always arrives too late, and finds the fertilization completed -and the male blossoms gone. Frequently only three or four species of -palms are found in areas of 2000 square German geographical miles -(3200 English geographical square miles). How is it possible during -the short flowering season to visit the different places where palms -abound: the Missions on the Rio Caroni, the Morichales at the mouth -of the Orinoco, the valley of Caura and Erevato, the banks of the -Atabapo and the Rio Negro, and the side of the Duida Mountain? Add -to this the difficulty of reaching the flowers, when, in the dense -forests, or on the swampy river banks, (as on the Temi and Tuamini), -one sees them hanging from stems above 60 feet high, and armed with -formidable spines. A traveller, when preparing to leave Europe on an -expedition in which natural history is one of his leading objects, -flatters himself with the thoughts of shears or curved blades fastened -to long poles, with which he imagines he will be able to reach and -cut down whatever he desires; he dreams, too, of native boys, who, -with a cord fastened to their two feet, are to climb up the highest -trees at his bidding. But, alas! very few of these fancies are ever -realised; the great height of the blossoms renders the poles useless; -and in the missions established on the banks of the rivers of Guiana, -the traveller finds himself among Indians whose poverty, stoicism, -and uncultivated state, renders them so rich, and so free from wants -of every kind, that neither money nor other presents that can be made -to them will induce them to turn three steps out of their path. This -insurmountable apathy is the more provoking to a European, because -he sees the same people climb with inconceivable agility wherever -their own fancies lead them; for example, when they wish to catch -a parrot, or an iguana, or a monkey, which having been wounded by -their arrows saves himself from falling by holding on to the branches -with his prehensile tail. Even at the Havannah we met with a similar -disappointment. We were there in the month of January, and saw all the -trees of the Palma Real (our Oreodoxa Regia), in the immediate vicinity -of the city and on the public walks, adorned with snow-white blossoms. -For several days we offered the negro boys whom we met in the streets -of Regla and Guanavacoa two piastres for a single bunch of the blossoms -which we wanted, but in vain! Between the tropics men are indisposed -to laborious exertion, unless compelled by constraint or by extreme -destitution. The botanists and artists of the Royal Spanish Commission -for researches in Natural History, under the direction of Count Jaruco -y Mopor (Estevez, Boldo, Guio, and Echeveria),--acknowledged to us -that during several years they had not been able to obtain these -flowers for examination. These difficulties sufficiently explain what -would have been incomprehensible to me before my voyage, namely, that -although during our two years’ stay up to the present time, we have, -indeed, discovered more than 20 different species of palms, we have -as yet been only able to describe systematically 12. How interesting -a work might be produced by a traveller in South America who should -occupy himself exclusively with the study of palms, and should make -drawings of the spathe, spadix, inflorescence, and fruit, all of the -size of nature!” (I wrote this many years before the Brazilian travels -of Martius and Spix, and the admirable and excellent work of Martius on -Palms.) “There is considerable uniformity in the shape of the leaves -of palms; they are generally either pinnate (feathery, or divided like -the plume of a feather);--or else palmate or palmo-digitate (of a -fan-like form); the leaf-stalk (petiolus), is in some species without -spines, in others sharply toothed (serrato-spinosus). The form of the -leaf in Caryota urens and Martinezia caryotifolia, (which we saw on the -banks of the Orinoco and Atabapo, and again in the Andes, at the pass -of Quindiu, 3000 Fr. (3197 English) feet above the level of the sea), -is exceptional and almost unique among palms, as is the form of the -leaf of the Gingko among trees. The port and physiognomy of palms have -a grandeur of character very difficult to convey by words. The stem, -shaft, or caudex, is generally simple and undivided, but in extremely -rare exceptions divides into branches in the manner of the Dracænas, -as in Cucifera thebaica (the Doum-palm), and Hyphæne coriacea. It is -sometimes disproportionately thick (as in Corozo del Sinu, our Alfonsia -oleifera); sometimes feeble as a reed (as in Piritu, Kunthia montana, -and the Mexican Corypha nana); sometimes swelling towards the base (as -in Cocos); sometimes smooth, and sometimes scaly (Palma de covija o de -sombrero, in the Llanos); sometimes armed with spines (as Corozo de -Cumana and Macanilla de Caripe), the long spines being distributed with -much regularity in concentric rings. - -“Characteristic differences are also furnished in some species by roots -which, springing from the stem at about a foot or a foot and a half -above the ground, either raise the stem as it were upon a scaffolding, -or surround it with thick buttresses. I have seen Viverras, and even -very small monkeys, pass underneath this kind of scaffolding formed -by the roots of the Caryota. Often the shaft or stem is swollen only -in the middle, being more slender above and below, as in the Palma -Real of the Island of Cuba. The leaves are sometimes of a dark and -shining green (as in the Mauritia and the Cocoa nut palm); sometimes -of a silvery white on the under side (as in the slender Fan-palm, -Corypha miraguama, which we found in the Harbour of Trinidad de Cuba). -Sometimes the middle of the fan or palmate leaf is ornamented with -concentric yellowish or bluish stripes like a peacock’s tail; as in -the thorny Mauritia which Bonpland discovered on the banks of the Rio -Atabapo. - -“The direction of the leaves is a character not less important than -their form and colour. The leaflets (foliola), are sometimes arranged -like the teeth of a comb, set on in the same plane, and close to each -other, and having a very rigid parenchyma (as in Cocos, and in Phœnix -the genus to which the Date belongs); whence the fine play of light -from the sun-beams falling on the upper surface of the leaves (which -is of a fresher verdure in Cocos, and of a more dead and ashy hue in -the date palm); sometimes the leaves are flag-like, of a thinner and -more flexible texture, and curl towards the extremities (as in Jagua, -Palma Real del Sinu, Palma Real de Cuba, and Piritu dell’ Orinoco). The -peculiarly majestic character of palms is given not only by their lofty -stems, but also in a very high degree by the direction of their leaves. -It is part of the beauty of any particular species of palms that its -leaves should possess this aspiring character; and not only in youth, -as is the case in the Date-palm, but also throughout the duration of -the life of the tree. The more upright the direction of the leaves, -or, in other words, the more acute the angles which they form with the -upper part or continuation of the stem, the grander and more imposing -is the general character and physiognomy of the tree. How different are -the character and aspect given by the drooping leaves of the Palma de -covija del Orinoco y de los Llanos de Calabozo (Corypha tectorum); the -more nearly horizontal or at least less upright leaves of the Date and -Cocoa-nut palms; and the aspiring heavenward pointing branches of the -Jagua, the Cucurito, and the Pirijao! - -“Nature has lavished every beauty of form on the Jagua palm, which, -intermingled with the Cucurito or Vadgihai, (85 to 106 English feet -high), adorns the cataracts of Atures and Maypures, and is occasionally -found also on the lonely banks of the Cassiquiare. The smooth slender -stems of the Jagua, rising to between 64 and 75 English feet, -appear above the dense mass of foliage of other kinds of trees from -amidst which they spring like raised colonnades, their airy summits -contrasting beautifully with the thickly-leaved species of Ceiba, and -with the forest of Laurineæ, Calophyllum, and different species of -Amyris which surround them. The leaves of the Jagua, which are few in -number (scarcely so many as seven or eight), are sixteen or seventeen -feet long, and rise almost vertically into the air; their extremities -are curled like plumes; the ultimate divisions or leaflets, having only -a thin grass-like parenchyma, flutter lightly and airily round the -slowly balancing central leaf-stalks. In all palms the inflorescence -springs from the trunk itself, and below the place where the leaves -originate; but the manner in which this takes place modifies the -physiognomic character. In a few species only (as the Corozo del -Sinu), the spathe (or sheath enclosing the flowers and fruits), rises -vertically, and the fruits stand erect, forming a kind of thyrsus, like -the fruits of the Bromelia: in most species of palms the spathes (which -are sometimes smooth and sometimes rough and armed with formidable -spines) are pendent; in a few species the male flowers are of a -dazzling whiteness, and in such cases the flower-covered spadix, when -fully developed, shines from afar. In most species of palms the male -flowers are yellowish, closely crowded, and appear almost withered when -they disengage themselves from the spathe. - -“In Palms with pinnate foliage, the leaf-stalks either proceed (as in -the Cocoa-nut, the Date, and the Palma Real del Sinu) from the dry, -rough, woody part of the stem; or, as in the Palma Real de la Havana -(Oreodoxa regia) seen and admired by Columbus, there rises upon the -rough part of the stem a grass-green, smooth, thinner shaft, like a -column placed upon a column, and from this the leaf-stalks spring. In -fan-palms, “foliis palmatis,” the leafy crown (as in the Moriche -and the Palma sombrero de la Havana) often rests on a previous bed -of dry leaves, a circumstance which gives to the tree a sombre and -melancholy appearance. In some umbrella-palms the crown consists of -very few leaves, which rise upwards, carried on very slender petioles -or foot-stalks (as in Miraguama). - -“The form and colour of the fruits of Palms also offer much more -variety than is commonly believed in Europe. Mauritia flexuosa bears -egg-shaped fruits, whose scaly, brown, and shining surface, gives them -something of the appearance of young fir-cones. What a difference -between the enormous triangular cocoa-nut, the soft fleshy berries -of the date, and the small hard fruits of the Corozo! But among the -fruits of palms none equal in beauty those of the Pirijao (Pihiguao of -S. Fernando de Atabapo and S. Balthasar); they are egg-shaped, mealy, -and usually without seeds, two or three inches thick, and of a golden -colour, which on one side is overspread with crimson; and these richly -coloured fruits, crowded together in a bunch, like grapes, are pendent -from the summits of majestic palm trees.” I have already spoken in the -first volume of the present work, p. 216, of these beautiful fruits, of -which there are seventy or eighty in a bunch, and which can be prepared -as food in a variety of ways, like plantains and potatoes. - -In some species of Palms the flower sheath, or spathe surrounding the -spadix and the flowers, opens suddenly with an audible sound. Richard -Schomburgk (Reisen in Britisch Guiana, Th. i. S. 55) has like myself -observed this phenomenon in the flowering of the Oreodoxa oleracea. -This first opening of the flowers of Palms accompanied by sound recalls -the vernal Dithyrambus of Pindar, and the moment when, in Argive Nemea, -“the first opening shoot of the date-palm proclaims the arrival of -balmy spring.” (Kosmos, Bd. ii. S. 10; Eng. ed. p. 10.) - -Three vegetable forms of peculiar beauty are proper to the tropical -zone in all parts of the globe; Palms, Plantains or Bananas, and -Arborescent Ferns. It is where heat and moisture are combined that -vegetation is most vigorous, and its forms most varied; and hence South -America excels the rest of the tropical world in the number and beauty -of her species of Palms. In Asia this form of vegetation is more rare, -perhaps because a considerable part of the Indian continent which was -situated immediately under the equinoctial line has been broken up and -covered by the sea in the course of former geological revolutions. We -know scarcely anything of the palm trees of Africa between the Bight -of Benin and the Coast of Ajan; and, generally speaking, we are only -acquainted, as has been already remarked, with a very small number of -species of Palms belonging to that quarter of the globe. - -Palms afford, next to Coniferæ and species of Eucalyptus belonging -to the family of Myrtaceæ, examples of the greatest loftiness of -stature attained by any of the members of the vegetable kingdom. Of -the Cabbage Palm (Areca oleracea), stems have been seen from 150 to -160 French (160 to 170 English) feet high. (Aug. de Saint-Hilaire, -Morphologie végétale, 1840, p. 176.) The Wax-palm, our Ceroxylon -andicola, discovered by us on the Andes between Ibague and Carthago, on -the Montaña de Quindiu, attains the immense height of 160 to 180 French -(170 to 192 English) feet. I was able to measure with exactness the -prostrate trunks which had been cut down and were lying in the forest. -Next to the Wax-palm, Oreodoxa Sancona, which we found in flower near -Roldanilla in the Cauca Valley, and which affords a very hard and -excellent building wood, appeared to me to be the tallest of American -palms. The circumstance that notwithstanding the enormous quantity of -fruits produced by a single Palm tree, the number of individuals of -each species which are found in a wild state is not very considerable, -can only be explained by the frequently abortive development of the -fruits (and consequent absence of seeds), and by the voracity of their -numerous assailants, belonging to all classes of the animal world. Yet -although I have said that the wild individuals are not very numerous, -there are in the basin of the Orinoco entire tribes of men who live -for several months of the year on the fruits of palms. “In palmetis, -Pihiguao consitis, singuli trunci quotannis fere 400 fructus ferunt -pomiformes, tritumque est verbum inter Fratres S. Francisci, ad ripas -Orinoci et Gauiniæ degentes, mire pinguescere Indorum corpora, quoties -uberem Palmæ fructum fundant.” (Humboldt, de Distrib. geogr. Plant. p. -240.) - -[16] p. 22.--“_Since the earliest infancy of human civilisation._” - -In all tropical countries we find the cultivation of the Banana or -Plantain established from the earliest times with which tradition -or history make us acquainted. It is certain that in the course of -the last few centuries African slaves have brought new varieties to -America, but it is equally certain that Plantains were cultivated in -the new world before its discovery by Columbus. The Guaikeri Indians at -Cumana assured us that on the Coast of Paria, near the Golfo Triste, -when the fruits were allowed to remain on the tree till ripe, the -plantain sometimes produced seeds which would germinate; and in this -manner plantains are occasionally found growing wild in the recesses of -the forest, from ripe seeds conveyed thither by birds. Perfectly formed -seeds have also sometimes been found in plantain fruits at Bordones, -near Cumana. (Compare my Essai sur la Géographie des Plantes, p. 29; -and my Relat. hist. T. i. pp. 104 and 587, T. ii. pp. 355 and 367.) - -I have already remarked elsewhere (Kosmos, Bd. ii. S. 191; English -edition, p. 156), that Onesicritus and the other companions of -Alexander, while they make no allusion to the tall arborescent ferns, -speak of the fan-leaved umbrella palm, and of the delicate and always -fresh verdure of the cultivated plantains or bananas. Among the -Sanscrit names given by Amarasinha for the plantain or banana (the -Musa of botanists) there are bhanu-phala (sun-fruit), varana-buscha, -and moko. Phala signifies fruit in general. Lassen explains the words -of Pliny (xii. 6), “arbori nomen palæ, pomo arienæ” thus: “The Roman -mistook the word pala, fruit, for the name of the tree; and varana -(in the mouth of a Greek ouarana) became transformed into ariena. -The Arabic mauza may have been formed from moko, and hence our Musa. -Bhanu-fruit is not far from banana-fruit.” (Compare Lassen, Indische -Alterthumskunde, Bd. i. S. 262, with my Essai politique sur la Nouvelle -Espagne, T. ii. p. 382, and Rel. hist. T. i. p. 491.) - -[17] p. 22--“_The form of Malvaceæ._” - -Larger malvaceous forms begin to appear as soon as we have crossed -the Alps; at Nice and in Dalmatia, Lavatera arborea; and in Liguria, -Lavatera olbia. The dimensions of the Baobab, monkey-bread tree, have -been mentioned above, (Vol. ii. p. 90.) To this form are attached -the also botanically allied families of the Byttneriaceæ (Sterculia, -Hermannia, and the large-leaved Theobroma Cacao, in which the flowers -spring from the bark both of the trunk and the roots); the Bombaceæ -(Adansonia, Helicteres, and Cheirostemon); and lastly the Tiliaceæ -(Sparmannia Africana.) I may name more particularly as superb -representatives of the Mallow-form, our Cavanillesia platanifolia, -of Turbaco near Carthagena in South America, and the celebrated -Ochroma-like Hand-tree, the Macpalxochiquahuitl of the Mexicans, (from -_macpalli_, the flat hand), Arbol de las Manitas of the Spaniards, our -Cheirostemon platanoides; in which the long curved anthers project -beyond the fine purple blossom, causing it to resemble a hand or claw. -Throughout the Mexican States this one highly ancient tree is the only -existing individual of this extraordinary race: it is supposed to be a -stranger, planted about five centuries ago by the kings of Toluca. I -found the height above the sea where the Arbol de las Manitas stands -to be 8280 French (8824 English) feet. Why is there only a single -individual, and from whence did the kings of Toluca procure either -the young tree or the seed? It seems no less difficult to account -for Montezuma not having possessed it in his botanical gardens of -Huaxtepec, Chapoltepec, and Iztapalapan, of which Hernandez, the -surgeon of Philip II., was still able to avail himself, and of which -some traces remain even to the present day; and it seems strange that -it should not have found a place among the representations of objects -of natural history which Nezahualcoyotl, king of Tezcuco, caused to -be drawn half a century before the arrival of the Spaniards. It is -asserted that the Hand-tree exists in a wild state in the forests -of Guatimala. (Humboldt and Bonpland, Plantes équinoxiales, T. i. -p. 82, pl. 24; Essai polit. sur la Nouv. Esp., T. i. p. 98.) At the -equator we have seen two Malvaceæ, Sida Phyllanthos (Cavan), and Sida -pichinchensis, ascend, on the mountain of Antisana and the Volcano -Rucu-Pichincha, to the great elevations of 12600 and 14136 French -(13430 and 15066 English) feet. (See our Plantes équin., T. ii. p. 113, -pl. 116.) Only the Saxifraga boussingaulti (Brongn.) reaches, on the -slope of the Chimborazo, an altitude six or seven hundred feet higher. - -[18] p. 22.--“_The Mimosa form._” - -The finely feathered or pinnated leaves of Mimosas, Acacias, -Schrankias, and species of Desmanthus, are most truly forms of tropical -vegetation. Yet there are some representations of this form beyond the -tropics; in the northern hemisphere in the Old Continent I can indeed -cite but one, and that only in Asia, and a low-growing shrub, the -Acacia Stephaniana, according to Kunth’s more recent investigations a -species of the genus Prosopis. It is a social plant, covering the arid -plains of the province of Shirwan, on the Kur (Cyrus), as far as the -ancient Araxes. Olivier also found it near Bagdad. It is the Acacia -foliis bipinnatis mentioned by Buxbaum, and extends as far north as 42° -of latitude. (Tableau des Provinces situées sur la Côte occidentale de -la Mer Caspienne, entre les fleuves Terek et Kour, 1798, pp. 58 and -120.) In Africa the Acacia gummifera of Willdenow advances as far as -Mogador, or to 32° north latitude. - -On the New Continent, the banks of the Mississipi and the Tennessee, as -well as the savannahs of Illinois, are adorned with Acacia glandulosa -(Michaux), and A. brachyloba (Willd). Michaux found the Schrankia -uncinata extend northwards from Florida into Virginia, or to 37° N. -latitude. Gleditschia tricanthos is found, according to Barton, on -the east side of the Alleghany mountains, as far north as the 38th -parallel, and on the west side even as far as the 41st parallel. -Gleditschia monosperma ceases two degrees farther to the south. These -are the limits of the Mimosa form in the northern hemisphere. In the -southern hemisphere we find beyond the tropic of Capricorn simple -leaved Acacias as far as Van Diemen Island; and even the Acacia -cavenia, described by Claude Gay, grows in Chili between the 30th and -37th degrees of south latitude. (Molina, Storia Naturale del Chili, -1782, p. 174.) Chili has no true Mimosa, but it has three species of -Acacia. Even in the north part of Chili the Acacia cavenia only grows -to a height of twelve or thirteen feet; and in the south, near the -sea coast, it hardly rises a foot above the ground. In South America, -north of the equator, the most excitable Mimosas were (next to Mimosa -pudica), M. dormiens, M. somnians, and M. somniculosa. Theophrastus -(iv. 3) and Pliny (xii. 10) mention the irritability of the African -sensitive plant; but I find the first description of the South American -sensitive plants (Dormideras) in Herrera, Decad. II. lib. iii. cap. -4. The plant first attracted the attention of the Spaniards in 1518, -in the savannahs on the isthmus near Nombre de Dios: “parece como -cosa sensible;” and it was said that the leaves (“de echura de una -pluma de pajaros”) only contracted on being touched with the finger, -and not if touched with a piece of wood. In the small swamps which -surround the town of Mompox on the Magdalena, we discovered a beautiful -aquatic Mimosacea (Desmanthus lacustris). It is figured in our Plantes -équinoxiales, T. i. p. 55, pl. 16. In the Andes of Caxamarca we found -two Alpine Mimoseæ (Mimosa montana and Acacia revoluta), 8500 and 9000 -French (about 9060 and 9590 English) feet above the surface of the -Pacific. - -Hitherto no true Mimosa (in the sense established by Willdenow), or -even Inga, has been found in the temperate zone. Of all Acacias, the -Oriental Acacia julibrissin, which Forskål has confounded with Mimosa -arborea, is that which supports the greatest degree of cold. In the -botanic garden of Padua there is in the open air a tree of this species -with a stem of considerable thickness, although the mean temperature of -Padua is below 10.°5 Reaumur (55°.6 Fahr.) - -[19] p. 23--“_Heaths._” - -In these physiognomic considerations we by no means comprise under -the name of Heaths the whole of the natural family of Ericaceæ, which -on account of the similarity and analogy of the floral parts includes -Rhododendron, Befaria, Gaultheria, Escallonia, &c. We confine ourselves -to the highly accordant and characteristic form of the species of -Erica, including Calluna (Erica) Vulgaris, L., the common heather. - -While, in Europe, Erica carnea, E. tetralix, E. cinerea, and Calluna -vulgaris, cover large tracts of ground from the plains of Germany, -France, and England to the extremity of Norway, South Africa offers the -most varied assemblage of species. Only one species which is indigenous -in the southern hemisphere at the Cape of Good Hope, Erica umbellata, -is found in the northern hemisphere, _i. e._ in the North of Africa, -in Spain, and Portugal. Erica vagans and E. arborea also belong to the -two opposite coasts of the Mediterranean: the first is found in North -Africa, near Marseilles, in Sicily, Dalmatia, and even in England; the -second in Spain, Italy, Istria, and in the Canaries. (Klotsch on the -Geographical Distribution of species of Erica with persistent corollas, -MSS.) The common heather, Calluna vulgaris, is a social plant covering -large tracts from the mouth of the Scheldt to the western declivity -of the Ural. Beyond the Ural, oaks and heaths cease together: both -are entirely wanting in the whole of Northern Asia, and throughout -Siberia to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. Gmelin (Flora Sibirica, -T. iv. p. 129) and Pallas (Flora Rossica, T. i. Pars 2, p. 58) have -expressed their astonishment at this disappearance of the Calluna -vulgaris,--a disappearance which, on the eastern declivity of the Ural -Mountains, is even more sudden and decided than might be inferred -from the expressions of the last-named great naturalist. Pallas says -merely: “ultra Uralense jugum sensim deficit, vix in Isetensibus -campis rarissime apparet, et ulteriori Sibiriæ plane deest.” Chamisso, -Adolph Erman, and Heinrich Kittlitz, have found Andromedas indeed in -Kamtschatka, and on the North West coast of America, but no Calluna. -The accurate knowledge which we now possess of the mean temperature -of several parts of Northern Asia, as well as of the distribution of -the annual temperature into the different seasons of the year, affords -no sort of explanation of the cessation of heather to the east of the -Ural Mountains. Joseph Hooker, in a note to his Flora Antarctica, -has treated and contrasted with great sagacity and clearness two very -different phenomena which the distribution of plants presents to us: -on the one hand, “uniformity of surface accompanied by a similarity of -vegetation;” and on the other hand, “instances of a sudden change in -the vegetation unaccompanied by any diversity of geological or other -features.” (Joseph Hooker, Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of the Erebus -and Terror, 1844, p. 210.) Is there any species of Erica in Central -Asia? The plant spoken of by Saunders in Turner’s Travels to Thibet -(Phil. Trans. Vol. lxxix. p. 86), as having been found in the Highlands -of Nepaul (together with other European plants, Vaccinium myrtillus and -V. oxycoccus) and described by him as Erica vulgaris, is believed by -Robert Brown to have been an Andromeda, probably Andromeda fastigiata -of Wallich. No less striking is the absence of Calluna vulgaris, and -of all the species of Erica throughout all parts of the Continent of -America, while the Calluna is found in the Azores and in Iceland. It -has not hitherto been seen in Greenland, but was discovered a few years -ago in Newfoundland. The natural family of the Ericaceæ is also almost -entirely wanting in Australia, where it is replaced by Epacrideæ. -Linnæus described only 102 species of the genus Erica; according to -Klotzsch’s examination, this genus really contains, after a careful -exclusion of all mere varieties, 440 true species. - -[20] p. 4.--“_The Cactus form._” - -If we take the natural family of the Opuntiaceæ separated from the -Grossulariaceæ (the species of Ribes), and, viewed as it is by Kunth -(Handbuch der Botanik, S. 609), we may well regard it as belonging -exclusively to America. I am aware that Roxburgh, in the Flora Indica -(inedita), cites two species of Cactus as belonging to South Eastern -Asia;--Cactus indicus and C. chinensis. Both are widely disseminated, -and are found in a wild state (whether they were originally wild -or have become so), and are distinct from Cactus opuntia and C. -coccinellifer; but it is remarkable that the Indian plant (Cactus -indicus) has no ancient Sanscrit name. Cactus chinensis has been -introduced in St. Helena as a cultivated plant. Now that a more general -interest has at length been awakened on the subject of the original -distribution of plants, future investigation will dispel the doubts -which have been felt in several quarters respecting the existence of -true Asiatic Opuntiaceæ. In the animal kingdom particular forms are -found to occur singly. Tapirs were long regarded as a form exclusively -characteristic of the New Continent; and yet the American tapir has -been found as it were repeated in that of Malacca (Tapirus indicus, -Cuv.) - -Although the species of Cactus belong, generally speaking, more -properly to the tropical regions, yet some are indigenous in -the temperate zone, as on the Missouri and in Louisiana, Cactus -missuriensis and C. vivipara; and Back saw with astonishment the -shores of Rainy Lake, in north lat. 48° 40´, covered with C. opuntia. -South of the equator the species of Cactus do not extend beyond the -Rio Itata, in lat. 36°, and the Rio Biobio, in lat. 37° 15´. In the -part of the Andes which is situated between the tropics, I have seen -species of Cactus (C. sepium, C. chlorocarpus, C. bonplandii) growing -on elevated plains nine or ten thousand (French) feet (about 9590 and -10660 English) above the level of the sea; but a still more alpine -character is shewn in latitudes belonging to the temperate zone, in -Chili, by the Opuntia ovallei, which has yellow flowers and a creeping -stem. The upper and lower limits beyond which this plant does not -extend have been accurately determined by barometric measurement by -the learned botanist Claude Gay: it has never been found lower than -6330 French (6746 English) feet, and it reaches and even passes the -limits of perpetual snow, having been found on uncovered masses of rock -rising from amongst the snows. The last small plants were collected -on spots situated 12820 French (13663 English) feet above the level -of the sea. (Claudio Gay, Flora Chilensis, 1848, p. 30.) Some species -of Echino-cactus are also true alpine plants in Chili. A counterpart -to the fine-haired Cactus senilis is found in the thick-wooled Cereus -lanatus, called by the natives Piscol, which has handsome red fruit. We -found it in Peru, near Guancabamba, when on our journey to the Amazons -river. The dimensions of the different kinds of Cactaceæ (a group on -which the Prince of Salm-Dyck has been the first to throw great light) -offer great variety and contrasts. Echinocactus wislizeni, which is -4 feet high and 7 feet in circumference (4 feet 3 inches and 7 feet -5 inches English), is still only the third in size, being surpassed -by E. ingens (Zucc.) and by E. platyceras (Lem.) (Wislizenus, Tour -to Northern Mexico, 1848, p. 97.) The Echinocactus stainesii reaches -from 2 to 2-1/2 feet diameter; E. visnago, from Mexico, upwards of 4 -English feet high, is above 3 English feet diameter, and weighs from -700 to 2000 lbs.: while Cactus nanus, which we found near Sondorillo, -in the province of Jaen, is so small that, being only slightly rooted -in the sand, it gets between the toes of dogs. The Melocactuses, which -are full of juice in the dryest seasons like the Ravenala of Madagascar -(forest-leaf in the language of the country, from _rave_, _raven_, -a leaf, and _ala_, the Javanese _halas_, a forest), are vegetable -fountains; and the manner in which the horses and mules stamp them -open with their hoofs, at the risk of injury from the spines, has been -already mentioned (Vol. I p. 19). Since the last quarter of a century -Cactus opuntia has extended itself in a remarkable manner into Northern -Africa, Syria, Greece, and the whole of the South of Europe; even -penetrating, in Africa, from the coasts far into the interior of the -country, and associating itself with the indigenous plants. - -When one has been accustomed to see Cactuses only in our hothouses, one -is astonished at the degree of density and hardness which the ligneous -fibres attain in old cactus stems. The Indians know that cactus wood -is incorruptible, and excellent for oars and for the thresholds of -doors. There is hardly anything in vegetable physiognomy which makes so -singular and ineffaceable an impression on a newly arrived person, as -the sight of an arid plain thickly covered, like those near Cumana, -New Barcelona, and Coro, and in the province of Jaen de Bracamoros, -with columnar and candelabra-like divided cactus stems. - -[21] p. 24.--“_Orchideæ._” - -The almost animal shape of blossoms of Orchideæ is particularly -striking in the celebrated Torito of South America (our Anguloa -grandiflora); in the Mosquito (our Restrepia antennifera); in the Flor -del Espiritu Santo (also an Anguloa, according to Floræ Peruvianæ -Prodrom. p. 118, tab. 26); in the ant-like flower of the Chiloglottis -cornuta (Hooker, Flora antarctica, p. 69); in the Mexican Bletia -speciosa; and in the highly curious host of our European species -of Ophrys: O. muscifera, O. apifera, O. aranifera, O. arachnites, -&c. A predilection for this superbly flowering group of plants has -so increased, that the number cultivated in Europe by the brothers -Loddiges in 1848 has been estimated at 2360 species; while in 1843 it -was rather more than 1650, and in 1813 only 115. What a rich mine of -still unknown superb flowering Orchideæ the interior of Africa must -contain, if it is well watered! Lindley, in his fine work entitled “The -Genera and Species of Orchideous Plants,” described in 1840 precisely -1980 species; at the end of the year 1848 Klotzsch reckoned 3545 -species. - -While in the temperate and cold zones there are only “terrestrial” -Orchideæ, _i. e._ growing on and close to the ground, tropical -countries possess both forms, _i. e._ the “terrestrial” and the -“parasitic,” which grow on trunks of trees. To the first-named of -these two divisions belong the tropical genera Neottia, Cranichis, -and most of the Habenarias. We have also found both forms growing as -alpine plants on the slopes of the chain of the Andes of New Granada -and Quito: of the parasitical Orchideæ (Epidendreæ), Masdevallia -uniflora (at 9600 French, or about 10230 English feet); Cyrtochilum -flexuosum (at 9480 French, or about 10100 English feet); and Dendrobium -aggregatum (8900 French, or about 9480 English feet): and of the -terrestrial Orchideæ, the Altensteinia paleacea, near Lloa Chiquito, -at the foot of the Volcano of Pichincha. Claude Gay thinks that the -Orchideæ said to have been seen growing on trees in the Island of -Juan Fernandez, and even in Chiloe, were probably in reality only -parasitical Pourretias, which extend at least as far south as 40° S. -lat. In New Zealand we find that the tropical form of Orchideæ hanging -from trees extends even to 45° S. lat. The Orchideæ of Auckland’s and -Campbell’s Islands, however (Chiloglottis, Thelymitra, and Acianthus), -grow on the ground in moss. In the animal kingdom, one tropical form -at least advances much farther to the south. In Macquarie Island, in -lat. 54° 39´, nearer to the South Pole therefore than Dantsic is to the -North Pole, there is a native parrot. (See also the section Orchideæ in -my work de Distrib. geogr. Plant., pp. 241-247.) - -[22] p. 25.--“_The Casuarinæ._” - -Acacias which have phyllodias instead of leaves, some Myrtacesæ -(Eucalyptus, Metrosideros, Melaleuca, and Leptospermum), and -Casuarinas, give a uniform character to the vegetation of Australia -and Tasmania (Van Diemen Island). Casuarinas with their leafless, -thin, string-like, articulated branches, having the joints provided -with membranous denticulated sheaths, have been compared by travellers, -according to the particular species which fell under their observation, -either to arborescent Equisetaceæ (Horsetails) or to our Scotch firs. -(See Darwin, Journal of Researches, p. 449.) Near the coast of Peru -the aspect of small thickets of Colletia and Ephedra also produced on -my mind a singular impression of leaflessness. Casuarina quadrivalvis -advances, according to Labillardière, to 48° S. lat. in Tasmania. The -sad-looking Casuarina form is not unknown in India and on the east -coast of Africa. - -[23] p. 25.--“_Needle-leaved trees._” - -The family of Coniferæ holds so important a place by the number of -individuals, by their geographical distribution, and by the vast -tracts of country in the northern temperate zone covered with trees -of the same species living in society, that we are almost surprised -at the small number of species of which it consists,--even including -members which belong to it in essential respects, but deviate from it -in a degree by the shape of their leaves and their manner of growth -(Dammara, Ephedra, and Gnetum, of Java and New Guinea). The number -of known Coniferæ is not quite equal to three-fourths of the number -of described species of palms; and there are more known Aroideæ than -Coniferæ. Zuccarini, in his Beiträgen zur Morphologie der Coniferen -(Abhandl. der mathem. physikal. Classe der Akademie der Wiss. zu -München, Bd. iii. S. 752, 1837-1843), reckons 216 species, of which -165 belong to the northern and 51 to the southern hemisphere. Since my -researches these proportionate numbers must be modified, as, including -the species of Pinus, Cupressus, Ephedra, and Podocarpus, found by -Bonpland and myself in the tropical parts of Peru, Quito, New Granada, -and Mexico, the number of species between the tropics rises to 42. The -most recent and excellent work of Endlicher, Synopsis Coniferarum, -1847, contains 312 species now living, and 178 fossil species found in -the coal measures, the bunter-sandstone, the keuper, and the Jurassic -formations. The vegetation of the ancient world offers to us more -particularly forms which, by their simultaneous affinity with several -different families of the present vegetable world, remind us that many -intermediate links have perished. Coniferæ abounded in the ancient -world: their remains, belonging to an early epoch, are found especially -in association with Palms and Cycadeæ; but in the latest beds of -lignite we also find pines and firs associated as now with Cupuliferæ, -maples, and poplars. (Kosmos, Bd. i. S. 295-298, and 468-470; Engl. -edit. p. 271-274, and lxxxix.) - -If the earth’s surface did not rise to considerable elevations within -the tropics, the highly characteristic form of needle-leaved trees -would be almost unknown to the inhabitants of the equatorial zone. In -common with Bonpland I have laboured much in the determination of the -exact lower and upper limits of the region of Coniferæ and of oaks in -the Mexican highlands. The heights at which both begin to grow (los -Pinales y Encinales, Pineta et Querceta) are hailed with joy by those -who come from the sea-coast, as indicating a climate where, so far as -experience has hitherto shewn, the deadly malady of the black vomit -(Vomito prieto, a form of yellow fever) does not reach. The lower limit -of oaks, and more particularly of the Quercus xalapensis (one of the -22 Mexican species of oak first described by us), is on the road from -Vera Cruz to the city of Mexico, a little below the Venta del Encero, -2860 (3048 E.) feet above the sea. On the western side of the highlands -between the city of Mexico and the Pacific, the limit is rather -lower down, for oaks begin to be found near a hut called Venta de la -Moxonera, between Acapulco and Chilpanzingo, at an absolute elevation -of 2328 (2480 E.) feet. I found a similar difference in the height of -the lower limit of pine woods on the two-sides of the continent. On -the Pacific side, in the Alto de los Caxones north of Quaxiniquilapa, -we found this limit for Pinus Montezumæ (Lamb.), which we at first -took for Pinus occidentalis (Swartz), at an elevation of 3480 (3709 -E.) feet; while towards Vera Cruz, on the Cuesta del Soldado, pines -are first met with at a height of 5610 (5950 E.) feet. Therefore both -the kinds of trees spoken of above, oaks and pines, descend lower on -the side of the Pacific than they do on the side of the Antillean sea. -In ascending the Cofre di Perote, I found the upper limit of the oaks -9715 (10354 E.) feet, and that of the Pinus Montezumæ at 12138 (12936 -E.) feet above the sea, or almost 2000 (2132 E.) feet higher than the -summit of Etna. Considerable quantities of snow had fallen at this -elevation in the month of February. - -The more considerable the heights at which the Mexican Conifers are -first met with, the more striking it appears to find in the Island -of Cuba (where, indeed, on the borders of the torrid zone, northern -breezes sometimes cool the atmosphere down to 6-1/2° Reaumur, 46°.6 -Fah.), another species of pine (P. occidentalis of Swartz), growing in -the plains or on the low hills of the Isla de Pinos, intermixed with -palms and mahogany trees (Swietenias). Columbus mentions a small pine -wood (Pinal) in the journal of his first voyage (Diario del 25 de Nov. -1492), near Cayo de Moya, on the north-east of the Island of Cuba. -In Hayti also, Pinus occidentalis descends from the mountains to the -sea-shore, near Cape Samana. The trunks of these Pines, carried by the -Gulf-stream to the Islands of Graciosa and Fayal in the Azores, were -among the chief indications from which the great discoverer inferred -the existence of unknown lands to the west. (See my Examen crit., -T. ii. p. 246-259.) Is it true that in Jamaica, notwithstanding the -height of its mountains, Pinus occidentalis is entirely wanting? We -may also ask what is the species of Pinus found on the eastern coast -of Guatimala, as P. tenuifolia (Benth.) probably belongs only to the -mountains near Chinanta? - -If we cast a general glance on the species which form the upper limits -of arborescent vegetation in the northern hemisphere, from the frigid -zone to the equator, we find, beginning with Lapland, that according to -Wahlenberg, on the Sulitelma Mountain (lat. 68°) it is not needle-trees -which form the upper limit, but that birches (Betula alba) extend much -higher up than Pinus sylvestris;--whilst in the temperate zone, in the -Alps (lat. 45-3/4°), Pinus picea (Du Roi) advances highest, leaving -the birches behind; and in the Pyrenees (lat. 42-1/2°), Pinus uncinata -(Ram.) and P. sylvestris var. rubra: within the tropics, in lat. -19°-20° in Mexico, Pinus Montezumæ leaves far behind Alnus toluccensis, -Quercus spicata, and Q. crassipes; while in the snow mountains of Quito -at the equator, Escallonia myrtilloides, Aralia avicennifolia, and -Drymis winteri, take the lead. The last-named tree, which is identical -with Drymis granatensis (Mut.) and Wintera aromatica (Murray), -presents, as Joseph Hooker has shewn (Flora Antarctica, p. 229), the -striking example of the uninterrupted extension of the same species of -tree from the most southern part of Tierra del Fuego and Hermit Island, -where it was discovered by Drake’s Expedition in 1577, to the northern -highlands of Mexico; or through a range of 86 degrees of latitude, or -5160 geographical miles. Where it is not birches (as in the far north), -but needle trees (as in the Swiss Alps and the Pyrenees), which form -the limit of _arborescent_ vegetation on the highest mountains, we find -above them, still nearer to the snowy summits which they gracefully -enwreath with their bright garlands, in Europe and Western Asia, the -Alp roses, the Rhododendra,--which are replaced on the Silla de Caracas -and in the Peruvian Paramo de Saraguru by the purple flowers of another -genus of Ericaceæ, the beautiful race of Befarias. In Lapland the -needle-trees are immediately followed by Rhododendron laponicum; in the -Swiss Alps by Rhododendron ferrugineum and R. hirsutum; in the Pyrenees -by the R. ferrugineum only; and in the Caucasus by R. caucasicum. -Decandolle found the Rhododendron ferrugineum growing singly in the -Jura (in the Creux de Vent) at the moderate altitude of 3100 to 3500 -(3304 to 3730 E.) feet, 5600 (5968 E.) feet lower down than its proper -elevation. If we desire to trace the last zone of vegetation nearest to -the snow line in the tropics, we must name, from our own observations, -in the Mexican part of the tropical zone, Cnicus nivalis and Chelone -gentianoides; in the cold mountain regions of New Granada, the woolly -Espeletia grandiflora, E. corymbosa and E. argentea; and in the Andes -of Quito, Culcitium rufescens, C. ledifolium, and C. nivale,--yellow -flowering Compositæ which replace in the last-named mountains the -somewhat more northerly Espeletias of New Granada, to which they bear -a strong physiognomic resemblance. This replacement, the repetition -of resembling or almost similar forms in countries separated either -by seas or by extensive tracts of land, is a wonderful law of nature -which appears to prevail even in regard to some of the rarest forms of -vegetation. In Robert Brown’s family of the Rafflesieæ, separated from -the Cytineæ, the two Hydnoras described by Thunberg and Drege in South -Africa (H. africana and H. triceps) have their counterpart in South -America in Hydnora americana (Hooker). - -Far above the region of alpine plants, grasses, and lichens, and even -above the limit of perpetual snow, the botanist sees with astonishment, -both in the temperate and tropical zones, isolated phænogamous plants -occur now and then sporadically on rocks which remain free from the -general surrounding snowy covering, and which may possibly be warmed -by heat ascending through open fissures. I have already spoken of -the Saxifraga boussingaulti, which is found on the Chimborazo at an -elevation of 14800 (15773 E.) feet; in the Swiss Alps, Silene acaulis -has been seen at a height of 10680 (11380 E.) feet, being in the -first-named case 600 (640 E.) feet, and in the second 2460 (2620 E.) -feet above the limit of the snows, that limit being taken as it was in -the two cases respectively at the time when the plants were found. - -In our European Coniferæ, the Red and White Pine shew great and -remarkable differences in respect to their distribution. While -in the Swiss Alps the Red Pine (Pinus picea, Du Roi, foliis -compresso--tetragonis; unfortunately called by Linnæus, and by most of -the botanists of the present day, Pinus abies!) forms the upper limit -of arborescent vegetation at a mean height of 5520 (5883 English) feet, -only an occasional low growing mountain-alder (Alnus viridis, Dec., -Betula viridis, Vill.) advancing now and then still nearer to the -snow-line; the White Pine (Pinus abies, Du Roi, Pinus picea, Linn., -foliis planis, pectinatodistichis, emarginatis) ceases, according to -Wahlenberg, more than a thousand feet lower down. The Red Pine does not -appear at all in the South of Europe, in Spain, the Appennines, and -Greece; even on the northern slope of the Pyrenees it is seen only, as -Ramond remarks, at great elevations, and is entirely wanting in the -Caucasus. The Red Pine advances in Scandinavia farther to the north -than the White Pine, of which last-named tree there is in Greece (on -Mounts Parnassus, Taygetus, and Œta) a long needled variety (foliis -apice integris, breviter mucronatis), the Abies Apollinis of Link. -(Linnæa, Bd. xv. 1841, S. 529; and Endlicher, Synopsis Coniferarum, p. -96.) - -On the Himalaya the Coniferæ are distinguished by the great thickness -and height of their trunks, and by the length of their leaves. The -Deodwara Cedar, Pinus deodara (Roxb.),--(properly, in Sanscrit, -dêwa-dâru, timber of the Gods),--which is from 12 to 13-1/2 feet -thick, is the great ornament of the mountains. It grows in Nepaul to -11000 (11720 E.) feet above the level of the sea. More than 2000 years -ago the Deodara supplied the materials for the fleet of Nearchus on -the Hydaspes (the present Behut). In the valley of Dudegaon, north -of the copper mines of Dhunpour in Nepaul, Dr. Hoffmeister, so early -lost to science, found the Pinus longifolia of Royle (the Tschelu -Pine) growing among tall stems of the Chamærops martiana of Wallich. -(Hoffmeister’s Briefe aus Indien während der Expedition des Prinzen -Waldemar von Preussen, 1847, S. 351.) Such an intermixture of pineta -and palmata had excited the surprise of the companions of Columbus in -the New Continent, as a friend and cotemporary of the Admiral, Petrus -Martyr Anghiera, has informed us. (Dec. iii. lib. 10, p. 68.) I saw -myself this intermixture of pines and palms for the first time on the -road from Acapulco to Chilpanzingo. The Himalaya, like the Mexican -highlands, has, besides Pines and Cedars, also the forms of Cypresses -(Cupressus torulosa, Don), of Yews (Taxus wallichiana, Zuccar.), of -Podocarpus (P. nereifolia, Robert Brown), and of Juniper (Juniperus -squamata, Don., and J. excelsa, Bieberst; Juniperus excelsa is also -found at Schipke in Thibet, in Asia Minor, in Syria, and in the Greek -Islands). Thuja, Taxodium, Larix, and Araucaria, are forms found in the -New Continent, but wanting in the Himalaya. - -Besides the 20 species of Pines which we already know from Mexico, -the United States of North America, which in their present extent -reach to the Shores of the Pacific, have 45 described species, while -Europe has only 15. There is a similar difference in respect to Oaks: -_i. e._ greater variety of forms in the New Continent which extends -continuously through a greater extent of latitude. The recent very -exact researches of Siebold and Zuccarini have, however, completely -refuted the previous belief, that many European species of Pines extend -also across the whole of Northern Asia to the Islands of Japan, and -even grow there, interspersed, as Thunberg has stated, with genuine -Mexican species, the Weymouth Pine, Pinus Strobus of Linnæus. What -Thunberg took for European Pines are wholly different and distinct -species. Thunberg’s Red Pine (Pinus abies, Linn.) is P. polita, (Sieb.) -and is often planted near Buddhistic temples; his common Scotch Fir -(Pinus sylvestris) is P. Massoniana (Lamb.); his P. cembra (the German -and Siberian pine with eatable seeds) is P. parviflora (Sieb.); his -common Larch (P. larix) is P. leptolepis (Sieb.); and his supposed -Taxus baccata, the fruits of which are eaten by Japanese courtiers in -case of long-protracted court ceremonials, (Thunberg, Flora Japonica, -p. 275), constitutes a distinct genus, and is the Cephalotaxus drupacea -of Siebold. The Islands of Japan, notwithstanding the vicinity of -the Continent of Asia, have a very distinct character of vegetation. -Thunberg’s supposed Japanese Weymouth Pine, (Pinus Strobus) which -would offer an important phenomenon, is only a planted tree, and is -besides quite distinct from the American species of Pine. It is Pinus -korajensis (Sieb.), and has been brought to Nipon from the peninsula of -Corea, and from Kamtschatka. - -Of the 114 species of the Genus Pinus with which we are at present -acquainted, not one belongs to the Southern Hemisphere, for the Pinus -merkusii described by Junghuhn and De Vriese belongs to the part of -the Island of Sumatra which is north of the Equator, to the district -of the Battas; and Pinus insularis (Endl.) although it was at first -given in Loudon’s Arboretum as P. timoriensis, really belongs to -the Philippines. Besides the Genus Pinus, the Southern hemisphere, -according to the present state of our now happily advancing knowledge -of the geography of plants, is entirely without species of Cupressus, -Salisburia (Gingko), Cunninghamia (Pinus lanceolota, Lamb.) Thuja, -(one of the species of which, Th. gigantea, Nutt., found on the banks -of the Columbia, has a height of above 180 Eng. feet), Juniperus, -and Taxodium (Mirbel’s Schubertia). I include the last-named genus -with the less hesitation, as a Cape of Good Hope plant (Sprengel’s -Schubertia capensis) is no Taxodium, but constitutes a genus of itself, -Widringtonia, (Endl.) in quite a different division of the family of -Coniferæ. - -This absence, from the Southern Hemisphere, of true Abietineæ, -Juniperineæ, Cupressineæ, and all the Taxodineæ, as well as of -Torreya, Salisburia adiantifolia, and Cephalotaxus from among the -Taxineæ, recalls forcibly the obscurity which still prevails in the -conditions which have determined the original distribution of vegetable -forms, a distribution which cannot be sufficiently and satisfactorily -explained solely by similarity or diversity of soil, thermic relations, -or meteorological phenomena. I remarked long ago that the Southern -Hemisphere for example has many plants belonging to the natural family -of Rosaceæ, but not a single species of the genus Rosa. We learn from -Claude Gay that the Rosa chilensis described by Meyen is only a wild -variety of the Rosa centifolia (Linn.), which has been for thousands of -years a European plant. Such wild varieties, (_i. e._ varieties which -have become wild) occupy large tracts of ground in Chili, near Valdivia -and Osorno. (Gay, Flora Chilensis, p. 340.) - -In the tropical region of the Northern hemisphere we also found only -one single native rose, our Rosa montezumæ, in the Mexican highlands -near Moran, at an elevation of 8760 (9336 Engl.) feet. It is one of -the singular phenomena in the distribution of plants, that Chili, -which has Palms, Pourretias, and many species of Cactus, has no Agave; -although A. americana grows luxuriantly in Roussillon, near Nice, near -Botzen and in Istria, having probably been introduced from the New -Continent since the end of the 16th century, and in America itself -forms a continuous tract of vegetation from Northern Mexico across the -isthmus of Panama to the Southern part of Peru. I have long believed -that Calceolarias were limited like Roses exclusively to one side of -the Equator; of the 22 species which we brought back with us, not one -was collected to the north of Quito and the Volcano of Pichincha; but -my friend Professor Kunth remarks that Calceolaria perfoliata, which -Boussingault and Captain Hall found at Quito, advances to New Granada, -and that this species, as well as C. integrifolia of Santa Fé de -Bogotá, were given by Mutis to the great Linnæus. - -The species of Pinus which are so frequent in the tropical Antilles and -in the tropical mountains of Mexico do not pass the isthmus of Panama, -and are not found in the equally mountainous parts of the tropical -portion of South America, and in the high plains of New Granada, Pasto, -and Quito. I have been both in the plains and on the mountains from the -Rio Sinu, near the isthmus of Panama, to 12° S. lat.; and in this tract -of almost 1600 geographical miles the only forms of needle-trees which -I saw were a Taxus-like species of Podocarpus with stems 60 (64 Eng.) -feet high (Podocarpus taxifolia), growing in the Pass of Quindiu and in -the Paramo de Saraguru, in 4° 26´ north, and 3° 40´ south latitude; and -an Ephedra (E. americana) near Guallabamba, north of Quito. - -Among the Coniferæ there are common to the northern and southern -hemispheres the genera Taxus, Gnetum, Ephedra, and Podocarpus. The -last-named genus was distinguished from Pinus long before L’Heritier -by Columbus himself, who wrote on the 25th of November, 1492: “Pinales -en la Serrania de Haiti que no llevan piñas, pero frutos que parecen -azeytunos del Axarafe de Sevilla.” (See my Examen crit. T. iii. p. 24.) -There are species of Taxus from the Cape of Good Hope to 61° N. lat. in -Scandinavia, or through more than 95 degrees of latitude; Podocarpus -and Ephedra extend almost as far. In Cupuliferæ, the species of oak -which we are accustomed to regard as a northern form do not indeed pass -beyond the equator in South America, but in the Indian Archipelago they -re-appear in the southern hemisphere in the Island of Java. To the -southern hemisphere belong exclusively ten genera of Coniferæ, of which -I will name here only the principal: Araucaria, Dammara (Agathis Sal.), -Frenela (with eighteen New Holland species), Dacrydium and Lybocedrus, -which is found both in New Zealand and at the Straits of Magellan. New -Zealand has one species of the genus Dammara (D. australis) and no -Araucaria. In New Holland in singular contrast the case is opposite. - -Among tree vegetation, it is in the form of needle-trees that Nature -presents to us the greatest extension in length (longitudinal axis): -I say among tree vegetation, because, as we have already remarked, -among oceanic Algæ, Macrocystis pyrifera, which is found between the -coast of California and 68° S. lat., often attains from 370 to 400 -(about 400 to 430 Eng.) feet in length. Of Coniferæ, (setting aside -the six Araucarias of Brazil, Chili, New Holland, Norfolk Island, and -New Caledonia), the loftiest are those which belong to the northern -temperate zone. As in the family of Palms we found the most gigantic, -the Ceroxylon andicola, above 180 French (192 English) feet high, in -the temperate mountain climate of the Andes, so the loftiest Coniferæ -belong, in the northern hemisphere, to the temperate north-west coast -of America and to the Rocky Mountains (lat. 40°-52°); and in the -southern hemisphere to New Zealand, Tasmania or Van Diemen Island, -the south of Chili and Patagonia (between 43° and 50° latitude). The -most gigantic forms belong to the genera of Pinus, Sequoia (Endl.), -Araucaria, and Dacrydium. I propose to name only those species which -not only attain but often exceed 200 French feet (213 Eng.) In order to -afford a standard of comparison, it should be remarked that in Europe -the tallest Red and White Pines, the latter especially, attain about -150 or 160 (160-170 Eng.) feet; that, for example, in Silesia the Pine -of the Lampersdorf Forest near Frankenstein enjoys great celebrity, -although, with a circumference of 17 English feet, its height is only -153 Prussian, or 148 French, or 158 English feet. (Compare Ratzeburg, -Forstreisen, 1844, S. 287.) - - * * * * * - -Pinus grandis (Douglas) in New California attains 224 English feet. - -Pinus frémontiana (Endl.), also in New California, probably attains -the same stature as the preceding. (Torrey and Frémont, Report of the -Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains in 1844, p. 319.) - -Dacrydium cupressinum (Solander), from New Zealand, 213 English feet. - -Pinus lambertiana (Dougl.), in North-west America, 224-235 English feet. - -Araucaria excelsa (R. Brown), the Cupressus columnaris of Forster, in -Norfolk Island and the surrounding rocky islets, 181-224 English feet. -The six species of Araucaria which have become known to us hitherto, -fall, according to Endlicher, into two groups: - -_a._ The American group (Brazil and Chili): A. brasiliensis (Rich.), -between 15° and 25° 8. lat.; and A. imbricata (Pavon), between 35° and -50° S. lat., the latter growing to 234-260 English feet. - -_b._ The Australian group: A. bidwilli (Hook.) and A. cunninghami -(Ait.) on the east side of New Holland; A. excelsa on Norfolk Island, -and A. cookii (R. Brown) in New Caledonia. Corda, Presl. Göppert, and -Endlicher, have already discovered five species of Araucarias belonging -to the ancient world in the lias, in chalk, and in beds of lignite -(Endlicher, Coniferæ fossiles, p. 301.). - -Pinus Douglasii (Sabine), in the valleys of the Rocky Mountains and on -the banks of the Columbia River (north lat. 48°-52°). The meritorious -Scotch botanist from whom this tree is named perished in 1833 by a -dreadful death in collecting plants in the Sandwich Islands, where he -had arrived from New California. He fell inadvertently into a pit in -which a fierce bull belonging to the cattle which have become wild -had previously fallen, and was gored and trampled to death. By exact -measurement a stem of Pinus Douglasii was 57-1/2 English feet in girth -at 3 feet above the ground, and its height was 245 English feet. (See -Journal of the Royal Institution, 1826, p. 325.) - -Pinus trigona (Rafinesque), on the western declivity of the Rocky -Mountains, described in Lewis and Clarke’s Travels to the Source of the -Missouri River and across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean -(1804-1806), 1814, p. 456. This gigantic Fir was measured with great -care; the trunks were often 38 to 45 English feet in girth, 6 feet -above the ground: one tree was 300 English feet high, and the first 192 -feet were without any division into branches. - -Pinus Strobus grows in the eastern parts of the United States of North -America, especially on the east of the Mississipi; but it is found -again in the Rocky Mountains from the sources of the Columbia to Mount -Hood, or from 43° to 54° N. lat. It is called in Europe the Weymouth -Pine and in North America the White Pine: its ordinary height does -not exceed 160 to 192 Eng. feet, but several trees of 250 to 266 Eng. -feet have been seen in New Hampshire. (Dwight, Travels, Vol. i. p. 36; -and Emerson’s Report on the Trees and Shrubs growing naturally in the -Forests of Massachusetts, 1846, p. 60-66.) - -Sequoia gigantea (Endl.), Condylocarpus (Sal.) from New California; -like Pinus trigona, about 300 English feet high. - - * * * * * - -The nature of the soil, and the circumstances of heat and moisture on -which the nourishment of plants depend, no doubt influence the degree -to which they flourish, and the increase in the number of individuals -in a species; but the gigantic height attained by the trunks of a few -among the many other nearly allied species of the same genus, depends -not on soil or climate; but, in the vegetable as well as in the animal -kingdom, on a specific organisation and inherent natural disposition. I -will cite as the greatest contrast to the Araucaria imbricata of Chili, -the Pinus Douglasii of the Columbia River, and the Sequoia gigantea of -New California, which is from 245 to 300 Eng. feet in height,--not a -plant taken from among a vegetation stunted by cold either of latitude -or elevation, as is the case with the small Willow-tree, two inches in -height, (Salix arctica),--but a small phænogamous plant belonging to -the fine climate of the southern tropic in the Brazilian province of -Goyaz. The moss-like Tristicha hypnoïdes, from the monocotyledonous -family of the Podostemeæ, hardly reaches the height of 3 lines -(27/100ths, or less than three-tenths of an English inch.) “En -traversant le Rio Claro dans la Province de Goyaz,” says an excellent -observer, Auguste de St.-Hilaire, “j’aperçus sur une pierre une plante -dont la tige n’avoit pas plus de trois lignes de haut et que je pris -d’abord pour une mousse. C’étoit cependant une plante phanérogame, le -Tristicha hypnoïdes, pourvue d’organes sexuels comme nos chênes et les -arbres gigantesques qui à l’entour élevaient leur cimes majestueuses.” -(Auguste de St.-Hilaire, Morphologie Végétale, 1840, p. 98.) - -Besides the height of their stems, the length, breadth, and position -of the leaves and fruit, the form of the ramification aspiring -or horizontal, and spreading out like a canopy or umbrella,--the -gradations of colour, from a fresh green or silvery grey to a -blackish-brown, all give to Coniferæ a peculiar physiognomy and -character. The needles of Douglas’s Pinus lambertiana from North-west -America are five French inches long; those of Pinus excelsa of Wallich, -on the southern declivity of the Himalaya, near Katmandoo, seven French -inches; and those of P. longifolia (Roxb.), from the mountains of -Kashmeer, above a French foot long. In one and the same species the -length of the leaves or needles varies in the most striking manner -from the influence of soil, air, and elevation above the level of -the sea. In travelling in an east and west direction through eighty -degrees of longitude (above 3040 geographical miles), from the mouth -of the Scheldt through Europe and the north of Asia to Bogoslowsk in -the northern Ural and Barnaul beyond the Obi, I have found differences -in the length of the needles of our common Fir (Pinus sylvestris) so -great, that sometimes a traveller may be misled by the shortness and -rigidity of the leaves, to think that he has discovered a new species -allied to the Mountain Pine, P. rotundata (Link), P. uncinata (Ram.) -Link has justly remarked (Linnæa, Bd. xv. 1841, S. 489) that such -instances may be regarded as transitions to Ledebour’s P. sibirica of -the Altai. - -In the Mexican highlands I have looked with particular pleasure on the -delicate cheerful green of the Ahuahuete, Taxodium distichum (Rich.), -Cupressus disticha (Linn.), which, however, is much given to shedding -its leaves. In this tropical region the above-mentioned tree, (of which -the Aztec name signifies water-drum, from _atl_, water, and _huehuetl_, -a drum, the trunk swelling to a great thickness), flourishes 5400 and -7200 (5755 and 7673 English) feet above the level of the sea, while in -the United States of North America it is found in the low grounds of -the cypress swamps of Louisiana, in the 43d parallel. In the Southern -States of North America the Taxodium distichum (Cyprès chauve) reaches, -as in the Mexican highlands, the height of 120 (128 English) feet, -and the enormous thickness of 30 to 37 (32 to 39 English) feet, in -diameter measured near the ground. (Emerson, Report on the Forests, -pp. 49 and 101). The roots present the striking phenomenon of woody -excrescences which project from 3 to 4-1/2 feet above the earth, -and are conical and rounded, and sometimes tabular. Travellers have -compared these excrescences in places where they are very numerous to -the grave tablets in a Jewish burying-ground. Auguste de St. Hilaire -remarks with much acuteness:--“Ces excroissances du Cyprès chauve, -ressemblant à des bornes, peuvent être regardées comme des exostoses, -et comme elles vivent dans l’air, il s’en échapperoit sans doute des -bourgeons adventifs, si la nature du tissu des plantes conifères ne -s’opposoit au développement des germes cachés qui donnent naissance à -ces sortes de bourgeons.” (Morphologie végétale, p. 91). A singularly -enduring power of vitality in the roots of trees of this family is -shown by a phenomenon which has excited the attention of vegetable -physiologists, and appears to be of only very rare occurrence in other -dicotyledonous trees. The remaining stumps of White Pines which have -been cut down continue for several years to make fresh layers of wood, -and to increase in thickness, without putting forth new shoots, leaves, -or branches. Göppert believes that this only takes place by means of -root nourishment received by the stump from a neighbouring living tree -of the same species; the roots of the living individual which has -branches and leaves having become organically united with those of the -cut tree by their having grown together. (Göppert, Beobachtungen über -das sogenannte Umwallen der Tannenstöcke, 1842, S. 12). Kunth, in his -excellent new “Lehrbuch der Botanik,” objects to this explanation of -a phenomenon which was known, imperfectly, so early as Theophrastus. -(Hist. Plant. lib. iii. cap. 7, pp. 59 and 60, Schneider.) He considers -the case to be analogous to what takes place when metal-plates, nails, -carved letters, and even the antlers of stags, become enclosed in the -wood of a growing tree. “The cambium, _i. e._ the viscid secretion -out of which new elementary organs are constructed either of woody or -cellular tissue, continues, without reference to the buds (and quite -apart from them), to deposit new layers of wood on the outermost layer -of the ligneous substance.” (Th. i. S. 143 and 166.) - -The relations which have been alluded to, between elevation above -the level of the sea and geographical and thermal latitude, manifest -themselves often when we compare the tree vegetation of the tropical -part of the chain of the Andes with the vegetation of the north-west -coast of America, or with that of the shores of the Canadian Lakes. -Darwin and Claude Gay have made the same remark in the Southern -Hemisphere, in advancing from the high plains of Chili to Eastern -Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, where they found Drymis winteri and -forests of Fagus antarctica and Fagus forsteri forming a uniform -covering throughout long continuous lines running from north to -south and descending to the low grounds. We find even in Europe -small deviations (dependent on local causes which have not yet been -sufficiently examined), from the law of constant ratio as regards -stations or habitat of plants between elevation above the sea and -geographical latitude. I would recall the limits, in respect to -elevation, of the birch and the common fir in a part of the Swiss -Alps, on the Grimsel. The fir (Pinus sylvestris) extends to 5940, and -the birch (Betula alba) to 6480 French (6330 and 6906 English) feet; -above the birches there is a higher line of Pinus cembra, whose upper -limit is 6890 (7343 English) feet. Here, therefore, we have the birch -intervening between two zones of Coniferæ. According to the excellent -observations of Leopold Von Buch, and the recent ones of Martins, -who also visited Spitzbergen, the following geographical limits were -found in Lapland:--Pinus sylvestris extends to 70°; Betula alba to -70° 40´; and Betula nana quite up to 71°; Pinus cembra is altogether -wanting in Lapland. (Compare Unger über den Einfluss des Bodens auf -die Vertheilung der Gewächse, S. 200; Lindblom, Adnot. in geographicam -plantarum intra Sueciam distributionem, p. 89; Martins, in the Annales -des Sciences naturelles, T. xviii. 1842, p. 195). - -If the length and arrangement of the needle-shaped leaves go far to -determine the physiognomic character of Coniferæ, this character is -still more influenced by the specific differences in the breadth -of the needles, and the degree of development of the parenchyma of -the appendicular organs. Several species of Ephedra may be called -almost leafless; but in Taxus, Araucaria, Dammara (Agathis), and the -Salisburia adiantifolia of Smith (Gingko biloba, Linn.), the surfaces -of the leaves become gradually broader. I have here placed the -genera in morphological succession. The specific names first chosen -by botanists testify in favour of such a succession. The Dammara -orientalis of Borneo and Java, often above ten feet in diameter, -was first called loranthifolia; and Dammara australis (Lamb.) of -New Zealand, which is 140 (149 English) feet high, was first called -zamæfolia. In both these species of trees the leaves are not needles, -but “folia alterna oblongo-lanceolata, opposita, in arbore adultiore -sæpe alterna, enervia, striata.” The under surface of the leaves is -thickly set with porous openings. This passage or transition of the -appendicular system from the greatest contraction to a broad-leaved -surface, like all progression from simple to compound, has at once a -morphological and a physiognomic interest (Link, Urwelt, Th. I. 1834, -S. 201-211). The short-stalked, broad, cleft leaf of the Salisburia -(Kämpfer’s Gingko) has also its breathing pores only on the under side -of the leaf. The original native country of this tree is unknown to us. -By the connection and intercourse of Buddhistic communities it early -passed from the temple-gardens of China to those of Japan. - -In travelling from a port on the Pacific to Mexico, on our way to -Europe, I witnessed the singular and painful impression which the first -sight of a pine forest near Chilpanzingo made on one of our companions, -who, born at Quito under the equinoctial line, had never seen needle -trees, or trees with “folia acerosa.” It seemed to him as if the trees -were leafless; and he thought that as we were travelling towards the -cold North, he already recognised in this extreme contraction of the -vegetable organs the chilling and impoverishing influence of the pole. -The traveller whose impressions I here describe, whose name neither my -friend Bonpland or myself can pronounce without regret, was Don Carlos -Montufar (son of the Marquis of Selvalegre), an excellent young man, -whose noble and ardent love of freedom led him a few years later, in -the war of independence of the Spanish Colonies, to meet courageously a -violent death, of which the dishonour did not fall on him. - -[24] p. 26.--“_The Pothos-form, Aroideæ._” - -Caladium and Pothos are exclusively forms of the tropical world; the -species of Arum belong more to the temperate zone. Arum italicum, A. -dracunculus, and A. tenuifolium, extend to Istria and Friuli. No Pothos -has yet been discovered in Africa. India has some species of this genus -(Pothos scandens and P. pinnata) which are less beautiful in their -physiognomy, and less luxuriant in their growth, than the American -species. We discovered a beautiful and truly arborescent member of the -group of Aroideæ (Caladium arboreum) having stems from 16 to 21 English -feet high, not far from the convent of Caripe, to the East of Cumanas. -A very curious Caladium (Culcasia scandens) has been discovered by -Beauvois in the kingdom of Benin. (Palisot de Beauvois, Flore d’Oware -et de Benin, T. i. 1804, p. 4, pl. iii.) In the Pothos-form the -parenchyma is sometimes so much extended that the surface of the leaf -is interrupted by holes as in Calla pertusa (Kunth), and Dracontium -pertusum (Jacquin), which we collected in the woods round Cumana. -The Aroideæ first led attention to the remarkable phenomenon of the -fever-heat, which in certain plants is sensible by the thermometer -during the development of their inflorescence, and which is connected -with a great and temporary increase of the absorption of oxygen from -the atmosphere. Lamarck remarked in 1789 this increase of temperature -at the time of flowering in Arum italicum. According to Hubert and Bory -de St. Vincent the vital heat of Arum cordifolium in the Isle of France -was found to rise to 35°and 39° Reaumur, (110°.6 and 119°.6 Fahr.) -while the temperature of the surrounding air was only 15°.2 R. (66°.2 -F.) Even in Europe, Becquerel and Breschet found as much as 17-1/2° -difference, Reaumur (39°.4 Fahr.) Dutrochet remarked a paroxysm, an -alternate decrease and increase of vital heat, which appeared to reach -a double maximum in the day. Théodore de Saussure observed analogous -augmentations of temperature, though to a less amount, only from 0°.5 -to 0°.8 of Reaumur’s scale (1°.15 to 1°.8 Fahr.), in plants belonging -to other families; for example, in Bignonia radicans and Cucurbita -pepo. In the latter plant the use of a very sensitive thermoscope shews -that the increase of temperature is greater in the male than in the -female plant. Dutrochet, who previous to his early death made such -meritorious researches in physics and in vegetable physiology, found by -means of thermo-magnetic multiplicators (Comptes rendus de l’Institut, -T. viii. 1839, p. 454, T. ix. p. 614 and 781) an increase of vital heat -from 0°.1 to 0°.3 Reaumur, (0°.25 to 0°.67 Fahr.) in several young -plants (Euphorbia lathyris, Lilium candidum, Papaver somniferum), and -even among funguses in several species of Agaricus and Lycoperdon. -This vital heat disappeared at night, but was not prevented by placing -the plants in the dark during the day-time. - -A yet more striking physiognomic contrast than that of Casuarineæ, -Needle trees, and the almost leafless Peruvian Colletias, with -Aroideæ, is presented by the comparison of those types of the greatest -contraction of the leafy organs with the Nymphæaceæ and Nelumboneæ. We -find in these as in the Aroideæ, leaves, in which the cellular tissue -forming their surface is extended to an extreme degree, supported on -long fleshy succulent leaf-stalks; as in Nymphæa alba; N. lutea; N. -thermalis (once called N. lotus, from the hot spring of Pezce near -Groswardein, in Hungary); the species of Nelumbo; Euryale amazonica -of Pöppig; and the Victoria Regina discovered in 1837 by Sir Robert -Schomburgk in the River Berbice in British Guiana, and which is -allied to the prickly Euryale, although, according to Lindley, a very -different genus. The round leaves of this magnificent water plant are -six feet in diameter, and are surrounded by turned up margins 3 to -5 inches high, light green inside, and bright crimson outside. The -agreeably perfumed flowers, twenty or thirty blossoms of which may -be seen at the same time within a small space, are white and rose -coloured, 15 inches in diameter, and have many hundred petals. (Rob. -Schomburgk, Reisen in Guiana und am Orinoko, 1841, S. 233.) Pöppig -also gives to the leaves of his Euryale amazonica which he found near -Tefe, as much as 5 feet 8 inches French, or 6 English feet, diameter. -(Pöppig, Reise in Chile, Peru und auf dem Amazonenstrome, Bd. ii. 1836, -S. 432.) If Euryale and Victoria are the genera which present the -greatest extension in all dimensions of the parenchyma of the _leaves_, -the greatest known dimensions of a _flower_ belong to a parasitical -Cytinea, the Rafflesia Arnoldi (R. Brown), discovered by Dr. Arnold -in Sumatra, in 1818: it has a stemless flower of three English feet -diameter, surrounded by large leaf-like scales. Fungus-like, it has an -animal smell, resembling beef. - -[25] p. 26.--“_Lianes, rope-plants_, (_‘Bush ropes;’ in Spanish, -Vejuccos._”) - -According to Kunth’s division of the Bauhinieæ, the true genus Bauhinia -belongs to the New Continent: the African Bauhinia, B. rufescens, -(Lam.) is a Pauletia (Cav.) a genus of which we found some new species -in South America. So also the Banisterias, from among the Malpighiaceæ, -are properly an American form; although two species are natives of -India, and one species, Banisteria leona, described by Cavanilles, is -a native of Western Africa. Within the tropics and in the Southern -Hemisphere we find among the most different families of plants the -twining rope-like climbers which in those regions render the forests at -once so impenetrable to man, and on the other hand so accessible and -habitable to the Quadrumanæ (or Monkeys) and to the Cercoleptes and -the small tiger-cats. The rapid ascent to the tops of lofty trees, the -passage from tree to tree, and even the crossing of streams by whole -herds or troops of gregarious animals, are all greatly facilitated by -these twining plants or Lianes. - -In the South of Europe and in North America, Hops from among the -Urticeæ, and the species of Vitis from among the Ampelideæ, belong -to the class of twining climbers, and between the tropics we find -climbing Grasses or Gramineæ. We have seen in the plains of Bogota, in -the pass of Quindiu, in the Andes, and in the Quina-producing forests -of Loxa, a Bambusacea allied to Nastus, our Chusquea scandens, twine -round massive and lofty trunks of trees adorned at the same time with -flowering Orchideæ. The Bambusa scandens (Tjankorreh), which Blume -found in Java, belongs probably either to the genus Nastus or to that -of Chusquea, the Carrizo of the Spanish settlers. Twining plants -appear to me to be entirely absent in the Pine-woods of Mexico, but -in New Zealand, besides the Ripogonum parviflorum of Robert Brown, (a -climber belonging to the Smilaceæ which renders the forests almost -impenetrable), the sweet-smelling Freycinetia Banksii, which belongs to -the Pandaneæ, twines round a gigantic Podocarpus 220 English feet high, -the P. dacryoides (Rich), called in the native language Kakikatea. -(Dieffenbach, Travels in New Zealand, 1843, Vol. i. p. 426.) - -With climbing Gramineæ and Pandaneæ are contrasted by their beautiful -and many-coloured blossoms the Passifloras (among which, however, we -even found an arborescent self-supporting species, Passiflora glauca, -growing in the Andes of Popayan, at an elevation of 9840 French (10487 -English) feet);--the Bignoniaceæ, Mutisias, Alströmerias, Urvilleæ, -and Aristolochias. Among the latter our Aristolochia cordata has -a crimson-coloured flower of 17 English inches diameter! “flores -gigantei, pueris mitræ instar inservientes.” Many of these twining -plants have a peculiar physiognomy and appearance produced by the -square shape of their stems, by flattenings not caused by any external -pressure, and by riband-like wavings to and fro. Cross sections of -Bignonias and Banisterias shew cruciform or mosaic figures produced -by the mutual pressure and interpenetration of the stems which twine -around each other. (See very accurate drawings in Adrien de Jussieu’s -Cours de Botanique, p. 77-79, fig. 105-108.) - -[26] p. 27.--“_The form of Aloës._” - -To this group of plants, characterised by so great a similarity of -physiognomy, belong; Yucca aloifolia, which extends as far north as -Florida and South Carolina; Y. angustifolia (Nutt.) which advances as -far as the banks of the Missouri; Aletris arborea; the Dragon-tree -of the Canaries and two other Dræcænas from New Zealand; arborescent -Euphorbias; Aloë dichotoma (Linn.) (formerly the genus Rhipidodendrum -of Willdenow); and the celebrated Koker-boom of Southern Africa with a -trunk twenty-one feet high and above four feet thick, and a top of 400 -(426 Engl.) feet in circumference. (Patterson, Reisen in das Land der -Hottentotten und der Kaffern, 1790, S. 55.) The forms which I have thus -brought together belong to very different families: to the Liliaceæ, -Asphodeleæ, Pandaneæ, Amaryllideæ, and Euphorbiaceæ; all, however, -with the exception of the last, belonging to the great division of -the Monocotyledones. A Pandanea, Phytelephas macrocarpa (Ruiz,) which -we found in New Granada on the banks of the Magdalena, with its -pinnated leaves, quite resembles in appearance a small palm-tree. This -Phytelephas, of which the Indian name is Tagua, is besides, as Kunth -remarks, the only one of the Pandaneæ found (according to our present -knowledge) in the New Continent. The singular Agave-like and at the -same time very tall-stemmed Doryanthes excelsa of New South Wales, -which was first described by the acutely observing Correa de Serra, is -an Amaryllidea, like our low-growing Narcissuses and Jonquils. - -In the Candelabra shape of plants of the Aloë form, we must not -confound the branches of an arborescent stem with flower-stalks. It -is the latter which in the American Aloë (Agave Americana, Maguey -de Cocuyza, which is entirely wanting in Chili) as well as in the -Yucca acaulis, (Maguey de Cocuy) presents in the rapid and gigantic -development of the inflorescence a candelabrum-like arrangement of the -flowers which, as is well known, is but too transient a phenomenon. -In some arborescent Euphorbias, on the other hand, the physiognomic -effect is given by the branches and their division, or by ramification -properly so called. Lichtenstein, in his “Reisen im südlichen Africa” -(Th. i. S. 370), gives a vivid description of the impression made upon -him by the appearance of a Euphorbia officinarum which he found in the -“Chamtoos Rivier,” in the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope; the form of -the tree was so symmetrical that the candelabrum-like arrangement was -regularly repeated on a smaller scale in each of the subdivisions of -the larger branches up to 32 English feet high. All the branches were -armed with sharp spines. - -Palms, Yuccas, Aloes, tall-stemmed Ferns, some Aralias, and the -Theophrasta where I have seen it growing luxuriantly, different as they -are in the structure of their flowers, yet offer to the eye in the -nakedness (absence of branches) of their stems, and in the ornamental -character of their tops or crowns, a certain degree of physiognomic -resemblance. - -The Melanoselinum decipiens (Hofm.), which is sometimes upwards -of 10 or 12 feet high, and which has been introduced into our -gardens from Madeira, belongs to a peculiar group of arborescent -umbelliferous plants to which Araliaceæ are otherwise allied, and -with which other plants which will doubtless be discovered in course -of time will be associated. Ferula, Heracleum, and Thapsia, do indeed -attain a considerable height, but they are still herbaceous plants. -Melanoselinum is still almost entirely alone as an umbelliferous -tree; Bupleurum (Tenonia) fruticosum (Linn.) of the shores of the -Mediterranean; Bubon galbanum of the Cape, and Crithmum maritimum -of our sea-shores, are only shrubs. On the other hand, the tropical -zone, in which, according to the old and very just remark of Adanson, -Umbelliferæ and Cruciferæ are almost entirely wanting in the plains, -presented to us on the high ridges of the American Andes the smallest -and most dwarf-like of all umbelliferous plants. Among 38 species of -plants which we collected at elevations where the mean temperature is -below 10° Reaumur (54°.5 Fah.), there vegetate almost like mosses, and -as if they made part of the rock and of the often frozen earth, at an -elevation of 12600 (13430 English) feet above the level of the sea, -Myrrhis andicola, Fragosa arctioïdes, and Pectophytum pedunculare, -intermingled with which there is an equally dwarfed Alpine Draba. The -only umbelliferous plants growing in the low grounds within the tropics -observed by us in the New Continent were two species of Hydrocotyle (H. -umbellata and H. leptostachya) between Havannah and Batabano; therefore -at the extreme limits of the torrid Zone. - -[27] p. 27--“_The form of Gramineæ._” - -The group of arborescent grasses which Kunth, in his able treatise -on the plants collected by Bonpland and myself, has combined under -the name of Bambusaceæ, is among the most beautiful adornments of -the tropical world. (Bambu, also called Mambu, is a word in the -Malay language, but appears according to Buschmann to be of doubtful -origin, as the usual Malay expression is buluh, in Java and Madagascar -wuluh, voulu.) The number of genera and species which form this -group has been extraordinarily augmented by the zeal of botanists. -It is now recognised that the genus Bambusa is entirely wanting in -the New Continent, to which on the other hand Guadua, from 50 to 60 -French or about 53 to 64 English feet high, discovered by us, and -Chusquea, exclusively belong; that Arundinaria (Rich) is common to -both continents, although the species are different; that Bambusa and -Beesha (Rheed.) are found in India and the Indian Archipelago, and -Nastus in the Island of Bourbon, and in Madagascar. With the exception -of the tall-climbing Chusquea the forms which have been named may be -said to replace each other morphologically in the different parts of -the world. In the northern hemisphere, in the valley of the Mississipi, -the traveller is gratified, long before reaching the tropics, with -the sight of a form of bamboo, the Arundinaria macrosperma, formerly -called also Miegia, and Ludolfia. In the Southern Hemisphere Gay has -discovered a Bambusacea, (a still undescribed species of Chusquea, -21 English feet high, which does not climb, but is arborescent and -self-supporting) growing in southern Chili between the parallels of 37° -and 42° S. latitude; where, intermixed with Drymis chilensis, a uniform -forest covering of Fagus obliqua prevails. - -While in India the Bambusa flowers so abundantly that in Mysore and -Orissa the seeds are mixed with honey and eaten like rice, (Buchanan, -Journey through Mysore, Vol. ii. p. 341, and Stirling in the Asiat. -Res. Vol. xv, p. 205) in South America the Guadua flowers so rarely, -that in four years we were only twice able to procure blossoms; once -on the unfrequented banks of the Cassiquiare, (the arm which connects -the Orinoco with the Rio Negro and the Amazons River,) and once in the -province of Popayan between Buga and Quilichao. It is striking to see -plants in particular localities grow with the greatest vigour without -producing flowers: it is thus with European olive trees which have -been planted for centuries between the tropics near Quito, 9000 (about -9590 English) feet above the level of the sea, and also in the Isle of -France with Walnut-trees, Hazel-nuts, and, as at Quito, olive trees -(Olea europea): see Bojer, Hortus Mauritianus, 1837, p. 291. - -As some of the Bambusaceæ (arborescent grasses) advance into the -temperate zone, so within the tropics they do not suffer from -the temperate climate of the mountains. They certainly grow more -luxuriantly as social plants from the sea coast to the height of about -2560 English feet; for example, in the province de las Esmeraldas, west -of the Volcano of Pichincha, where Guadua angustifolia (Bambusa Guadua -in our Plantes équinoxiales, T. i. Tab. xx.) produces in its interior -much of the siliceous Tabaschir (Sanscrit _tvakkschira_, ox-milk). In -the pass of Quindiu we saw the Guadua growing at an elevation which we -found by barometric measurement to be 5400 (5755 English) feet above -the level of the Pacific. Nastus borbonicus is called by Bory de St. -Vincent a true Alpine plant; he states that it does not descend lower -on the declivity of the Volcano in the Island of Bourbon than 3600 -(3837 English) feet. This recurrence or repetition as it were at great -elevations of the forms characteristic of the hot plains, recalls the -mountain group of palms before pointed out by me (Kunthia Montana, -Ceroxylon andicola, and Oreodoxa frigida), and a grove or thicket of -Musaceæ sixteen English feet high (Heliconia, perhaps Maranta), which I -found growing isolated at an elevation of 6600 (7034 English) feet, on -the Silla de Caraccas. (Rélation hist. T. i. p. 605-606.) As, with the -exception of a few isolated herbaceous dicotyledones, grasses form the -highest zone of phænogamous vegetation round the snowy summits of lofty -mountains, so also, in advancing in a horizontal direction towards -either pole of the Earth, the phænogamous vegetation terminates with -grasses. - -To my young friend Joseph Hooker, who, but just returned with Sir -James Ross from the frozen antarctic regions, is now exploring the -Thibetian portion of the Himalaya, the geography of plants is indebted -not only for a great mass of important materials, but also for -excellent general deductions. He calls attention to the circumstance -that phænogamous flowering plants (grasses) approach 17-1/2° nearer -to the Northern than to the Southern pole. In the Falkland Islands -near the thick masses of Tussack grass (Dactylis cæspitosa, Forster, -according to Kunth a Festuca), and in Tierra del Fuego or Fuegia, -under the shade of the birch-leaved Fagus antarctica, there grows the -same Trisetum subspicatum which extends over the whole range of the -Peruvian Cordilleras, and over the Rocky Mountains to Melville Island, -Greenland, and Iceland, and which is also found in the Swiss and -Tyrolese Alps, in the Altai mountains, in Kamtschatka, and in Campbell -Island, south of New Zealand; therefore, from 54° South to 74-1/2° -North latitude, or through 128-1/2° of latitude. “Few grasses,” says -Joseph Hooker, in his Flora Antarctica, p. 97, “have so wide a range -as Trisetum subspicatum, (Beauv.) nor am I acquainted with any other -Arctic species which is equally an inhabitant of the opposite polar -regions.” The South Shetland Islands, which are divided by Bransfield -Strait from D’Urville’s Terre de Louis Philippe and the Volcano of -Haddington Peak, situated in 64° 12´ South latitude and 7046 English -feet high, have been very recently visited by a Botanist from the -United States of North America, Dr. Eights. He found there (probably in -62° or 62-1/4°, S. latitude) a small grass, Aira antarctica (Hooker, -Icon. Plant. Vol. ii. Tab. 150) which is “the most antarctic flowering -plant hitherto discovered.” - -In Deception Island, of the same group, S. lat. 62° 50´, lichens only -are found, and not a single species of grass; and so also farther to -the south-east, in Cockburn Island (lat. 64° 12´), near Palmer’s Land, -there were only found Lecanoras, Lecideas, and five Mosses, among which -was our German Bryum argenteum: “this seems to be the ultima Thule of -antarctic vegetation.” Farther to the south, _land_-cryptogamic, as -well as phænogamic, vegetation is entirely wanting. In the great bay -formed by Victoria Land, on a small island which lies opposite to Mount -Herschel (S. lat. 71° 49´), and in Franklin Island, 92 geographical -miles North of the great volcano Mount Erebus, 12400 English feet high -(latitude 76° 7´ South), Hooker found not a single trace of vegetable -life. It is quite different in respect to the extension even of the -forms of higher vegetable organisation in the high northern latitudes. -Phænogamous plants there approach 18-1/2° nearer to the pole than in -the southern hemisphere: Walden Island (N. lat. 80-1/2°) has still -ten species. The antarctic phænogamous vegetation is also poorer in -species at corresponding distances from the pole (Iceland has five -times as many flowering plants as the southern group of Auckland and -Campbell Islands), but this less varied antarctic vegetation is from -climatic reasons more luxuriant and succulent. (Compare Hooker, Flora -antarctica, p. vii., 74, and 215, with Sir James Ross, Voyage in the -Southern and Antarctic Regions, 1839-1843, Vol. ii. p. 335-342.) - -[28] p. 28.--“_Ferns._” - -If, with a naturalist deeply versed in the knowledge of the Agamæ, -Dr. Klotzsch, we estimate the whole number of cryptogamic species -hitherto described at 19000, this gives to Fungi 8000 (of which the -Agarici constitute 1-8th); Lichens, according to J. von Flotow of -Hirschberg, and Hampe of Blankenburg, at least 1400; Algæ 2580; Mosses -and Liver-worts, according to Carl Müller of Halle, and Dr. Gottsche -of Hamburgh, 3800; and Ferns 3250. We are indebted for this last -important result to the thorough investigation of all that is known -concerning this group of plants by Professor Kunze of Leipsic. It is -remarkable that of the entire number of described Filices the family of -Polypodiaceæ, alone, comprises 2165 species; while other forms, even -Lycopodiaceæ and Hymenophyllaceæ, only count 350 and 200. There are, -therefore, almost as many described ferns as described grasses. - -It is remarkable that in the ancient classic writers, Theophrastus, -Dioscorides, and Pliny, no notice occurs of the beautiful form of -arborescent ferns; while from information derived from the companions -of Alexander, Aristobulus, Megasthenes, and Nearchus, mention is made -of Bamboos “quæ fissis internodiis lembi vice vectitabant navigantes;” -of the Indian trees “quarum folia non minora clypeo sunt;” of the -fig-tree of which the branches take root round the parent stem; and of -Palms “tantæ proceritatis, ut sagittis superjici nequeant.” (Humboldt, -de Distributione geogr. Plantarum, p. 178 and 213.) I find the first -description of tree-ferns in Oviedo’s Historia de las Indias, 1535, -fol. xc. This experienced traveller, who had been placed by Ferdinand -the Catholic as director of the gold-washings in Hayti, says: “Among -the many ferns there are some which I reckon among trees, for they are -as thick and as tall as pines (Helechos que yo cuento por arboles, -tan gruesos como grandes pinos y muy altos). They grow chiefly in the -mountains and where there is much water.” The height is exaggerated. -In the dense forests round Caripe even our Cyathea speciosa only -attains a height of 30 to 35 (32 to 37 English) feet; and an excellent -observer, Ernst Dieffenbach, in the northernmost of the three islands -of New Zealand saw no stems of Cyathea dealbata of more than 40 (42-1/2 -English) feet in height. In the Cyathea speciosa and the Meniscium of -the Chaymas missions we observed, in the midst of the shadiest primeval -forest, in very luxuriantly growing individuals, the scaly stems -covered with a shining carbonaceous powder. It seemed like a singular -decomposition of the fibrous parts of the old frond stalks. (Humboldt, -Rel. hist. T. i. p. 437.) - -Between the tropics, where, on the declivities of the Cordilleras, -climates are placed successively in stages one above another, the -proper zone of the tree-ferns is between three and five thousand feet -(about 3200 and 5330 English) above the level of the sea. In South -America and in the Mexican highlands they seldom descend lower towards -the plains than 1200 (about 1280 Eng.) feet. The mean temperature -of this happy zone falls between 17° and 14°.5 Reaumur (70°.2 and -64°.6 Fahr.) This region enters the lowest stratum of clouds, or -that which floats next above the sea and the plains; and hence, -besides great equality of temperature, it also enjoys uninterruptedly -a high degree of humidity. (Robert Brown, in Appendix to Expedition -to Congo, p. 423.) The inhabitants, who are of Spanish descent, call -this zone “tierra templada de los helechos.” The Arabic word for fern -is _feledschun_, _f_ being changed into _h_ in helechos according -to Spanish custom: perhaps the Arabic feledschun is connected with -“faladscha,” “it divides;” in allusion to the finely divided margins of -fern leaves or fronds. (Abu Zacaria Ebn el Awam, Libro de Agricultura, -traducido por J. A. Banqueri, T. ii. Madr. 1802, p. 736.) - -The conditions of mild temperature and an atmosphere nearly saturated -with vapour, together with great equability of climate in respect to -both temperature and moisture, are fulfilled on the declivities of -the mountains, in the valleys of the Andes, and above all in the mild -and humid atmosphere of the southern hemisphere, where arborescent -ferns extend not only to New Zealand and Van Diemen Island (Tasmania), -but even to the Straits of Magellan and to Campbell Islands, or to -a latitude almost corresponding to that of Berlin in the northern -hemisphere. Of tree-ferns, Dicksonia squarrosa grows vigorously in -46° South latitude, in Dusky Bay (New Zealand); D. antarctica of -Labillardière in Tasmania; a Thyrsopteris in Juan Fernandez; an -undescribed Dicksonia with stems from 12 to 15 (nearly 13 to 16 -English) feet in the south of Chili, not far from Valdivia; and a -Lomaria of rather less height in the Straits of Magellan. Campbell -Island is still nearer to the south pole, in 52-1/2° lat., and even -there the stem of the Aspidium venustum rises to 4 feet (4 feet 3 -inches, English) before the fronds branch off. - -The climatic relations under which Ferns in general flourish, are -manifested in the numerical laws of their quotients of distribution -taken in the manner alluded to in an earlier part of the present -volume. In the low plains of the great continents within the tropics, -the quotient for ferns is, according to Robert Brown, and according -to late researches, 1-20th of all the species of phænogamous plants -growing in the same region; in the mountainous parts of the great -continents in the same latitudes it is from 1-8th to 1-6th. But a very -different ratio is found in the small islands dispersed over the wide -ocean. The proportion of ferns to the whole number of Phanerogamæ -increases there in such a manner that in the groups of islands between -the tropics in the Pacific the ferns equal a fourth,--and in the -solitary far detached islands in the Atlantic Ocean, St. Helena, -and Ascension,--almost equal the half of the entire phænogamous -vegetation. (See an excellent memoir of D’Urville entitled Distribution -géographique des Fougères sur la surface du Globe, in the Annales -des Sciences Nat. T. vi. 1825, p. 51, 66, and 73). From the tropics -(where in the great continents D’Urville estimates the ratio generally -at 1:20) we see the relative frequency of ferns decrease rapidly in -the temperate zone. The quotients are: for North America and for the -British Islands 1/33, for France 1/58, for Germany 1/52, for the dry -parts of the south of Italy 1/74, and for Greece 1/84. Towards the -colder regions of the north we see the _relative_ frequency increase -again rapidly; that is to say, the number of species of ferns decreases -much more slowly than does the number of species of phænogamous plants. -At the same time, the luxuriance, abundance, and mass of individuals in -each species augments the illusive impression of _absolute_ numbers. -According to Wahlenberg’s and Hornemann’s Catalogues the relative -numbers of Filices are, for Lapland 1/25, for Iceland 1/18, and for -Greenland 1/12. - -Such, according to the present state of our knowledge, are the natural -laws manifested in the distribution of the pleasing form of Ferns. But -it would seem as if in the family of Ferns, which has so long been -regarded as a cryptogamic family, we had quite recently arrived on the -traces of another natural law, a morphological one of propagation. -Count Leszczyc-Suminski, who happily unites the gift of microscopic -examination with distinguished artistic talent, has discovered in -the prothallium of ferns an organisation by which fructification is -effected. He distinguishes a bisexual arrangement in the ovule-like -cell on the middle of the theca, and in the ciliated antheridia or -spiral threads before examined by Nägeli. The fertilisation is supposed -to take place not by pollen tubes but by the moveable ciliated spiral -threads. (Suminski zur Entwickelungs-geschichte der Farrnkräuter, 1848, -S. 10-14.) According to this view, Ferns, as Ehrenberg expresses it -(Monatl. Berichte der Akad. zu Berlin, Januar 1848, S. 20), would be -produced by a microscopic fertilisation taking place on the prothallium -as a receptacle; and throughout the whole remainder of their often -arborescent development they would be flowerless and fruitless plants, -forming buds or bulbs; the spores or sori on the under side of the -frond not being seeds but flower buds. - -[29] p. 28.--“_Liliaceæ._” - -The principal seat of this form is Africa, where it is both most -varied and most abundant, and where these beautifully flowering -plants are assembled in masses and determine the aspect and character -of the country. The New Continent does, indeed, also possess superb -Alstromeriæ and species of Pancratium, Hæmanthus, and Crinum (we -augmented the first-named of these genera by nine, and the second by -three species); but these American Liliaceæ grow dispersed, and are -less social than our European Irideæ. - -[30] p. 28.--“_Willow Form._” - -Of the leading representative of this form, the Willow itself, 150 -different species are already known. They are spread over the northern -hemisphere from the Equator to Lapland. They appear to increase in -number and diversity of form between the 46th and 70th degrees of -north latitude, and especially in the part of north of Europe where -the configuration of the land has been so strikingly indented by early -geological changes. Of Willows as tropical plants I am acquainted -with ten or twelve species, which, like the willows of the southern -hemisphere, are deserving of particular attention. As Nature seems -as it were to take pleasure in multiplying certain forms of animals, -for example Anatidæ (Lamellirostres) and Columbæ, in all the zones of -the earth; so are Willows, the different species of Pines, and Oaks, -no less widely disseminated: the latter (oaks) being always alike in -their fruit, though much diversified in the forms of their leaves. In -Willows, the similarity of the foliage, of the ramification, and of -the whole physiognomic appearance, in the most different climates, -is unusually great,--almost greater than even in Coniferæ. In the -southern part of the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere the -number of species of willows decreases considerably, yet (according to -the Flora atlantica of Desfontaines) Tunis has still a species of its -own resembling Salix caprea; and Egypt reckons, according to Forskäl, -five species, from the catkins of whose male flowers a medicine much -employed in the East, Moie chalaf (aqua salicis) is obtained by -distillation. The Willow which I saw in the Canaries is also, according -to Leopold von Buch and Christian Smith, a peculiar species, common -however to that group and to the Island of Madeira,--S. canariensis. -Wallich’s Catalogue of the plants of Nepaul and of the Himalaya cites -from the Indian sub-tropical zone thirteen species, partly described by -Don, Roxburgh, and Lindley. Japan has its indigenous willows, one of -which, S. japonica (Thunb.) is also found as a mountain plant in Nepaul. - -Previous to my expedition, the Indian Salix tetrasperma was the only -known intertropical species, so far as I am aware. We collected seven -new species, three of which were from the elevated plains of Mexico, -and were found to extend to an elevation of 8000 (about 8500 English) -feet above the level of the sea. At still greater elevations,--for -example, on the mountain plains situated between 12000 and 14000 -feet, (about 12790 and 14920 English,) which we often visited,--we -did not find, either in the Andes of Mexico or in those of Quito and -Peru, anything which could recall the small creeping alpine willows of -the Pyrenees, the Alps, and Lapland (S. herbacea, S. lanata, and S. -reticulata). In Spitzbergen, where the meteorological conditions have -much analogy with those of the Swiss and Scandinavian snow-mountains, -Martins described two dwarf willows, of which the small woody stems -and branches creep on the ground, and which lie so concealed in the -turf-bogs that their small leaves are only discovered with difficulty -under the moss. The species found by me in Peru in 4° 12´ S. latitude, -near Loxa, at the entrance of the forests where the best Cinchona -bark is collected, and described by Willdenow as Salix humboldtiana, -is the one which is most widely distributed in the western part of -South America. A sea-shore species, S. falcata, which we found on the -sandy coast of the Pacific, near Truxillo, is, according to Kunth, -probably only a variety of the above; and possibly the fine and often -pyramidal willow which accompanied us along the banks of the Magdalena, -from Mahates to Bojorque, and which, according to the report of the -natives, had only extended so far within a few years, may also be -identical with Salix humboldtiana. At the confluence of the Rio Opon -with the Magdalena, we found all the islands covered with willows, many -of which had stems 64 English feet high, but only 8 to 10 inches in -diameter. (Humboldt and Kunth, Nova Gen. Plant. T. ii. p. 22, tab. 99.) -Lindley has made us acquainted with a species of Salix from Senegal, -and therefore in the African equinoctial zone. (Lindley, Introduction -to the Natural System of Botany, p. 99.) Blume also found two species -of Salix near the equator, in Java: one wild and indigenous, S. -tetrasperma; and another cultivated, S. sieboldiana. From the southern -temperate zone I know only two willows described by Thunberg, (S. -hirsuta and S. mucronata); they grow by the side of Protea argentea -(which has itself very much the physiognomy of a willow), on the banks -of the Orange River, and their leaves and young shoots form the food -of the hippopotamus. Willows are entirely wanting in Australia and the -neighbouring islands. - -[31] p. 29.--“_Myrtaceæ._” - -An elegant form, with stiff, shining, thickly set, generally -unindented, small leaves, studded with pellucid dots. Myrtaceæ give -a peculiar character to three districts of the earth’s surface,--the -South of Europe, particularly the calcareous and trachytic islands -which rise above the surface of the Mediterranean;--the continent -of New Holland, adorned with Eucalyptus, Metrosideros, and -Leptospermum;--and an intertropical region, part of which is low, and -part from nine to ten thousand feet high (about 9590 to 10660 English), -in the Andes of South America. This mountain district, called in Quito -the district of the Paramos, is entirely covered with trees which have -a myrtle-like aspect and character, even though they may not all belong -to the natural family of Myrtaceæ. Here, at the above-named elevation, -grow the Escallonia myrtilloides, E. tubar, Simplocos alstonia, some -species of Myrica, and the beautiful Myrtus microphylla which we have -figured in the Plantes équinoxiales, T. i. p. 21, Pl. iv. We found it -growing on mica slate, and extending to an elevation of more than ten -thousand English feet, on the Paramo de Saraguru, near Vinayacu and -Alto de Pulla, which is adorned with so many lovely alpine flowering -plants. Myrtus myrsinoides even extends in the Paramo de Guamani up -to 10500 (11190 English) feet. Of the 40 species of the Genus Myrtus -which we collected in the equinoctial zone, and of which 37 were -undescribed, much the greater part belonged, however, to the plains and -lower mountains. From the mild tropical mountain climate of Mexico we -brought back only a single species (Myrtus xalapensis); but the Tierra -templada, towards the Volcano of Orizaba, must no doubt contain several -more. We found M. maritima near Acapulco, quite on the sea-coast of the -Pacific. - -The Escallonias,--among which E. myrtilloides, E. tubar, and E. -floribunda, are the ornament of the Paramos, and by their physiognomy -remind the beholder strongly of the myrtle-form,--once constituted, -in combination with the European and South American Alp-roses -(Rhododendrum and Befaria), and with Clethra, Andromeda, and -Gaylussaccia buxifolia, the family of Ericeæ. Robert Brown (see the -Appendix to Franklin’s Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the -Polar Sea, 1823, p. 765), has raised them to the rank of a separate -family, which Kunth places between Philadelpheæ and Hamamelideæ. The -Escallonia floribunda offers in its geographical distribution one of -the most striking examples, in the habitat of the plant, of proportion -between distance from the equator and vertical elevation above the -level of the sea. In making this statement I again support myself on -the authority of my acute and judicious friend Auguste de St.-Hilaire -(Morphologie végétale, 1840, p. 52):--“Messieurs de Humboldt et -Bonpland ont découvert dans leur expédition l’Escallonia floribunda à -1400 toises par les 4° de latitude australe. Je l’ai retrouvé par les -21° au Brésil dans un pays élevé, mais pourtant infiniment plus bas que -les Andes du Pérou: il est commun entre les 24°.50´ et les 25°.55´ dans -les Campos Geræs, enfin je le revois au Rio de la Plata vers les 35°, -au niveau même l’ocean.” - -Trees belonging the group of Myrtaceæ,--to which Melaleuca, -Metrosideros, and Eucalyptus belong in the sub-division of -Leptospermeæ,--produce partially, either where the leaves are replaced -by phyllodias (leaf-stalk leaves), or by the peculiar disposition or -direction of the leaves relatively to the unswollen leaf-stalk, a -distribution of stripes of light and shade unknown in our forests of -round-leaved trees. The first botanical travellers who visited New -Holland were struck with the singularity of the effect thus produced. -Robert Brown was the first to show that this strange appearance arose -from the leaf-stalks (the phyllodias of the Acacia longifolia and -A. suaveolens) being expanded in a vertical direction, and from the -circumstance that the light instead of falling on horizontal surfaces, -falls on and passes between vertical ones. (Adrien de Jussieu, Cours -de Botanique, p. 106, 120, and 700; Darwin, Journal of Researches, -1845, p. 433). Morphological laws in the development of the leafy -organs determine the peculiar character of the effects produced, the -outlines of light and shade. “Phyllodias,” says Kunth, “can, according -to my view, only occur in families which have compound pinnated leaves; -and in point of fact they have as yet only been found in Leguminosæ, -(in Acacias). In Eucalyptus, Metrosideros, and Melaleuca, the leaves -are simple (simplicia), and their edgewise position arises from a half -turn or twist of the leaf-stalk (petiolus); it should be remarked at -the same time that the two surfaces of the leaves are similar.” In the -comparatively shadeless forests of New Holland the optical effects -here alluded to are the more frequent, as two groups of Myrtaceæ and -Leguminosæ, species of Eucalyptus and of Acacia, constitute almost the -half of all the greyish green trees of which those forests consist. -In addition to this, in Melaleuca there are formed between the layers -of the inner bark easily detached portions of epidermis which press -outwards, and by their whiteness remind the European of our birch bark. - -The distribution of Myrtaceæ is very different in the two continents. -In the New Continent, and especially in its western portion, it -scarcely extends beyond the 26th parallel of north latitude, according -to Joseph Hooker (Flora antarctica, p. 12); while in the Southern -Hemisphere, according to Claude Gay, there are in Chili 10 species of -Myrtus and 22 species of Eugenia, which, intermixed with Proteaceæ -(Embothrium and Lomatia), and with Fagus obliqua, form forests. The -Myrtaceæ become more abundant beyond 38° S. lat.,--in the Island of -Chiloe, where a Metrosideros-like species of Myrtus (Myrtus stipularis) -forms almost impenetrable thickets under the name of Tepuales; in -Patagonia; and in Fuegia to its extremity in 56-1/2° S. lat. In the -Old Continent they prevail in Europe as far as the 46th parallel of -North latitude: in Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, and the Auckland -Islands, they advance to 50-1/2° South latitude. - -[32] p. 29.--“_Melastomaceæ._” - -This group comprises the genera Melastoma (Fothergilla and Tococa -Aubl.) and Rhexia (Meriana and Osbeckia), of which we found, on either -side of the equator in tropical America alone, 60 new species. Bonpland -has published a superb work on Melastomaceæ, in two volumes, with -coloured drawings. Some species of Rhexia and Melastoma ascend in the -Andes, as alpine or Paramos shrubs, as high as nine and ten thousand -five hundred (about 9600 and 11190 English) feet: among these are -Rhexia cernua, R. stricta, Melastoma obscurum, M. aspergillare, and M. -lutescens. - -[33] p. 29.--“_Laurel-form._” - -To this form belong the genera of Laurus and Persea, the Ocoteæ -so numerous in South America, and (on account of physiognomic -resemblance), Calophyllum and the superb aspiring Mammea, from among -the Guttiferæ. - -[34] p. 29.--“_How interesting and instructive to the landscape painter -would be a work which should present to the eye the leading forms of -vegetation!_” - -In order to define somewhat more distinctly what is here only briefly -alluded to, I permit myself to introduce some considerations taken -from a sketch of the history of landscape painting, and of a graphical -representation of the physiognomy of plants, which I have given in the -second volume of Kosmos (Bd. ii. S. 88-90; English edit. vol. ii. p. -86-87). - -“All that belongs to the expression of human emotion and to the beauty -of the human form, has attained perhaps its highest perfection in the -northern temperate zone, under the skies of Italy and Greece. By the -combined exercise of imitative art and of creative imagination, the -artist has derived the types of historical painting at once from the -depths of his own mind, and from the contemplation of other beings -of his own race. Landscape painting, though no merely imitative art, -has, it may be said, a more material substratum and a more terrestrial -domain: it requires a greater mass and variety of distinct impressions, -which the mind must receive within itself, fertilize by its own powers, -and reproduce visibly as a free work of art. Hence landscape painting -must be a result at once of a deep and comprehensive reception of the -visible spectacle of external nature, and of this inward process of the -mind.” - -“Nature, in every region of the earth, is indeed a reflex of the -whole; the forms of organised beings are repeated everywhere in -fresh combinations; even in the icy north, herbs covering the earth, -large alpine blossoms, and a serene azure sky, cheer a portion of the -year. Hitherto landscape painting has pursued amongst us her pleasing -task, familiar only with the simpler form of our native floras, but -not, therefore, without depth of feeling, or without the treasures -of creative imagination. Even in this narrower field, highly gifted -painters, the Caracci, Gaspar Poussin, Claude Lorraine, and Ruysdael, -have with magic power, by the selection of forms of trees and by -effects of light, found scope wherein to call forth some of the most -varied and beautiful productions of creative art. The fame of these -master-works can never be impaired by those which I venture to hope -for hereafter, and to which I could not but point, in order to recall -the ancient but deeply-seated bond which unites natural knowledge -with poetry and with artistic feeling; for we must ever distinguish -in landscape painting, as in every other branch of art, between -productions derived from direct observation, and those which spring -from the depths of inward feeling and from the power of the idealising -mind. The great and beautiful works which owe their origin to this -creative power of the mind applied to landscape-painting, belong to -the poetry of nature, and like man himself, and the imagination with -which he is gifted, are not rivetted to the soil, or confined to any -single region. I allude here more particularly to the gradation in the -form of trees from Ruysdael and Everdingen, through Claude Lorraine -to Poussin and Annibal Caracci. In the great masters of the art we -perceive no trace of local limitation; but an enlargement of the -visible horizon, and an increased acquaintance with the nobler and -grander forms of nature, and with the luxuriant fulness of life in the -tropical world, offer the advantage not only of enriching the material -substratum of landscape painting, but also of affording a more lively -stimulus to less gifted artists, and of thus heightening their powers -of production.” - -[35] p. 30.--“_From the rough bark of Crescentias and Gustavia._” - -In the Crescentia cujete (the Tutuma or Calabash-tree, whose large -fruit-shells are so useful to the natives for household purposes),--in -the Cynometra, the Theobroma (the Cacao-tree), and the Perigara (the -Gustavia of Linnæus),--the delicate flowers break through the half -carbonized bark. When children eat the fruit of the Pirigara speciosa -(the Chupo), their whole body becomes tinged with yellow; it is a -jaundice, which lasts from 24 to 36 hours, and then disappears without -the use of medicine. - -I have never forgotten the impression which I received of the luxuriant -power of vegetation in the tropical world, when on entering a Cacao -plantation (Caca hual), in the Valles de Aragua, after a damp night, -I saw for the first time large blossoms springing from a root of the -Theobroma deeply imbedded in black earth. It was one of the most -instantaneous manifestations of the activity of the vegetative organic -forces. Northern nations speak of the “awakening of Nature at the first -breath of the mild air of spring.” Such an expression is singularly -contrasted with the imagination of the Stagirite, who recognised in -plants forms which “lie buried in a tranquil slumber that knows no -waking, free from the desires which impel to spontaneous motion.” -(Aristot. de generat. Animal. V. i. p. 778, and de somno et vigil. cap. -1, p. 455, Bekker.) - -[36] p. 30.--“_Draw over their heads._” - -The flowers of our Aristolochia cordata, to which I have already -referred in Note 25. The largest flowers in the world, apart from -Compositæ (in the Mexican Helianthus annuus), belong to Rafflesia -arnoldi, Aristolochia, Datura, Barringtonia, Gustavia, Carolinea, -Lecythis, Nymphæa, Nelumbium, Victoria regina, Magnolia, Cactus, and to -Orchideous and Liliaceous plants. - -[37] p. 31--“_To behold all the shining worlds which stud the heavenly -vault from pole to pole._” - -The finest portion of the southern celestial hemisphere, where shine -the constellations of the Centaur, the Ship, and the southern Cross, -and where the soft lustre of the Magellanic clouds is seen, remains for -ever concealed from the view of the inhabitants of Europe. It is only -beneath the equinoctial line that Man enjoys the peculiar privilege of -beholding at once all the stars both of the Southern and the Northern -heavens. Some of our northern constellations seen from thence appear -from their low altitude of a surprising and almost awful magnitude: -for example, Ursus major and minor. As the inhabitant of the tropics -sees all the stars of the firmament, so also, in regions where plains -alternate with deep valleys and lofty mountains, Nature surrounds him -with representatives of all the forms of plants. - - - - -POSTSCRIPT - -ON THE - -PHYSIOGNOMIC CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS. - - -In the preceding sketch of a “Physiognomy of Plants,” I have had -principally in view three nearly allied subjects:--the absolute -diversity of forms; their numerical proportion, _i. e._ their local -predominance in the total number of species in phænogamous floras; -and their geographic and climatic distribution. If we desire to -rise to general views respecting organic forms, the physiognomy of -plants, the study of their numerical proportions (or the arithmetic -of botany),--and their geography (or the study of their zones of -distribution),--cannot, as it appears to me, be separated from each -other. In the study of the physiognomy of plants, we ought not to -dwell exclusively on the striking contrasts presented by the larger -organic forms separately considered, but we should also seek to discern -the laws which determine the physiognomy of Nature generally, or the -picturesque character of vegetation over the entire surface of the -globe, and the impression produced on the mind of the beholder by the -grouping of contrasted forms in different zones of latitude and of -elevation. It is from this point of view, and with this concentration -or combination of objects, that we become aware, for the first time, -of the close and intimate connection between the subjects which have -been treated of in the foregoing pages. We are here conducted into a -field which has been as yet but little cultivated. I have ventured to -follow the method first employed with such brilliant results in the -Zoological works of Aristotle, and which is especially suited to lay -the foundation of scientific confidence,--a method which, whilst it -continually aims at generality of conception, seeks, at the same time, -to penetrate the specialities of phenomena by the consideration of -particular instances. - -The enumeration of forms according to physiognomic diversity is, from -the nature of the case, not susceptible of any strict classification. -Here, as everywhere else, in the consideration of external -conformation, there are certain leading forms which present the most -striking contrasts: such are the groups of arborescent grasses, plants -of the aloë form, the different species of cactus, palms, needle-trees, -Mimosaceæ, and Musaceæ. Even a few scattered individuals of these -groups are sufficient to determine the character of a district, and -to produce on a non-scientific but sensitive beholder a permanent -impression. Other forms, though perhaps much more numerous and -preponderating in mass, may not be calculated either by the outline -and arrangement of the foliage, or by the relation of the stem to the -branches,--by luxuriant vigour of vegetation,--by cheerful grace,--or, -on the other hand, by cheerless contraction of the appendicular organs, -to produce any such characteristic impressions. - -As, therefore, a “physiognomic classification,” or a division -into groups from external aspect or “facies,” does not admit of -being applied to the whole vegetable kingdom, so also, in such a -classification, the grounds on which the division is made are quite -different from those on which our systems of natural families and of -plants (including the whole of the vegetable kingdom) have been so -happily established. Physiognomic classification grounds her divisions -and the choice of her types on whatever possesses “mass,”--such -as shape, position and arrangement of leaves, their size, and the -character and surfaces (shining or dull) of the parenchyma,--therefore, -on all that are called more especially the “organs of vegetation,” -_i. e._ those on which the preservation,--the nourishment and -development,--of the individual depend; while systematic Botany, -on the other hand, grounds the arrangement of natural families on -the consideration of the organs of propagation,--those on which the -continuation or preservation of the species depends. (Kunth, Lehrbuch -der Botanik, 1847, Th. i. S. 511; Schleiden, die Pflanze und ihr -Leben, 1848, S. 100). It was already taught in the school of Aristotle -(Probl. 20, 7), that the production of seed is the ultimate object -of the existence and life of the plant. Since Caspar Fried. Wolf -(Theoria Generationis, § 5-9), and since our great (German) Poet, the -process of development in the organs of fructification has become the -morphological foundation of all systematic botany. - -That study, and the study of the physiognomy of plants, I here repeat, -proceed from two different points of view: the first from agreement -in the inflorescence or in the delicate organs of reproduction; the -second from the form of the parts which constitute the axes (_i. -e._ the stems and branches), and the shape of the leaves, dependent -principally on the distribution of the vascular fascicles. As, then, -the axes and appendicular organs predominate by their volume and -mass, they determine and strengthen the impression which we receive; -they individualise the physiognomic character of the vegetable form -and that of the landscape, or of the region in which any of the more -strongly-marked and distinguished types severally occur. The law is -here given by agreement and affinity in the marks taken from the -vegetative, _i. e._ the nutritive organs. In all European colonies, -the inhabitants have taken occasion, from resemblances of physiognomy -(of “habitus,” “facies”), to bestow the names of European forms upon -tropical plants or trees bearing very different flowers and fruits -from those from which the names were originally taken. Everywhere, in -both hemispheres, northern settlers have thought they found Alders, -Poplars, Apple- and Olive-trees. They have been misled in most cases by -the form of the leaves and the direction of the branches. The illusion -has been favoured by the cherished remembrance of the trees and plants -of home, and thus European names have been handed down from generation -to generation; and in the slave colonies there have been added to them -denominations derived from Negro languages. - -The contrast so often presented between a striking agreement of -physiognomy and the greatest diversity in the inflorescence and -fructification,--between the external aspect as determined by the -appendicular or leaf-system, and the reproductive organs on which the -groups of the natural systems of botany are founded,--is a remarkable -and surprising phenomenon. We should have been inclined beforehand to -imagine that the shape of what are exclusively termed the vegetative -organs (for example, the leaves) would have been less _independent_ -of the structure of the organs of reproduction; but in reality such a -dependence only shows itself in a small number of families,--in Ferns, -Grasses and Cyperaceæ, Palms, Coniferæ, Umbelliferæ, and Aroideæ. In -Leguminosæ the agreement in physiognomic character is scarcely to be -recognised until we divide them into the several groups (Papilionaceæ, -Cæsalpinineæ, and Mimoseæ). I may name, of types which, when compared -with each other, shew considerable accordance in physiognomy with -great difference in the structure of the flowers and fruit, Palms and -Cycadeæ, the latter being more nearly allied to Coniferæ; Cuscuta, -one of the Convolvulacæ, and the leafless Cassytha, a parasitical -Laurinea; Equisetum (belonging to the great division of Cryptogamia), -and Ephedra, closely allied to Coniferæ. On the other hand, our common -gooseberries and currants (Ribes) are so closely allied by their -inflorescence to the Cactus, _i. e._ to the family of Opuntiaceæ, that -it is only quite recently that they have been separated from it! One -and the same family (that of Asphodeleæ) comprises the gigantic Dracæna -draco, the common asparagus, and the Aletris with its coloured flowers. -Not only do simple and compound leaves often belong to the same family, -but they even occur in the same genus. We found in the high plains of -Peru and New Granada, among twelve new species of Weinmannia, five -with “foliis simplicibus,” and the rest with pinnate leaves. The genus -Aralia shews still greater independence in the form of the leaves: -“folia simplicia, integra, vel lobata, digitata et pinnata.” (Compare -Kunth, Synopsis Plantarum quas in itinere collegerunt, Al. de Humboldt -et Am. Bonpland, T. iii, p. 87 and 360.) - -Pinnated leaves appear to me to belong chiefly to families which are -in the highest grade of organic development, namely, the Polypetalæ; -and among these, in the Perigynic class, to the Leguminosæ, Rosaceæ, -Terebinthaceæ, and Juglandeæ; and in the Hypogynic, to the Aurantiaceæ, -Cedrelaceæ, and Sapindaceæ. The beautiful doubly-pinnated leaves which -form one of the principal ornaments of the torrid zone, are most -frequent among the Leguminosæ, in Mimoseæ, also in some Cæsalpinieæ, -Coulterias, and Gleditschias; never, as Kunth remarks, in Papilionaceæ. -“Folia pinnata” and “folia composita” are never found in Gentianeæ, -Rubiaceæ, and Myrtaceæ. In the morphological development presented -by the abundance and variety of form in the appendicular organs of -Dicotyledones, we can at present discern only a small number of general -laws. - - - - -ON THE - -STRUCTURE AND MODE OF ACTION - -OF - -VOLCANOS, - -IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE GLOBE. - -[This dissertation was read in a public assembly of the Academy at -Berlin, on the 24th of January, 1823.] - - -When we reflect on the influence which, for some centuries past, the -progress of geography and the multiplication of distant voyages and -travels have exercised on the study of nature, we are not long in -perceiving how different this influence has been, according as the -researches were directed to organic forms on the one hand, or on the -other to the study of the inanimate substances of which the earth is -composed--to the knowledge of rocks, their relative ages, and their -origin. Different forms of plants and animals enliven the surface of -the earth in every zone, whether the temperature of the atmosphere -varies in accordance with the latitude and with the many inflections -of the isothermal lines on plains but little raised above the level -of the sea, or whether it changes rapidly in ascending in an almost -vertical direction the steep declivities of mountain-chains. Organic -nature gives to each zone of the earth a peculiar physiognomy; but -where the solid crust of the earth appears unclothed by vegetation, -inorganic nature imparts no such distinctive character. The same kinds -of rocks, associated in groups, appear in either hemisphere, from -the equator to the poles. In a remote island, surrounded by exotic -vegetation, beneath a sky where his accustomed stars no longer shine, -the voyager often recognises with joy the argillaceous schists of his -birth-place, and the rocks familiar to his eye in his native land. - -This absence of any dependence of geological relations on the present -constitution of climates does not preclude or even diminish the -salutary influence of numerous observations made in distant regions -on the advance and progress of geological science, though it imparts -to this progress something of a peculiar direction. Every expedition -enriches natural history with new species or new genera of plants and -animals: there are thus presented to us sometimes forms which connect -themselves with previously long known types, and thus permit us to -trace and contemplate in its perfection the really regular though -apparently broken or interrupted network of organic forms: at other -times shapes which appear isolated,--either surviving remnants of -extinct genera or orders, or otherwise members of still undiscovered -groups, stimulating afresh the spirit of research and expectation. The -examination of the solid crust of the globe does not, indeed, unfold -to us such diversity and variety; it presents to us, on the contrary, -an agreement in the constituent particles, in the superposition of -the different kinds of masses, and in their regular recurrence, which -excites the admiration of the geologist. In the chain of the Andes, -as in the mountains of middle Europe, one formation appears, as it -were, to summon to itself another. Rocks of the same name exhibit the -same outlines; basalt and dolerite form twin mountains; dolomite, -sandstone, and porphyry, abrupt precipices; and vitreous feldspathic -trachyte, high dome-like elevations. In the most distant zones large -crystals separate themselves in a similar manner from the compact -texture of the primitive mass, as if by an internal development, -form groups in association, and appear associated in layers, often -announcing the vicinity of new independent formations. Thus in any -single system of mountains of considerable extent we see the whole -inorganic substances of which the crust of the earth is composed -represented, as it were, with more or less distinctness; yet, in order -to become completely acquainted with the important phenomena of the -composition, the relative age, and mode of origin of rocks, we must -compare together observations from the most varied and remote regions. -Problems which long perplexed the geologist in his native land in these -northern countries, find their solution near the equator. If, as has -been already remarked, new zones do not necessarily present to us new -kinds of rock (_i. e._ unknown groupings or associations of simple -substances), they, on the other hand, teach us to discern the great and -every where equally prevailing laws, according to which the strata of -the crust of the earth are superposed upon each other, penetrate each -other as veins or dykes, or are upheaved or elevated by elastic forces. - -If, then, our geological knowledge is thus promoted by researches -embracing extensive parts of the earth’s surface, it is not surprising -that the particular class of phenomena which form the subject of the -present discussion should long have been regarded from a point of view -the more restricted as the points of comparison were of difficult, I -might almost say arduous and painful, attainment and access. Until -the close of the last century all real or supposed knowledge of -the structure or form of volcanos, and of the mode of operation of -subterranean forces, was taken from two mountains of the South of -Europe, Vesuvius and Etna. The former of these being the easiest of -access, and its eruptions, as is generally the case in volcanos of -small elevation, being most frequent in their occurrence, a hill of -minor elevation became the type which regulated all the ideas formed -respecting phænomena exhibited on a far larger scale in many vast and -distant regions, as in the mighty volcanos arranged in linear series in -Mexico, South America, and the Asiatic Islands. Such a proceeding might -not unnaturally recall Virgil’s shepherd, who thought he beheld in his -humble cottage the type of the eternal City, Imperial Rome. - -A more careful examination of the whole of the Mediterranean, and -especially of those islands and coasts where men awoke to the noblest -intellectual culture, might, however, have dispelled views formed from -so limited a consideration of nature. Among the Sporades, trachytic -rocks have been upraised from the deep bottom of the sea, forming -islands resembling that which, in the vicinity of the Azores, appeared -thrice periodically, at nearly equal intervals, in three centuries. -The Peloponnesus has, between Epidaurus and Trœzene, near Methone, a -Monte Nuovo described by Strabo and seen again by Dodwell, which is -higher than the Monte Nuovo of the Phlegræan Fields near Baiæ, and -perhaps even higher than the new volcano of Jorullo in the plains of -Mexico, which I found surrounded by several thousand small basaltic -cones which had been protruded from the earth and were still smoking. -In the Mediterranean and its shores, it is not only from the permanent -craters of isolated mountains having a constant communication with -the interior, as Stromboli, Vesuvius, and Etna, that volcanic fires -break forth: at Ischia, on the Monte Epomeo, and also, as it would -appear by the accounts of the ancients, in the Lelantine plain near -Chalcis, lavas have flowed from fissures which have suddenly opened at -the surface of the earth. Besides these phænomena, which fall within -the historic period, or within the restricted domain of well-assured -tradition, and which Carl Ritter will collect and elucidate in his -masterly work on Geography,--the shores of the Mediterranean exhibit -numerous remains of more ancient volcanic action. In the south part -of France, in Auvergne, we see a separate complete system of volcanos -arranged in lines, trachytic domes alternating with cones of eruption, -from which streams of lava have flowed in narrow bands. The plain of -Lombardy, as level as the surface of the sea, and forming an inner Gulf -of the Adriatic, surrounds the trachyte of the Euganean Hills, where -rise domes of granular trachyte, obsidian, and pearl-stone, masses -connected by a common origin, which break through the lower cretaceous -rock and nummulitic lime-stone, but have never flowed in narrow -streams. Similar evidences of ancient revolutions of nature are found -in several parts of the mainland of Greece and in Asia Minor, countries -which will one day offer a rich field for geological investigation, -when intellectual light shall revisit the seats from which it has -radiated to the western world, and when oppressed humanity shall no -longer be subject to the barbarism of Turkish rule. - -I recall the geographical proximity of these various phænomena, in -order to shew that the basin of the Mediterranean, with its series -of islands, might have offered to an attentive observer much that -has been recently discovered, under various forms, in South America, -Teneriffe, and the Aleutian Islands near the polar circle. The objects -to be observed were assembled within a moderate distance; yet distant -voyages, and the comparison of extensive regions in and out of Europe, -have been required for the clear perception and recognition of the -resemblance between volcanic phænomena and their dependence on each -other. - -Our ordinary language, which often gives permanency and apparent -authority to the first-formed erroneous views of natural phænomena, -but which also often points instinctively to the truth,--our ordinary -language, I repeat, applies the term “volcanic” to all eruptions of -subterranean fires or molten substances; to columns of smoke and -vapour rising from rocks, as at Colares after the great earthquake -of Lisbon; to “Salses” or mud volcanos, argillaceous cones emitting -mud, asphalte, and hydrogen, as at Girgenti in Sicily, and at Turbaco -in South America; to the Geysers, hot springs in which, as in those -of Iceland, the waters, pressed by elastic vapours, rise in jets to a -considerable altitude; and, in general, to all operations of natural -forces having their seat in the interior of our planet. In Central -America (Guatimala), and in the Philippine Islands, the natives even -distinguish formally between water- and fire-volcanos, Volcanes de -agua y de fuego, giving the former name to those mountains from which -subterranean waters issue from time to time with violent earthquake -shocks and a hollow noise. - -Not denying the connexion of the different phenomena which have been -referred to, it yet appears desirable to give greater precision to the -terms employed in the physical as well as in the mineralogical part -of geology, and not to apply the word “volcano” at one moment to a -mountain terminating in a permanent igneous opening or fiery crater, -and at another to every subterranean cause of volcanic phenomena. In -the present state of our planet the most ordinary form of volcanos -is indeed in all parts of the globe that of an isolated conical -mountain, such as Vesuvius, Etna, the Peak of Teneriffe, Tunguragua, -and Cotapaxi. I have myself seen such volcanos varying in size from -the smallest hill to an elevation of 18000 (19184 English) feet above -the sea. But besides these isolated cones there are also permanent -openings or craters, having established channels of communication -with the interior of the earth, which are situated on long chains of -mountains with serrated crests, and not even always on the middle of -the ridge, but sometimes at its extremity: such is Pichincha, situated -between the Pacific and the city of Quito, and which acquired celebrity -in connection with Bouguer’s earliest barometric formulæ, and such -are the volcanos which rise in the elevated Steppe de los Pastos, -itself ten thousand (10657 English) feet high. All these summits, -which are of various shapes, consist of trachyte, formerly called -Trap-porphyry: a granular vesicular rock composed of different kinds -of feldspar (Labradorite, Oligoklase, and Albite), augite, hornblende, -and sometimes interspersed mica, and even quartz. In cases where the -evidence of the first outburst or eruption, or I might say where the -ancient structure or scaffolding remain entire, the isolated conical -mount is surrounded by an amphitheatre or lofty circular rampart of -rocky strata superimposed upon each other. Such walls or ring-formed -ramparts are called “craters of elevation,” a great and important -phenomenon, concerning which a memorable treatise was presented to our -Academy five years ago (_i. e._ in 1818), by the first geologist of our -time, Leopold von Buch, from whose writings I have borrowed several of -the views contained in the present discussion. - -Volcanos which communicate with the atmosphere through permanent -openings, conical basaltic hills, and craterless trachytic domes, -sometimes as low as Sarcouy, sometimes as lofty as the Chimborazo, form -various groups. Comparative geography shows us sometimes small clusters -or distinct systems of mountains, with craters and lava-currents -in the Canaries and the Azores, and without craters and without -lava-currents, properly so-called, in the Euganean hills and the -Siebengebirge near Bonn;--and at other times the same study describes -to us volcanos arranged in single or double lines extending through -many hundred leagues in length, these lines being either parallel -to the direction of a great chain of mountains, as in Guatimala, in -Peru, and in Java, or cutting it transversely or at right angles, -as in tropical Mexico. In this land of the Aztecs the fire-emitting -trachytic mountains are the only ones which attain the elevation of the -lofty region of perpetual snow; they are ranged in the direction of -a parallel of latitude, and have probably been raised from a fissure -420 English geographical miles long, traversing the continent from the -Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. - -These assemblages of volcanos, whether in rounded groups or in double -lines, show in the most conclusive manner that the volcanic agencies -do not depend on small or restricted causes, in near proximity to the -surface of the earth, but that they are great phænomena of deep-seated -origin. The whole of the eastern part of the American continent, which -is poor in metals, is, in its present state, without fire-emitting -mountains, without masses of trachyte, and perhaps even without basalt -containing olivine. All the American volcanos are on the side of the -continent which is opposite to Asia, in the chain of the Andes which -runs nearly in the direction of a meridian, and extends over a length -of 7200 geographical miles. - -The whole plateau or high-land of Quito, of which Pichincha, Cotopaxi, -and Tunguragua form the summits, is to be viewed as a single volcanic -furnace. The subterranean fire breaks forth sometimes through one -and sometimes through another of these openings, which it has been -customary to regard as separate and distinct volcanos. The progressive -march of the subterranean fire has been here directed for three -centuries from North to South. Even the earthquakes which occasion -such dreadful ravages in this part of the world afford remarkable -proofs of the existence of subterranean communications, not only -between countries where there are no volcanos (a fact which had long -been known), but also between fire-emitting openings situated at great -distances asunder. Thus in 1797 the volcano of Pasto, east of the -Guaytara River, emitted uninterruptedly for three months a lofty column -of smoke, which column disappeared at the instant when, at a distance -of 240 geographical miles, the great earthquake of Riobamba and the -immense eruption of mud called “Moya” took place, causing the death of -between thirty and forty thousand persons. - -The sudden appearance of the Island of Sabrina near the Azores, on the -80th of January, 1811, was the precursor of the terrible earthquake -movements which, much farther to the west, shook almost incessantly, -from the month of May 1811 to June 1813, first the West Indian Islands, -then the plain of the Ohio and Mississipi, and lastly, the opposite -coast of Venezuela or Caraccas. Thirty days after the destruction of -the principal city of that province, the long tranquil volcano of -the Island of St. Vincent burst forth in an eruption. A remarkable -phenomenon accompanied this eruption: at the same moment when the -explosion took place, on the 30th of April, 1811, a loud subterranean -noise was heard in South America, which spread terror and dismay over -a district of 2200 (German) geographical square miles (35200 English -geographical square miles). The dwellers on the banks of the Apure -near the confluence of the Rio Nula, and the most distant inhabitants -of the sea coast of Venezuela, alike compared the sound to that of the -discharge of great pieces of ordnance. Now from the confluence of the -Nula with the Apure (by which latter river I arrived on the Orinoco) -to the volcano of St. Vincent is a distance in a straight line of -628 English geographical miles. The sound, which certainly was not -propagated through the air, must have proceeded from a deep-seated -subterranean cause; for its intensity was scarcely greater on the sea -coast nearest to the volcano where the eruption was taking place, than -in the interior of the country, in the basin of the Apure and the -Orinoco. - -It would be unnecessary to multiply examples by citing other instances -which I have collected, but, to recall a phenomenon of European -historical importance, I will only farther mention the celebrated -earthquake of Lisbon. Simultaneously with that event, on the 1st -of November, 1755, not only were the Swiss lakes and the sea near -the coast of Sweden violently agitated, but even among the eastern -West Indian Islands, Martinique, Antigua, and Barbadoes, where the -tide never exceeds thirty inches, the sea suddenly rose more than -twenty feet. All these phenomena show the operation of subterranean -forces, acting either dynamically in earthquakes, in the tension and -agitation of the crust; or in volcanos, in the production and chemical -alteration of substances. They also show that these forces do not act -superficially, in the thin outermost crust of the globe, but from great -depths in the interior of our planet, through crevices or unfilled -veins, affecting simultaneously widely distant points of the earth’s -surface. - -The greater the variety of structure in volcanos, or in the elevations -which surround the channel through which the molten masses of the -interior of the earth reach its surface, the greater the importance of -submitting this structure to strict investigation and measurement. The -interest attaching to these measurements, which formed a particular -object of my researches in another quarter of the globe, is enhanced -by the consideration that at many points the magnitude to be measured -is found to be a variable quantity. The philosophical study of nature -endeavours, in the vicissitudes of phenomena, to connect the present -with the past. - -If we desire to investigate either the fact of a periodical return, -or the law of progressive variations or changes in phenomena, it is -essential to obtain, by means of observations carefully made and -connected with determinate epochs, certain fixed points which may -afford a base for future numerical comparisons. If we only possessed -determinations made once in each period of a thousand years, of the -mean temperature of the atmosphere and of the earth in different -latitudes, or of the mean height of the barometer at the level of the -sea, we should know whether, and in what ratio, the temperature of -different climates had increased or decreased, or whether the height -of the atmosphere had undergone changes. Such points of comparison are -also needed for the inclination and declination of the magnetic needle, -as well as for the intensity of the magneto-electric forces, on which, -within the circle of this Academy, two excellent physicists, Seebeck -and Erman, have thrown so much light. As it is an honourable object for -the exertions of scientific societies to trace out perseveringly the -cosmical variations of temperature, atmospheric pressure, and magnetic -direction and intensity, so it is the duty of the geological traveller, -in determining the inequalities of the earth’s surface, to attend more -particularly to the variable height of volcanos. The endeavours made by -me for this object in the Mexican mountains, in respect to the Volcan -de Toluca, the Popocatepetl, the Cofre de Perote or Nauhcampatepetl, -and the Jorullo, and also the volcano of Pichincha in the Andes of -Quito, have been continued since my return to Europe at different -epochs on Vesuvius. Where complete trigonometric or barometric -measurements are wanting, accurate angles of altitude, taken at points -which are exactly determined, may be substituted for them; and for -a comparison of determinations made at different epochs, angles of -altitude so measured may even be often preferable to the complication -of circumstances which more complete operations may involve. - -Saussure had measured Mount Vesuvius, in 1773, when the two margins -of the crater, the north-western and the south-eastern, appeared to -him be of equal height. He found their height above the level of the -sea 609 toises, 3894 English feet. The eruption of 1794 occasioned -a breaking down of the margin of the crater on the southern side, -and a consequent inequality between the height of the two edges -which the most unpractised eye does not fail to distinguish even at -a considerable distance. In 1805, Leopold von Buch, Gay-Lussac, and -myself, measured the height of Vesuvius three times, and found the -northern margin opposite to La Somma, (the Rocca del Palo), exactly as -given by Saussure, but the southern margin 75 toises, or 450 French -or 479 English feet, lower than he had found it in 1773. The whole -elevation of the volcano on the side of Torre del Greco (the side -towards which, for the last thirty years, the igneous action has, -as it were, been principally directed,) had at that time diminished -one-eighth. The height of the cone of ashes, as compared with the whole -height of the mountain, is in Vesuvius as 1 to 3; in Pichincha, as 1 to -10; and in the Peak of Teneriffe, as 1 to 22. In these three volcanic -mountains, the cone of ashes is therefore, relatively speaking, highest -in Vesuvius; probably because, being a low volcano, the action has been -principally by the summit. - -A few months ago (in 1822) I was enabled not only to repeat my former -barometric measurements of the height of Vesuvius, but also, during -the course of three visits to the summit, to make a more complete -determination of all the edges of the crater[38]. These determinations -may not be without interest, since they include the long period of -great eruptions between 1805 and 1822, and constitute perhaps the only -known examination and measurement of a volcano at different epochs, in -which the different parts of the examination are all truly comparable -with each other. We learn from it that the margins of craters are a -phenomenon of far more permanent character than had been previously -inferred from passing observations, and this not only where (as in the -Peak of Teneriffe, and in all the volcanos of the chain of the Andes,) -they are visibly composed of trachyte, but also elsewhere. According to -my last determinations, the north-west edge of Vesuvius has, perhaps, -not altered at all since the time of Saussure, an interval of 49 years; -and the south-eastern side, on the side towards Bosche Tre Case, which, -in 1794, had become 400 French (426 English) feet lower, has since then -hardly altered 10 toises (60 French or 64 English feet). - -If the public journals, in describing great eruptions, often state -the shape of Vesuvius to have undergone an entire change, and if -these assertions appear to be confirmed by picturesque views sketched -at Naples, the cause of the error consists in the outlines of the -margin of the crater having been confounded with those of the cones of -eruption accidentally formed in the middle of the crater on its floor -or bottom which has been upheaved by vapours. Such a cone of eruption, -consisting of loosely heaped-up rapilli and scoriæ, had in the course -of the years 1816-1818 gradually risen so as to be seen above the -south-eastern margin of the crater; and the eruption of the month of -February 1822 augmented it so much, that it even became from 100 to 110 -(about 107 to 117 English) feet higher than the north-western margin -of the crater (the Rocca del Palo). This remarkable cone, which it -had become customary in Naples to regard as the true summit of the -mountain, fell in, with a dreadful noise, in the last eruption, on the -night of the 22d of October (1822): so that the floor of the crater, -which had been constantly accessible since 1811, is now 750 (almost -800 English) feet lower than the northern, and 200 (213 English) -feet lower than the southern edge of the volcano. Variations in the -form and relative position of the cones of eruption,--the openings -of which ought not to be confounded, as they often are, with the -crater of the volcano itself,--give to Vesuvius at different epochs -a different appearance, which would enable a person well acquainted -with the history of the volcano, on a mere inspection of Hackert’s -paintings in the palace of Portici, to tell from the outlines of the -summit, according as the northern or the southern side of the mountain -is represented as the highest, in what year the artist had taken the -sketch from which the picture was made. - -In the last eruption, in the night of the 23d to the 24th of October, -twenty-four hours after the falling in of the great cone of scoriæ -which has been mentioned, and when the small but numerous currents of -lava had already flowed off, the fiery eruption of ashes and rapilli -commenced: it continued without intermission for twelve days, but was -greatest in the first four days. During this period the detonations in -the interior of the volcano were so violent that the mere concussion of -the air, (for no earthquake movement was perceived), rent the ceilings -of the rooms in the palace of Portici. In the neighbouring villages of -Resina, Torre del Greco, Torre del Annunziata, and Bosche Tre Case, -a remarkable phenomenon was witnessed. Throughout the whole of that -part of the country the air was so filled with ashes as to cause in -the middle of the day profound darkness, lasting for several hours: -lanterns were carried in the streets, as has so often been done at -Quito during the eruptions of Pichincha. The flight of the inhabitants -had never been more general: lava currents are regarded by those who -dwell near Vesuvius with less dread than an eruption of ashes, a -phenomenon which had never been known to such a degree in modern times; -and the obscure tradition of the manner in which the destruction of -Herculaneum, Pompeii, and Stabiæ took place, filled the imaginations of -men with appalling images. - -The hot aqueous vapours which rose from the crater during the eruption -and spread themselves in the atmosphere, formed, in cooling, a dense -cloud, surrounding the column of fire and ashes, which rose to a height -of between nine and ten thousand feet. So sudden a condensation of -vapour, and even, as Gay-Lussac has shewn, the formation of the cloud -itself, augmented the electric tension. Flashes of forked lightning, -issuing from the column of ashes, darted in every direction; and the -rolling thunders were distinctly heard, and distinguished from the -sounds which proceeded from the interior of the volcano. In no other -eruption had the play of the electric forces formed so striking a -feature. - -On the morning of the 26th of October, a surprising rumour prevailed, -to the effect that a torrent of boiling water was gushing from the -crater, and pouring down the slope of the cone of ashes. The learned -and zealous observer of the volcano, Monticelli, soon discovered that -this erroneous rumour had arisen from an optical illusion. The supposed -torrent of water was in reality a flow of dry ashes, which, being as -loose and moveable as shifting sands, issued in large quantities from -a crevice in the upper margin of the crater. The cultivated fields -had suffered much from a long-continued drought which had preceded -the eruption; towards its close the “volcanic thunder-storm” which -has been described produced an exceedingly violent and abundant fall -of rain. This phenomenon is associated in all climates with the close -of a volcanic eruption. As during the eruption the cone of ashes is -generally enveloped in cloud, and as it is in its immediate vicinity -that the rain is most violent, torrents of mud are seen to descend -from it in all directions, which the terrified husbandman imagines to -consist of waters which have risen from the interior of the volcano -and overflowed the crater; while geologists have erroneously thought -they recognised in them either sea-water or muddy products of the -volcano, “Eruptions boueuses,” or, in the language of some old French -systematists, products of an igneo-aqueous liquefaction. - -Where, as is generally the case in the Andes, the summit of the -volcano rises into the region of perpetual snow, (even attaining, -in some cases, an elevation twice as great as that of Etna), the -melting of the snows renders such inundations as have been described -far more abundant and disastrous. The phenomena in question are -meteorologically connected with the eruptions of volcanos, and are -variously modified by the height of the mountain, the dimensions of -that part of it which is always covered with snow, and the extent and -degree to which the sides of the cone of cinders become heated; but -they are not to be regarded as volcanic phenomena properly so called. -Vast cavities also often exist on the slope or at the foot of volcanos -which, communicating through many channels with the mountain torrents, -form large subterranean lakes or reservoirs of water. When earthquake -shocks, which, in the Andes, usually precede all igneous eruptions, -convulse the entire mass of the volcano, these subterranean reservoirs -are opened, and there issue from them water, fishes, and tufaceous mud. -This is the singular phenomenon which brings to light an otherwise -unknown fish, the Pimelodes Cyclopum, called by the inhabitants of the -highlands of Quito “Preñadilla,” and which I described soon after my -return. When, on the night of the 19th of June, 1698, the summit of a -mountain situated to the north of Chimborazo, the Carguairazo, above -19000 English feet high, fell in, the country for nearly thirty English -geographical square miles round was covered with mud and fishes; and -seven years earlier a putrid fever, in the town of Ibarra, was ascribed -to a similar eruption of fish from the volcano of Imbaburu. - -I recall these facts, because they throw some light on the difference -between the eruption of dry ashes and miry inundations of tufa and -trass, carrying with them wood, charcoal, and shells. The quantity -of ashes emitted by Vesuvius in the recent eruption, like every -thing connected with volcanos and other great natural phenomena of a -character to excite terror, has been exceedingly exaggerated in the -public papers; and two Neapolitan chemists, Vicenzo Pepe and Giuseppe -di Nobili, notwithstanding the statements of Monticelli and Covelli to -the contrary, even describe the ashes as containing silver and gold. -According to the results of my researches and inquiries, the thickness -of the bed of ashes formed by the twelve days’ shower was but little -above three feet, towards Bosche Tre Case, on the slope of the cone -where rapilli were mingled with them; and in the plain, from 15-1/2 to -19 inches at the utmost. Such measurements ought not to be taken in -places where the ashes have been heaped up by the action of wind, like -drifted snow or sand, or have accumulated from being carried thither by -water. The times are passed for seeking only the marvellous in volcanic -phenomena, in the manner of the ancients among whom Ctesias made the -ashes of Etna to be conveyed as far as the Indian peninsula. There are -in Mexico veins of gold and silver in trachytic porphyry; but in the -ashes of Vesuvius which I brought back with me, and which an excellent -chemist, Heinrich Rose, has examined at my request, no traces of either -gold or silver have been discovered. - -Although the above mentioned results, which are quite in accordance -with the exact observations of Monticelli, differ much from the -accounts which have been current during the short interval which has -elapsed, it is nevertheless true that the eruption of ashes from -Vesuvius from the 24th to the 28th of last October (1822) is the most -memorable of any of which we possess an authentic account, since -that which occasioned the death of the elder Pliny. The quantity of -ashes is, perhaps, three times as great as has ever been seen to fall -since volcanic phenomena have been attentively observed in Italy. A -stratum of ashes, from 16 to 19 inches thick, appears at first sight -insignificant compared with the mass which we find covering Pompeii; -but, not to speak of the increase which that mass has probably received -by the effects of heavy rains and other causes during the centuries -which have since elapsed, and without renewing the animated debate -respecting the causes of the destruction of the Campanian towns, -and which, on the other side of the Alps, has been carried on with -a considerable degree of scepticism, it should here be recalled to -recollection that the eruptions of a volcano, at widely separated -epochs, do not well admit of comparison, as respects their intensity. -All inferences derived from analogy are inadequate where quantitative -relations are concerned; as the quantity of lava and ashes, the -height of the column of smoke, and the loudness or intensity of the -detonations. - -From the geographical description of Strabo, and from an opinion given -by Vitruvius respecting the volcanic origin of pumice, we perceive -that, up to the year of the death of Vespasian, _i. e._ previous to the -eruption which overwhelmed Pompeii, Vesuvius had more the appearance of -an extinct volcano than of a Solfatara. When, after long repose, the -subterranean forces suddenly opened for themselves new channels, and -again broke through the beds of primitive and trachytic rocks, effects -must have been produced for which subsequent ones do not furnish a -standard. From the well-known letter in which the younger Pliny informs -Tacitus of his uncle’s death, it may be clearly seen that the renewal -of volcanic outbursts, or what might be called the revival of the -slumbering volcano, began with an eruption of ashes. The same thing -was observed at Jorullo when, in September 1759, the new volcano, -breaking through beds of syenite and trachyte, rose suddenly in the -plain. The country-people took flight on finding their huts strewed -with ashes which had been emitted from the everywhere opening ground. -In the ordinary periodical manifestations of volcanic activity, on the -contrary, the shower of ashes marks the termination of each particular -eruption. There is a passage in the letter of the younger Pliny which -shews clearly that, at a very early stage of the eruption, the dry -ashes which had fallen had reached a thickness of four or five feet, -without accumulation from drift or other extraneous cause. He writes, -in the course of his narrative, “the court which had to be crossed to -reach the room in which Pliny was taking his noon-day repose was so -filled with ashes and pumice, that, if he had longer delayed coming -forth, he would have found the passage stopped.” In an enclosed space -like a court, the action of wind in drifting the ashes can scarcely -have been very considerable. - -I have interrupted my general comparative view of volcanos by a notice -of particular observations made on Vesuvius, partly on account of the -great interest excited by the recent eruption, and partly on account -of those recollections of the catastrophes of Pompeii and Herculaneum, -which are almost involuntarily recalled to our minds by the occurrence -of any considerable shower of ashes. I have recorded in a note the -measurements of height made by myself and others on Vesuvius and in its -vicinity. - -We have hitherto been considering the structure and mode of action -of those volcanos which have a permanent communication with the -interior of the Earth by craters. The summits of such volcanos -consist of masses of trachyte and lava upheaved by elastic forces and -traversed by veins. The permanency of their action gives us reason -to infer great complexity of structure. They have, so to speak, an -individual character which remains unaltered for long periods of time. -Neighbouring mountains often present the greatest differences in their -products: leucitic and feldspathic lavas, obsidian with pumice, and -masses of basalt containing olivine. They belong to the most recent -terrestrial phænomena, breaking through almost all the sedimentary -strata, and their products and lava currents are of later origin -than our valleys. Their life, if I may permit myself to employ this -figurative mode of expression, depends on the manner and permanence -of their communications with the interior of the Earth. They often -continue for centuries in a state of repose, are then suddenly -rekindled, and end by becoming Solfataras, emitting aqueous vapours, -gases, and acids; sometimes, however, as in the case of the Peak of -Teneriffe, we find that their summit has already become a laboratory of -regenerated sulphur; while from the sides of the mountain there still -issue large torrents of lava, basaltic in the lower part, but towards -the upper part, where the pressure is less,[39] presenting the form of -obsidian with pumice. - -Distinct from these volcanos provided with permanent craters, there -is another class of volcanic phenomena more rarely observed, but -particularly instructive to the geologist, as they recall the ancient -world or the earliest geological revolutions of our planet. Trachytic -mountains open suddenly, emit lava and ashes, and close again, perhaps -never to reopen. Thus it was with the gigantic mountain of Antisana in -the chain of the Andes, and with the Monte Epomeo in Ischia in 1302. -Sometimes such an outbreak has even taken place in plains: as in the -high plateau of Quito, in Iceland at a distance from Mount Hecla, -and in Eubœa in the Lelantine Fields. Many of the upheaved islands -belong to this class of transitory phænomena. In all these cases the -communication with the interior of the earth is not permanent, and -the action ceases as soon as the cleft or fissure forming a temporary -channel closes again. Veins or dykes of basalt, dolerite, and -porphyry, which in different parts of the earth traverse almost all -formations, and masses of syenite, augitic porphyry, and amygdaloid, -which characterise the recent transition and oldest sedimentary rocks, -have probably been formed in a similar manner. In the youth of our -planet, the substances of the interior being still fluid, penetrated -through the everywhere fissured crust of the globe, sometimes becoming -solidified in the form of rocky veins or dykes of granular texture, and -sometimes spreading out in broad sheets, and resembling superimposed -strata. The volcanic products or rocks transmitted to us from the -earlier ages of our planet have not flowed in narrow bands like the -lavas of the isolated conical volcanos of the present time. The -mixtures of augite, titaniferous iron, feldspar, and hornblende, may -have been the same at different epochs, sometimes approximating more to -basalt and sometimes to trachyte; and, (as we learn from the important -researches of Mitscherlich, and the analogy of artificial igneous -products) chemical substances may have united in definite proportions -in a crystalline form: in all cases we recognise that substances -similar in composition have arrived at the surface of the earth by -very different ways; either simply upheaved, or penetrating through -temporary fissures; and that breaking through the older rocks, (_i. -e._ the earlier oxydized crust of the globe), they have finally issued -as lava currents from conical mountains having a permanent crater. To -confound together phenomena so different is to throw the geological -study of volcanos and volcanic action back into the obscurity from -which, by the aid of numerous comparative observations and researches, -it has gradually began to emerge. - -The question has often been propounded: What is it that burns in -volcanos,--What produces the heat which melts and fuses together earths -and metals? Modern chemical science has essayed to answer, that what -burns are the earths, the metals, the alkalies themselves; viz. the -metalloids of those substances. The solid and already-oxydised crust -of the globe separates the surrounding atmosphere, with the oxygen -which it contains, from the inflammable unoxydised substances in the -interior of our planet: when those metalloids come in contact with -the oxygen of the atmosphere there arises disengagement of heat. -The great and celebrated chemist who propounded this explanation of -volcanic phenomena soon himself relinquished it. Observations made -in mines and caverns in all climates, and which in concert with M. -Arago I have collected in a separate memoir, shew that, even at what -may be considered a very small depth, the temperature of the Earth is -much above the mean temperature of the atmosphere at the same place. -A fact so remarkable, and so generally confirmed, connects itself -with that which we learn from volcanic phenomena. The depth at which -the globe may be regarded as a molten mass has been calculated. The -primitive cause of this subterranean heat is, as in all planets, -the process of formation itself, the separation of the spherically -condensing mass from a cosmical gaseous fluid, and the cooling of the -terrestrial strata at different depths by the loss of heat parted -with by radiation. All volcanic phenomena are probably the result of -a communication either permanent or transient between the interior -and exterior of the globe. Elastic vapours press the molten oxydising -substances upwards through deep fissures. Volcanos might thus be termed -intermitting springs or fountains of earthy substances; _i. e._ of -the fluid mixture of metals, alkalis, and earths which solidify into -lava currents and flow softly and tranquilly, when being upheaved they -find a passage by which to escape. In a similar manner the Ancients -represented (according to Plato’s Phædon) all volcanic fiery currents -as streams flowing from the Pyriphlegethon. - -To these considerations and views let me be permitted to add another -more bold. May we not find in this internal heat of our globe,--(a heat -indicated by thermometric experiments on the waters of springs rising -from different depths,[40] as well by our observations on volcanos),--a -cause which may explain one of the most wonderful phænomena with -which the study of fossils has made us acquainted? Tropical forms of -animals, and, in the vegetable kingdom, arborescent ferns, palms, -and bambusaceæ, are found buried in the cold regions of the North. -Everywhere the ancient world shews a distribution of organic forms at -variance with our present climates. To resolve so important a problem, -recourse has been had to several hypotheses; such as the approach of -a comet, a change in the obliquity of the Ecliptic, and a different -degree of intensity in the solar light. None of these explanations -are satisfactory at once to the astronomer, the physicist, and the -geologist. For my part I willingly leave the axis of the Earth in its -place, and suppose no change in the light of the solar disk (from whose -spots a celebrated astronomer was inclined to explain the favourable or -unfavourable harvests of particular years); I am disposed to recognise -that in each planet there exist, independently of its relations to -the central body of the system to which it belongs, and independently -of its astronomical position, various causes for the development of -heat;--processes of oxydation, precipitations and chemical changes in -the capacity of bodies, by increase of electro-magnetic intensity, and -communications opened between the internal and external portions of the -planet. - -It may be that in the Ancient World, exhalations of heat issuing forth -through the many openings of the deeply fissured crust of the globe -may have favoured, perhaps for centuries, the growth of palms and -tree-ferns and the existence of animals requiring a high temperature, -over entire countries where now a very different climate prevails. -According to this view of things (a view already indicated by me in a -work entitled “Geological Essay on the Superposition of Rocks in both -Hemispheres”) the temperature of volcanos would be that of the interior -of the earth, and the same cause which, operating through volcanic -eruptions, now produces devastating effects, might in primeval ages -have clothed the deeply fissured rocks of the newly oxydised earth in -every zone with the most luxuriant vegetation. - -If, with a view to explain the distribution of tropical forms whose -remains are now discovered buried in northern regions, it should be -assumed that the long-haired species of Elephant now found enclosed -in ice was originally indigenous in cold climates, and that forms -resembling the same leading type may, as in the case of lions and -lynxes, have been able to live in wholly different climates, still this -manner of solving the difficulty presented by fossil remains cannot be -extended so as to apply to vegetable productions. From reasons with -which the study of vegetable physiology makes us acquainted, Palms, -Musaceæ, and arborescent Monocotyledones, are incapable of supporting -the deprivation of their appendicular organs which would be caused by -the present temperature of our northern regions; and in the geological -problem which we have to examine, it appears to me difficult to -separate vegetable and animal remains from each other. The same mode of -explanation ought to comprehend both. - -I have permitted myself at the conclusion of the present discussion -to connect with facts collected in different and widely separated -countries some uncertain and hypothetical conjectures. The -philosophical study of Nature rises beyond the requirements of a simple -description of Nature: it does not consist in a sterile accumulation of -isolated facts. It may sometimes be permitted to the active and curious -mind of man to stretch forward from the present to the still obscure -future; to divine that which cannot yet be clearly known; and thus to -take pleasure in the ancient myths of geology reproduced in our own -days in new and varied forms. - - - - -ANNOTATIONS AND ADDITIONS. - - -[38] p. 226.--“_A more complete determination of the height of all -parts of the margin of the crater._” - -Oltmanns, my astronomical fellow labourer, of whom, alas! science -has been early deprived, re-calculated the barometric measurements -of Vesuvius referred to in the preceding memoir (of the 22d and 25th -of November and of the 1st of December, 1822), and has compared the -results with the measurements which have been communicated to me in -manuscript by Lord Minto, Visconti, Monticelli, Brioschi, and Poulett -Scrope. - - -A. _Rocca del Palo, the highest and northern margin of the Crater of -Vesuvius._ - - Toises. Eng. ft. - Saussure, barometric measurement computed in - 1773, probably by Deluc’s formula 609 3894 - Poli, 1794, barometric 606 3875 - Breislak, 1794, barometric (but, like Poli, the formula - employed uncertain) 613 3920 - Gay-Lussac, Leopold von Buch, and Humboldt, 1805, - barometric, computed by Laplace’s formula, as - are also all the barometric results which follow 603 3856 - Brioschi, 1810, trigonometric 638 4080 - Visconti, 1816, trigonometric 622 3977 - Lord Minto, 1822, barometric, often repeated 621 3971 - Poulett Scrope, 1822, barometric, somewhat uncertain - from the proportion between the diameters - of the tube and cistern being unknown 604 3862 - Monticelli and Covelli, 1822 624 3990 - Humboldt, 1822 629 4022 - -Most probable result 317 toises, or 2027 English feet, above the -Hermitage; or 625 toises, or 3996 English feet, above the level of the -sea. - - -B. _The lowest and southern margin of the crater opposite to Bosche Tre -Case._ - - Toises. Eng. ft. - After the eruption of 1794 this edge became 400 - (426 Eng.) feet lower than the Rocca del Palo; - therefore if we estimate the latter at 625 toises - (3996 English feet) 559 3574 - Gay-Lussac, Leopold von Buch, and Humboldt, - 1805, barometric 534 3414 - Humboldt, 1822, barometric 546 3491 - - -C. _Height of the cone of scoriæ inside the crater, which fell in on -the 22d of October, 1822._ - - Toises. Eng. ft. - Lord Minto, barometric 650 4156 - Brioschi, trigonometric, according to different - combinations either 636 4066 - Or 641 4098 - -Probable final result for the height of the above-mentioned cone of -scoriæ 646 toises, or 4130 English feet. - - -D. _Punta Nasone, highest summit of the Somma._ - - Toises. Eng. ft. - Schuckburgh, 1794, barometric, probably computed - by his own formula 584 3734 - Humboldt, 1822, barometric, Laplace’s formula 586 3747 - -E. _Plain of the Atrio del Cavallo._ - - Toises. Eng. ft. - - Humboldt, 1822, barometric 403 2577 - -F. _Foot of the cone of ashes._ - - Toises. Eng. ft. - - - Gay-Lussac, Leopold von Buch, and Humboldt, - 1805, barometric 370 2366 - - Humboldt, 1822, barometric 388 2481 - -G. _Hermitage del Salvatore._ - - Toises. Eng. ft. - - - Gay-Lussac, Leopold von Buch, and Humboldt, - 1805, barometric 300 1918 - - Lord Minto, 1822, barometric 307.9 1969 - - Humboldt, 1822, barometric repeated 308.7 1974 - -Part of my measurements have been printed in Monticelli’s Storia de’ -fenomeni del Vesuvio, avvenuti negli anni 1821-1823, p. 115; but the -neglected correction for the height of the mercury in the cistern -has somewhat disfigured the results as there published. When it is -remembered that the results given in the above table were obtained -with barometers of very different constructions, at various hours of -the day, with winds from very different quarters, and on the unequally -heated declivity of a volcano, in a locality in which the decrease of -atmospheric temperature differs greatly from that which is supposed in -our barometric formulæ,--the agreement will be found to be as great as -could be expected, and quite satisfactory. - -My measurements in 1822, at the time of the Congress of Verona, when -I accompanied the late King of Prussia to Naples, were made with -more care and under more favourable circumstances than those of 1805. -Differences of height are besides always to be preferred to absolute -heights, and these show that since 1794 the difference between the -heights of the edges of the crater at the Rocca del Palo and on the -side towards Bosco Tre Case has continued almost the same. I found -it in 1805 exactly 69 toises (441 English feet), and in 1822 almost -82 toises (524 English feet). A distinguished geologist, Mr Poulett -Scrope, found 74 toises (473 English feet), although the absolute -heights which he assigns to the two sides of the crater appear to be -rather too small. So little variation in a period of twenty-eight -years, in which there were such violent commotions in the interior of -the crater, is certainly a striking phænomenon. - -The height attained by cones of scoriæ rising from the floor of the -crater of Vesuvius is also deserving of particular attention. In 1776 -Schuckburgh found such a cone 615 toises, or 3932 English feet, above -the surface of the Mediterranean: according to the measurements of Lord -Minto, (a very accurate observer,) the cone of scoriæ which fell in -on the 22d of October, 1822, even attained the height of 650 toises, -or 4156 English feet. On both occasions, therefore, the height of the -cones of scoriæ in the crater surpassed that of the highest part of the -margin of the crater. When we compare together the measurements of the -Rocca del Palo from 1773 to 1822, we are almost involuntarily led to -entertain the bold conjecture that the north margin of the crater has -been gradually upraised by subterranean forces. The accordance of the -three measurements between 1773 and 1805 is almost as striking as that -of those taken from 1816 to 1822. In the latter period we cannot doubt -the height being from about 621 to 629 toises (3970 to 4022 English -feet). Are the measurements made from thirty to forty years earlier, -which gave only 606 to 609 toises (3875 to 3894 English feet), less -certain? At some future day, after longer periods shall have elapsed, -it will be possible to decide what is due to errors of measurement, and -what to an actual rise in the margin of the crater. There cannot be in -this case any accumulation of loose materials from above. If the solid -trachyte-like lava beds of the Rocca del Palo really become higher, we -must assume them to be upheaved from below by volcanic forces. - -My learned and indefatigable friend Oltmanns has placed all the details -of the above measurements before the public, accompanied by a careful -critical examination of them, in the Abhandl. der königl. Akademie der -Wissenschaften zu Berlin, 1822-1823, S. 3-20. May this investigation be -the means of inducing geologists frequently to examine hypsometrically -this low and most easily accessible (except Stromboli) of the European -volcanos, so that in the course of centuries there may be obtained a -frequently checked and accurate account of its periods of development! - -[39] p. 235.--“_Where the pressure is less._” - -Compare Leopold von Buch on the Peak of Teneriffe in his Physikalische -Beschreibung der canarischen Inseln, 1825, S. 213; and in the -Abhandlungen der königl. Akademie zu Berlin, 1820-1821, S. 99. - -[40] p. 289--“_Waters of springs rising from different depths._” - -Compare Arago in the Annuaire du Bureau des Longitudes pour 1835, p. -234. The increase of temperature is in our latitudes 1° of Reaumur -(2°.25 of a degree of Fahrenheit) for every 113 Parisian feet (120.5 -English feet), or 1° Fah. to 53.5 English feet nearly. In the Artesian -boring at New Salzwerk (Oeynhausen’s Bad), not far from Minden, which -is the greatest known depth below the level of the sea, the temperature -of the water at 2094-1/2 Parisian feet (2232-1/4 Eng.) is fully 26°.2 -Reaumur, or 91° Fahr.; while the mean temperature of the air above may -be taken at 7°.7 Reaumur, or 49°.2 Fahr. It is very remarkable that in -the third century Saint Patricius, Bishop of Pertusa, was led by seeing -the hot springs near Carthage to a very just view respecting the cause -of such an increase of heat. (Acta S. Patricii, p. 555, ed. Ruinart; -Kosmos, Bd. i. S. 231,--English Edition, Vol. i. p. 211.) - - - - -THE - -VITAL FORCE; - -OR, - -THE RHODIAN GENIUS. - -[FIRST PRINTED IN 1795.] - - -The Syracusans, like the Athenians, had their Pœcile, in which -representations of gods and heroes, the works of Grecian and Italian -art, adorned the halls, glowing with varied colours. The people -resorted thither continually; the young warriors to contemplate the -exploits of their ancestors, the artists to study the works of the -great masters. Among the numerous paintings which the active zeal of -the Syracusans had collected from the mother country, there was one -which, for a century past, had particularly attracted the attention -of spectators. Sometimes the Olympian Jove, Cecrops the founder of -cities, and the heroic courage of Harmodius and Aristogiton, would -want admirers, while men pressed in crowded ranks around the picture -of which we speak. Whence this preference? Was it a rescued work of -Apelles, or of the school of Callimachus? No; it possessed indeed grace -and beauty; but yet neither in the blending of the colours, nor in the -character and style of the entire picture, could it be compared with -many other paintings in the Pœcile. - -The multitude (comprehending therein many classes of society), often -regard with astonishment and admiration what they do not comprehend: -this picture had occupied its place for a hundred years; but though -Syracuse contained within the narrow limits enclosed by its walls more -of the genius of art than the whole of the remainder of sea-surrounded -Sicily, no one had yet divined the hidden meaning of the design. It was -even uncertain to what temple the painting had originally belonged, -for it had been rescued from a shipwrecked vessel, which was only -conjectured from the merchandise it contained to have come from Rhodes. - -On the foreground of the picture youths and maidens formed a closely -crowded group. They were without clothing and well formed, but at the -same time did not exhibit the more noble and graceful proportions -admired in the statues of Praxiteles and Alcamenes. Their robust limbs, -shewing the traces of laborious efforts, and the purely terrestrial -expression of their desires and sorrows, seemed to take from them every -thing of a diviner character, and to chain them exclusively to their -earthly habitation. Their hair was simply ornamented with leaves and -field-flowers. Their arms were outstretched towards each other, as -if to indicate their desire of union, but their troubled looks were -turned towards a Genius who, surrounded by bright light, hovered in -the midst. A butterfly was placed on his shoulder, and in his hand he -held on high a lighted torch. The contours of his form were soft and -child-like, but his glance was animated by celestial fire: he looked -down as a master upon the youths and maidens at his feet. Nothing else -that was characteristic could be discovered in the picture. Some -persons thought they could make out at its foot the letters ζ and ς, -from whence (as antiquaries were then no less bold in their conjectures -than they now are), they took occasion to infer, in a somewhat forced -manner, the name of Zenodorus; thus attributing the work to a painter -of the same name as the artist who at a later period cast the Colossus -of Rhodes. - -The “Rhodian Genius,” however,--for such was the name given to the -picture,--did not want for commentators and interpreters in Syracuse. -Amateurs of the arts, and especially the younger amongst them, on -returning from a short visit to Corinth or Athens, would have thought -it equivalent to renouncing all pretensions to connoisseurship if -they had not been provided with some new explanation. Some regarded -the Genius as the personification of Spiritual Love, forbidding the -enjoyment of sensual pleasures; others said it was the assertion of the -empire of Reason over Desire: the wiser among the critics were silent, -and presuming some high though yet undiscovered meaning, examined -meanwhile with pleasure the simple composition of the picture. - -Still, however, the question remained unsolved. The picture had been -copied with various additions and sent to Greece, but not the least -light had been thrown on its origin; when at length, at the season -of the early rising of the Pleiades, and soon after the reopening -of the navigation of the Egean Sea, ships from Rhodes entered the -port of Syracuse, bearing a precious collection of statues, altars, -candelabras, and paintings, which Dionysius’s love of art had caused -to be brought together from different parts of Greece. Among the -paintings was one which was immediately recognised as the companion -or pendent of the Rhodian Genius: the dimensions were the same, and -the colouring similar, but in a better state of preservation: the -Genius was still the central figure, but the butterfly was no longer -on his shoulder; his head was drooping, and his torch extinguished -and inverted. The youths and maidens pressing around him had met -and embraced; their glance, no longer subdued or sad, announced, on -the contrary, emancipation from restraint, and the fulfilment of -long-cherished desires. - -The Syracusan antiquaries were already seeking to modify the -explanations they had previously proposed, so as to adapt them to -the newly-arrived picture, when Dionysius commanded the latter to be -carried to the house of Epicharmus, a philosopher of the Pythagorean -school, who dwelt in a remote part of Syracuse called Tyche. Epicharmus -rarely presented himself at the court of Dionysius, for although the -latter was fond of calling around him the most distinguished men from -all the Greek colonial cities, yet the philosopher found that the -proximity of princes takes even from men of the greatest intellectual -power part of their spirit and their freedom. He devoted himself -unceasingly to the study of natural things, their forces or powers, the -origin of animals and plants, and the harmonious laws in accordance -with which the heavenly bodies, as well as the grains of hail and the -flakes of snow, assume their distinctive forms. Oppressed with age, -and unable to proceed far without assistance, he caused himself to be -conducted daily to the Pœcile, and thence to the entrance of the port, -where, as he said, his eyes received the image of the boundless and -the infinite which his spirit ever strove in vain to apprehend. He -lived honoured alike by the tyrant, whose presence he avoided, and by -the lower classes of the people, whom he met gladly, and often with -friendly help. - -Exhausted with fatigue, he was reposing on his couch, when the -newly-arrived picture was brought to him by the command of Dionysius. -Care had been taken to bring, at the same time, a faithful copy of the -“Rhodian Genius,” and the philosopher desired the two paintings to be -placed side by side before him. After having remained for some time -with his eyes fixed upon them, and absorbed in thought, he called his -scholars together, and spoke to them in the following terms, in a voice -which was not without emotion:-- - -“Withdraw the curtain from the window, that I may enjoy once more -the view of the fair earth animated with living beings. During sixty -years I have reflected on the internal motive powers of nature, and -on the differences of substances: to-day for the first time the -picture of the Rhodian Genius leads me to see more clearly that which -I had before only obscurely divined. As living beings are impelled by -natural desires to salutary and fruitful union, so the raw materials -of inorganic nature are moved by similar impulses. Even in the reign -of primeval night, in the darkness of chaos, elementary principles or -substances sought or shunned each other in obedience to indwelling -dispositions of amity or enmity. Thus the fire of heaven follows metal, -iron obeys the attraction of the loadstone, amber rubbed takes up -light substances, earth mixes with earth, salt collects together from -the water of the sea, and the acid moisture of the Stypteria (στυπτηρια -υγρα), as well as the flocculent salt Trichitis, love the clay of -Melos. In inanimate nature all things hasten to unite with each other -according to their particular laws. Hence no terrestrial element (and -who would dare to include light among the number of such elements?) is -to be found anywhere in its pure and primitive simple state. Each as -soon as formed tends to enter into new combinations, and the art of man -is needed to disjoin and present in a separated state substances which -you would seek in vain in the interior of the earth, and in the fluid -oceans of air or water. In dead inorganic matter, entire inactivity and -repose reign so long as the bonds of affinity continue undissolved, so -long as no third substance comes to join itself to the others. But even -then, the action and disturbance produced are soon again succeeded by -unfruitful repose. - -“It is otherwise, however, when the same substances are brought -together in the bodies of plants and animals. In these the vital force -or power reigns supreme, and regardless of the mutual amity or enmity -of the atoms recognised by Democritus, commands the union of substances -which in inanimate nature shun each other, and separates those which -are ever seeking to enter into combination. - -“Now come nearer to me, my friends; look with me on the first of -the pictures before us, and recognise in the Rhodian Genius, in the -expression of youthful energy, in the butterfly on his shoulder, -and in the commanding glance of his eye, the symbol of vital force -animating each individual germ of the organic creation. At his feet are -the earthy elements desiring to mix and unite, conformably to their -particular tendencies. The Genius, holding aloft his lighted torch with -commanding gesture, controls and constrains them, without regard to -their ancient rights, to obey his laws. - -“Now view with me the new picture which the tyrant has sent to me -for explanation: turn your eyes from the image of life to that of -death. The butterfly has left its former place and soars upwards; the -extinguished torch is reversed, the head of the youth has sunk: the -spirit has fled to other spheres, and the vital force is dead. Now the -youths and maidens joyfully join hands, the earthy substances resume -their ancient rights: they are freed from the chains that bound them, -and follow impetuously after long restraint the impulse to union.--Thus -inert matter, animated awhile by vital force, passes through an -innumerable diversity of forms, and perhaps in the same substance which -once enshrined the spirit of Pythagoras, a poor worm may have enjoyed a -momentary existence. - -“Go, Polycles, and tell Dionysius what thou hast heard;--and you my -friends, Euryphamos, Lysis, and Scopas, come nearer to me and support -me; I feel that in my weakened frame the enfeebled vital power will -not long hold in subjection the earthly substances which reclaim their -ancient liberty. Lead me once again to the Pœcile, and thence to the -sea shore; soon you will collect my ashes.” - - - - -NOTE. - - -I have noticed in the Preface to the Second and Third Editions (S. -xiii., p. xii. English Trans.) the subject of the republication here -of the preceding pages, which were first printed in Schiller’s Horen -(Jahrg. 1795, St. 5, S. 90-96). They contain the development of a -physiological idea clothed in a semi-mythical garb. In the Latin -“Aphorisms from the Chemical Physiology of Plants” appended to my -“Subterranean Flora,” in 1793,--I had defined the “vital force” as -“the unknown cause which prevents the elements from following their -original affinities.” The first of my aphorisms were as follows:--Rerum -naturam si totam consideres, magnum atque durabile, quod inter elementa -intercedit, discrimen perspicies, quorum altera affinitatum legibus -obtemperantia, altera, vinculis solutis, varie juncta apparent. Quod -quidem discrimen in elementis ipsis eorumque indole neutiquam positum, -quum ex sola distributione singulorum petendum esse videatur. Materiam -segnem, brutam, inanimam eam vocamus, cujus stamina secundum leges -chymicæ affinitatis mixta sunt. Animata atque organica ea potissimum -corpora appellamus, quæ, licet in novas mutari formas perpetuo tendant, -vi interna quadam continentur, quominus priscam sibique insitam formam -relinquant. - -“Vim internam, quæ chymicæ affinitatis vincula resolvit, atque obstat, -quominus elementa corporum libere conjungantur, vitalem vocamus. Itaque -nullum certius mortis criterium putredine datur, qua primæ partes vel -stamina rerum, antiquis juribus revocatis, affinitatum legibus parent. -Corporum inanimorum nulla putredo esse potest.” (Vide Aphorismi ex -doctrina Physiologiæ chemicæ Plantarum, in Humboldt, Flora Fribergensis -subterranea, 1793, p. 133-136). - -I have placed in the mouth of Epicharmus the above propositions, -which were disapproved by the acute Vicq d’Azyr, in his Traité -d’Anatomie et de Physiologie, T. i. p. 5, but are now entertained by -many distinguished persons among my friends. Reflection and continued -study in the domains of physiology and chemistry have deeply shaken -my earlier belief in a peculiar so-called vital force. In 1797, at -the close of my work entitled “Versuche über die gereizte Muskel und -Nervenfaser, nebst Vermuthungen über den chemischen Process des Lebens -in der Thier und Pflanzenwelt” (Bd. ii. S. 430-436), I already declared -that I by no means regarded the existence of such peculiar vital forces -as demonstrated. Since that time I have no longer called peculiar -forces what may possibly only be the operation of the concurrent action -of the several long-known substances and their material forces. We may, -however deduce from the chemical relations of the elements a safer -definition of animate and inanimate substances, than the criteria which -are taken from voluntary motion, from the circulation of fluids within -solids, from internal appropriation, and from the fibrous arrangements -of the elements. I term that an animated substance “of which the parts -being separated by external agency alter their state of composition -after the separation, all other and external relations continuing -the same.” This definition is merely the enunciation of a fact. The -equilibrium of the elements in animated or organic matter is preserved -by their being parts of a whole. One organ determines another, one -gives to another its temperature and tone or disposition, in all which, -these, and no other, affinities are operative. Thus in organised beings -all is reciprocally means and end. The rapidity with which organic -parts, separated from a complete living organism, change their slate of -combination, differs greatly, according to the degree of their original -dependence, and to the nature of the substance. Blood of animals, which -varies much in the different classes, suffers change sooner than the -juices of plants. Funguses generally decay sooner than leaves of trees, -and muscle more easily than the cutis. - -Bones, the elementary structure of which has been very recently -recognised, hair of animals, wood in plants or trees, the feathery -appendages of seeds of plants (Pappus), are not inorganic or without -life; but even in life they approximate to the state in which they are -found after their separation from the rest of the organism. The higher -the degree of vitality or susceptibility of an animated substance, -the more rapidly does organic change in its composition ensue after -separation. “The aggregate total of the cells is an organism, and the -organism lives so long as the parts are active in subservience to -the whole. In opposition to lifeless or inorganic, organic nature -_appears_ to be self-determining.” (Henle, Allgemeine Anatomie, 1841, -S. 216-219). The difficulty of satisfactorily referring the vital -phenomena of organic life to physical and chemical laws, consists -chiefly (almost as in the question of predicting meteorological -processes in the atmosphere), in the complication of the phænomena, -and in the multiplicity of simultaneously acting forces and of the -conditions of their activity. - -I have remained faithful in “Kosmos” to the same mode of viewing -and representing what are called “Lebenskräfte,” vital forces, and -vital affinities, (Pulteney, in the Transact. of the Royal Soc. -of Edinburgh, vol. xvi. p. 305), the formation-impulse, and the -active principle in organisation. I have said, in Kosmos, Bd. i. S. -67, (English Ed. vol. i. p. 62), “The myths of imponderable matter -and of vital forces peculiar to each organism have complicated and -perplexed the view of nature. Under different conditions and forms -of recognition the prodigious mass of our experimental knowledge -has progressively accumulated, and is now enlarging with increased -rapidity. Investigating reason essays from time to time with varying -success to break through ancient forms and symbols, invented to -effect the subjection of rebellious matter, as it were, to mechanical -constructions.” Farther on in the same volume, (p. 339 English, and -367 of the original,) I have said, “In a physical description of the -universe, it should still be noticed that the same substances which -compose the organic forms of plants and animals are also found in the -inorganic crust of the globe; and that the same forces or powers which -govern inorganic matter are seen to prevail in organic beings likewise, -combining and decomposing the various substances, regulating the forms -and properties of organic tissues, but acting in these cases under -complicated conditions yet unexplained, to which the very vague terms -of ‘vital phænomena,’ ‘operations of vital forces,’ have been assigned, -and which have been systematically grouped, according to analogies more -or less happily imagined.” (Compare also the critical notices on the -assumption of proper or peculiar vital forces in Schleiden’s Botanik -als inductive Wissenchaft (Botany as an Inductive Science), Th. i. -S. 60, and in the recently published excellent Untersuchungen über -thierische Elektricität (Researches on Animal Electricity), by Emil du -Bois-Reymond, Bd. i. S. xxxiv.-l.) - - - - - THE - - PLATEAU OF CAXAMARCA, - - THE - - ANCIENT CAPITAL OF THE INCA ATAHUALLPA: - - AND - - THE FIRST VIEW OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN, - - FROM THE CREST OF THE ANDES. - - -After a residence of an entire year on the crest of the chain of the -Andes or Antis[41], between 4° North and 4° South Latitude, in the -high plains of New Granada, Pastos, and Quito, whose mean elevations -range between 8500 and 12800 English feet, we rejoiced in descending -gradually through the milder climate of the Quina-yielding forests of -Loxa to the plains of the upper part of the course of the Amazons, -a terra incognita rich in magnificent vegetation. The small town of -Loxa has given its name to the most efficacious of all the species of -medicinal Fever-Bark: Quina, or Cascarilla fina de Loxa. It is the -precious production of the tree which we have described botanically as -Cinchona condaminea, but which, under the erroneous impression that -all the kinds of the Quina or fever bark of commerce were furnished -by the same species of tree, had previously been called Cinchona -officinalis. The Fever Bark was first brought to Europe towards the -middle of the seventeenth century, either, as Sebastian Badus asserts, -to Alcala de Henares in 1632, or to Madrid in 1640, on the arrival of -the wife of the Viceroy, the Countess of Chinchon[42], who had been -cured of intermittent fever at Lima, accompanied by her physician, -Juan del Vego. The trees which yield the finest quality of Quina de -Loxa are found from 8 to 12 miles to the south east of the town, in -the mountains of Uritusinga, Villonaco, and Rumisitana, growing on -mica-slate and gneiss, at very moderate elevations above the level of -the sea, being between 5400 and 7200 (5755 and 7673 English) feet, -heights about equal respectively to those of the Hospice on the Grimsel -and the Pass of the great St. Bernard. The proper boundaries of the -Quina-woods in this quarter are the small rivers Zamora and Cachiyacu. - -The tree is cut down in its first flowering season, or in the -fourth or seventh year of its age, according as it has sprung from -a vigorous root-shoot, or from a seed: we heard with astonishment -that at the period of my journey, according to official computations, -the collectors of Quina (Cascarilleros and Cazadores de Quina, Quina -Hunters),--only brought in 110 hundred weight of the Bark of the -Cinchona condaminea annually. None of this precious store found its way -at that time into commerce; the whole was sent from the port of Payta -on the Pacific, round Cape Horn to Cadiz, for the use of the Spanish -Court. In order to furnish this small quantity of 11000 Spanish pounds, -eight or nine hundred trees were cut down every year. The older and -thicker stems have become more and more scarce; but the luxuriance of -vegetation is such that the younger trees which are now resorted to, -though only 6 inches in diameter, often attain from 53 to 64 English -feet in height. This beautiful tree, which is adorned with leaves -above 5 English inches long and 2 broad, growing in dense woods, seems -always to aspire to rise above its neighbours. As its upper branches -wave to and fro in the wind, their red and shining foliage produces a -strange and peculiar effect recognisable from a great distance. The -mean temperature in the woods where the Cinchona condaminea is found, -ranges between 12-1/2° and 15° Reaumur (60°.2 and 65°.8 Fahrenheit), -which are about the mean annual temperatures of Florence and the Island -of Madeira; but the extremes of heat and cold observed at these two -stations of the temperate zone are never felt around Loxa. Comparisons -between the climates of places, one of which is situated in an elevated -tropical plain, and the other in a higher parallel of latitude, can be -from their nature but little satisfactory. - -In order to descend South-South-East from the mountain knot of Loxa to -the hot Valley of the Amazons, it is first necessary to pass over the -_Paramos_ of Chulucanas, Guamani and Yamoca,--mountain wildernesses of -a peculiar character of which we have already spoken, and to which, in -the southern parts of the Andes, the name of Puna (a word belonging -to the Quichua language) is given. They mostly rise above 9500 (10125 -English) feet; they are stormy, often enveloped for days in dense mist, -or visited by violent and formidable showers of hail,--consisting not -merely of hailstones of different spherical forms, usually a good -deal flattened by rotation, but also sometimes of less regular forms, -the hail having run together into thin plates of ice (papa-cara) which -cut the face and hands. At such times I have occasionally seen the -thermometer sink to 7° or 5° Reaumur, (47°.8 and 43°.2 Fahr.) and the -electric tension of the atmosphere, measured by Volta’s electrometer, -pass in a few minutes from positive to negative. When the temperature -sinks below 5° Reaumur, (43°.2 Fahrenheit) snow falls in large and -thinly scattered flakes. The vegetation of the Paramos has a peculiar -physiognomy and character, from the absence of trees, the short close -branches of the small-leaved myrtle-like shrubs, the large sized and -numerous blossoms, and the perpetual freshness of the whole from the -constant and abundant supply of moisture. No zone of Alpine vegetation -in the temperate or cold parts of the globe can well be compared with -that of the Paramos in the tropical Andes. - -The impressions produced on the mind by the natural characters of these -wildernesses of the Cordilleras are heightened in a remarkable and -unexpected manner, from its being in those very regions that we still -see admirable remains of the gigantic work, the artificial road of the -Incas, which formed a line of communication through all the provinces -of the Empire, extending over a length of more than a thousand English -geographical miles. We find, placed at nearly equal distances apart, -stations consisting of dwelling houses built of well-cut stone; they -are a kind of Caravanserai, and are called Tambos and sometimes -Inca-pilca (from _pircca_, the wall?). Some of them are surrounded -by a kind of fortification; others were constructed for baths with -arrangements for conducting hot water; the larger were designed for -the use of the family of the Monarch himself. I had previously seen, -measured, and drawn with care, buildings of the same kind in a good -state of preservation at the foot of the volcano of Cotopaxi, near -Callo. Pedro de Cieça, writing in the 16th century, called them -“Aposentos de Mulalo.”[43] In the pass between Alausi and Loxa, called -the Paramo del Assuay,--(a much frequented route across the Ladera de -Cadlud, 14568 French or 15526 English feet above the level of the sea, -or almost equal to the height of Mont Blanc),--as we were leading our -heavily laden mules with great difficulty through the marshy ground -on the elevated plain del Pullal, our eyes meanwhile were continually -dwelling on the grand remains of the Inca’s road, which with a breadth -of twenty-one English feet ran by our side for above a German mile. -It had a deep under-structure, and was paved with well-cut blocks of -blackish trap-porphyry. Nothing that I had seen of the remains of Roman -roads in Italy, in the South of France, and in Spain, was more imposing -than these works of the ancient Peruvians, which are moreover situated, -according to my barometric measurements, at an elevation of 12440 -(13258 English) feet above the sea, or more than a thousand feet higher -than the summit of the Peak of Teneriffe. The ruins of what is called -the Palace of the Inca Tupac Yupanqui, and which are known by the name -of the “Paredones del Inca,” are situated at the same elevation on the -Assuay. Proceeding from thence to the southward towards Cuenca, the -road leads to the small but well preserved fortress of Cañar[44], -belonging probably to the same period, that of Tupac Yupanqui, or to -that of his warlike son, Huayna Capac. - -We saw still finer remains of the old Peruvian artificial roads on -the way between Loxa and the Amazons, at the Baths of the Incas -on the Paramo de Chulucanas, not far from Guancabamba, and in the -neighbourhood of Ingatambo, at Pomahuaca. These last named remains are -at a so much lower elevation, that I found the difference of level -between the Inca’s Road at Pomahuaca and that on the Paramo del Assuay -upwards of 9100 (about 9700 English) feet. The distance in a straight -line is by astronomically determined latitudes exactly 184 English -geographical miles, and the ascent of the road is 3500 (3730 English) -feet greater than the height of the Pass of Mount Cenis above the Lake -of Como. There are two great artificial Peruvian paved roads or systems -of roads, covered with flat stones, or sometimes even with cemented -gravel[45] (Macadamised); one passes through the wide and arid plain -between the Pacific Ocean and the chain of the Andes, and the other -over the ridges of the Cordilleras. Mile-stones, or stones marking the -distances, are often found placed at equal intervals. The road was -conducted across rivers and deep ravines by three kinds of bridges, -stone, wood, and rope bridges (Puentes de Hamaca or de Maroma), and -there were also aqueducts, or arrangements for bringing water to the -Tambos, (hostelries or caravanserais) and to the fortresses. Both -systems of roads were directed to the central point, Cuzco, the seat of -government of the great empire, in 13° 31´ South latitude, and which -is placed, according to Pentland’s map of Bolivia, 10676 Paris or 11378 -English feet above the level of the sea. As the Peruvians employed no -wheel carriages, and the roads were consequently only designed for the -march of troops, for men carrying burdens, and for lightly laden lamas, -we find them occasionally interrupted, on account of the steepness of -the mountains, by long flights of steps, provided with resting places -at suitable intervals. Francisco Pizarro and Diego Almagro, who on -their distant expeditions used the military roads of the Incas with so -much advantage, found great difficulties for the Spanish Cavalry at -the places where these steps occurred[46]. The impediment presented to -their march on these occasions was so much the greater, because in the -early times of the Conquista, the Spaniards used only horses instead -of the carefully treading mule, who in the difficult parts of the -mountains seems to deliberate on every step he takes. It was not until -a later period that mules were employed. - -Sarmiento, who saw the Roads of the Incas whilst they were still in -a perfect state of preservation, asks in a “Relacion” which long -lay unread, buried in the Library of the Escorial, “how a nation -unacquainted with the use of iron could have completed such grand -works in so high and rocky a region (“Caminos tan grandes y tan -sovervios”), extending from Cuzco to Quito on the one hand, and to -the coast of Chili on the other? The Emperor Charles,” he adds, “with -all his power could not accomplish even a part of what the well-ordered -Government of the Incas effected through the obedient people over -whom they ruled.” Hernando Pizarro, the most educated and civilised -of the three brothers, who for his misdeeds suffered a twenty years’ -imprisonment at Medina del Campo, and died at last at a hundred years -of age “in the odour of sanctity,” “en olor de Santidad,” exclaims: -“in the whole of Christendom there are nowhere such fine roads as -those which we here admire.” The two important capitals and seats of -government of the Incas, Cuzco and Quito, are 1000 English geographical -miles apart in a straight line (SS.E., NN.W.), without reckoning the -many windings of the way; and including the windings, the distance -is estimated by Garcilaso de la Vega and other Conquistadores at -“500 leguas.” Notwithstanding the great distance, we learn from the -well-confirmed testimony of the Licentiate Polo de Ondegardo, that -Huayna Capac, whose father had conquered Quito, caused some of the -building materials for the “princely buildings,” (the houses of the -Incas) in the latter city, to be brought from Cuzco. - -When enterprising races inhabit a land where the form of the ground -presents to them difficulties on a grand scale which they may -encounter and overcome, this contest with nature becomes a means of -increasing their strength and power as well as their courage. Under the -despotic centralizing system of the Inca-rule, security and rapidity -of communication, especially in the movement of troops, became an -important necessity of government. Hence the construction of artificial -roads on so grand a scale, and hence also the establishment of a highly -improved postal system. Among nations in very different stages of -cultivation we see the national activity display itself with peculiar -predilection in some particular directions, but we can by no means -determine the general state of culture of a people from the striking -development of such particular and partial activity. Egyptians, -Greeks[47], Etruscans, and Romans, Chinese, Japanese, and Hindoos, -shew many interesting contrasts in these respects. It is difficult to -pronounce what length of time may have been required for the execution -of the Peruvian roads. The great works in the northern part of the -Empire of the Incas, in the highlands of Quito, must at all events have -been completed in less than 30 or 35 years; _i. e._ within the short -period intervening between the defeat of the Ruler of “Quitu” and the -death of Huayna Capac, but entire obscurity prevails as to the period -of the formation of the Southern, and more properly speaking Peruvian, -roads. - -The mysterious appearance of Manco Capac is usually placed 400 years -before the landing of Pizarro in the Island of Puna (1532), therefore -towards the middle of the 12th century, almost 200 years before the -foundation of the city of Mexico (Tenochtitlan); some Spanish writers -even reckon, instead of 400, 500 and 550 years between Manco Capac and -Pizarro. But the history of the empire of Peru only recognises thirteen -ruling princes of the Inca-dynasty, a number which, as Prescott very -justly remarks, is not sufficient to occupy so long an interval as 550 -or even 400 years. Quetzalcoatl, Botschica, and Manco Capac, are the -three mythical forms with which the commencements of civilisation among -the Aztecs, the Muyscas (more properly Chibchas), and the Peruvians, -are connected. Quetzalcoatl, bearded, clothed in black, a high priest -of Tula, subsequently a penance-performing anchorite on a mountain -near Tlaxapuchicalco, comes to the highlands of Mexico from the coast -of Panuco; therefore from the eastern coast of Anahuac. Botschica, -or rather Nemterequeteba[48] (a Buddha of the Muyscas), a messenger -sent by the Deity, bearded and wearing long garments, arrives in the -high plains of Bogota from the grassy steppes east of the chain of the -Andes. Before Manco Capac a degree of civilisation already prevailed -on the picturesque shores of the Lake of Titicaca. The strong fort -of Cuzco, on the hill of Sacsahuaman, was formed on the pattern of -the older constructions of Tiahuanaco. In the same manner the Aztecs -imitated the pyramidal structures of the Toltecs, and these, those of -the Olmecs (Hulmecs); and gradually ascending, we arrive, still on -historic ground in Mexico, as far back as the sixth century of our Era. -According to Siguenza, the Toltec step-pyramid (or Teocalli) of Cholula -is a repetition of the form of the Hulmec step-pyramid of Teotihuacan. -Thus as we penetrate through each successive stratum of civilisation we -arrive at an earlier one; and national self-consciousness not having -awoke simultaneously in the two continents, we find in each nation the -imaginative mythical domain always immediately preceding the period of -historic knowledge. - -Notwithstanding the tribute of admiration which the first -Conquistadores paid to the roads and aqueducts of the Peruvians, not -only did they neglect the repair and preservation of both these classes -of useful works, but they even wantonly destroyed them; and this -still more towards the sea-coast, (for the sake of obtaining fine cut -stones for new buildings; and where the want of water consequent on the -destruction of the aqueducts has rendered the soil barren), than on the -ridges of the Andes, or in the deep-cleft valleys by which the mountain -chain is intersected. In the long day’s journey from the syenitic rocks -of Zaulaca to the Valley of San Felipe (rich in fossils, and situated -at the foot of the icy Paramo de Yamoca), we were obliged to wade -through the Rio de Guancabamba (which flows into the Amazons), no less -than twenty-seven times, on account of the windings of the stream; -while we continually saw near us, running in a straight line along the -side of a steep precipice, the remains of the high built road of the -Incas with its Tambos. The mountain torrent, though only from 120 to -150 English feet broad, was so strong and rapid that, in fording it, -our heavily laden mules were often in danger of being swept away by the -flood. They carried our manuscripts, our dried plants, and all that -we had been collecting for a year past. Under such circumstances one -watches from the other side of the stream with very anxious suspense -until the long train of eighteen or twenty beasts of burden have passed -in safety. - -The same Rio de Guancabamba, in the lower part of its course, where it -has many falls and rapids, is made to serve in a very singular manner -for the conveyance of correspondence with the coast of the Pacific. In -order to expedite more quickly the few letters from Truxillo which are -intended for the province of Jaen de Bracamoros, a “swimming courier,” -“el correo que nada,” as he is called in the country, is employed. This -post messenger, who is usually a young Indian, swims in two days from -Pomahuaca to Tomependa, first by the Rio de Chamaya (the name given to -the lower part of the Rio de Guancabamba), and then by the Amazons. He -carefully places the few letters entrusted to him in a large cotton -handkerchief, which he winds round his head in the manner of a turban. -When he comes to waterfalls he leaves the river, and makes a circuit -through the woods. In order to lessen the fatigue of swimming for so -long a time, he sometimes throws one arm round a piece of a very light -kind of wood (Ceiba, Palo de balsa), of a tree belonging to the family -of Bombaceæ. Sometimes also a friend goes with him to bear him company. -The pair have no concern about provisions, as they are always sure of a -hospitable reception in any of the scattered huts, which are abundantly -surrounded with fruit trees, in the beautiful Huertas de Pucara and -Cavico. - -Happily the river is free from crocodiles, which, in the upper part of -the Amazons, are first met with below the cataracts of Mayasi. These -unwieldy and slothful monsters generally prefer the more tranquil -waters. According to my measurements the Rio de Chamaya, from the Ford -(Paso) de Pucara to the place where it enters the Amazons River below -the village of Choros, has a fall[49] of 1668 (1778 English) feet in -the short space of 52 English geographical miles. The Governor of the -province of Jaen de Bracamoros assured me that letters carried by this -singular water-post were rarely either wetted or lost. Soon after my -return to Europe from Mexico, I received, in Paris, letters from -Tomependa, which had been sent in the manner above described. Several -tribes of wild Indians, living on the banks of the Upper Amazons, make -their journeys in a similar manner, swimming down the stream sociably -in parties. I had the opportunity of seeing in this manner, in the bed -of the river, the heads of thirty or forty persons (men, women, and -children), of the tribe of the Xibaros, on their arrival at Tomependa. -The “Correo que nada” returns by land by the difficult route of the -Paramo del Paredon. - -On approaching the hot climate of the basin of the Amazons, the eye is -cheered by the aspect of a beautiful, and occasionally very luxuriant -vegetation. We had never before, not even in the Canaries or on the hot -sea coast of Cumana and Caraccas, seen finer orange trees than those of -the Huertas de Pucara. They were principally the sweet orange (Citrus -aurantium, Risso), and less frequently the bitter or Seville orange (C. -vulgaris, Risso). Laden with many thousands of their golden fruits, -they attain a height of sixty or sixty-four English feet; and, instead -of rounded tops or crowns, have aspiring branches, almost like a laurel -or bay tree. Not far from thence, near the Ford of Cavico, we were -surprised by a very unexpected sight. We saw a grove of small trees, -only about eighteen or nineteen English feet high, which, instead of -green, had apparently perfectly red or rose-coloured leaves. It was a -new species of Bougainvillæa, a genus first established by the elder -Jussieu, from a Brazilian specimen in Commerson’s herbarium. The trees -were almost entirely without true leaves, as what we took for leaves -at a distance, proved to be thickly crowded bracteas. The appearance -was altogether different, in the purity and freshness of the colour, -from the autumnal tints which, in many of our forest trees, adorn the -woods of the temperate zone at the season of the fall of the leaf. -A single species of the South African family of Proteaceæ, Rhopala -ferruginea, descends here from the cold heights of the Paramo de -Yamoca to the hot plain of Chamaya. We often found here the Porlieria -hygrometrica (belonging to the Zygophylleæ), which, by the closing of -the leaflets of its finely pinnated foliage, foretels an impending -change of weather, and especially the approach of rain, much better -than any of the Mimosaceæ. It very rarely deceived us. - -We found at Chamaya rafts (balsas) in readiness to convey us to -Tomependa, which we desired to visit for the purpose of determining the -difference of longitude between Quito and the mouth of the Chinchipe -(a determination of some importance to the geography of South America -on account of an old observation of La Condamine).[50] We slept as -usual under the open sky on the sandy shore (Playa de Guayanchi) at -the confluence of the Rio de Chamaya with the Amazons. The next day -we embarked on the latter river, and descended it to the Cataracts -and Narrows (Pongo in the Quichua language, from puncu, door or gate) -of Rentema, where rocks of coarse-grained sandstone (conglomerate) -rise like towers, and form a rocky dam across the river. I measured -a base line on the flat and sandy shore, and found that at Tomependa -the afterwards mighty River of the Amazons is only a little above -1386 English feet across. In the celebrated River Narrow or Pongo of -Manseritche, between Santiago and San Borja, in a mountain ravine -where at some points the overhanging rocks and the canopy of foliage -forbid more than a very feeble light to penetrate, and where all the -drift wood, consisting of a countless number of trunks of trees, is -broken and dashed in pieces, the breadth of the stream is under 160 -English feet. The rocks by which all these Pongos or Narrows are formed -undergo many changes in the course of centuries. Thus a part of the -rocks forming the Pongo de Rentema, spoken of above, had been broken -up by a high flood a year before my journey; and there has even been -preserved among the inhabitants, by tradition, a lively recollection -of the precipitous fall of the then towering masses of rock along the -whole of the Pongo,--an event which took place in the early part of -the eighteenth century. This fall, and the consequent blocking up of -the channel, arrested the flow of the stream; and the inhabitants of -the village of Puyaya, situated below the Pongo de Rentema, saw with -alarm the wide river-bed entirely dry: but after a few hours the waters -again forced their way. Earthquake movements are not supposed to have -occasioned this remarkable occurrence. The powerful stream appears to -be as it were incessantly engaged in improving its bed, and some idea -of the force which it exerts may be formed from the circumstance, that -notwithstanding its breadth it is sometimes so swollen as to rise more -than 26 English feet in the course of twenty or thirty hours. - -We remained for seventeen days in the hot valley of the Upper Marañon -or Amazons. In order to pass from thence to the shores of the Pacific, -the Andes have to be crossed at the point where, between Micuipampa -and Caxamarca (in 6° 57´ S. lat. and 78° 34´ W. long. from Greenwich), -they are intersected, according to my observations, by the magnetic -equator. Ascending to a still higher elevation among the mountains, -the celebrated silver mines of Chota are reached, and from thence -with a few interruptions the route descends until the low grounds of -Peru are gained; passing intermediately over the ancient Caxamarca, -where 316 years ago the most sanguinary drama in the annals of the -Spanish Conquista took place, and also over Aroma and Gangamarca. -Here, as almost everywhere in the Chain of the Andes and in the -Mexican Mountains, the most elevated parts are picturesquely marked -by tower-like outbreaks of porphyry (often columnar), and trachyte. -Masses of this kind give to the crest of the mountains sometimes a -cliff-like and precipitous, and sometimes a dome-shaped character. They -have here broken through calcareous rocks, which, both on this and on -the northern side of the equator, are largely developed; and which, -according to Leopold von Buch’s researches, belong to the cretaceous -group. Between Guambos and Montan, 12000 French (12790 English) feet -above the sea, we found marine fossils[51] (Ammonites nearly fifteen -English inches in diameter, the large Pecten alatus, oyster shells, -Echini, Isocardias, and Exogyra polygona). A species of Cidaris, which, -according to Leopold von Buch, cannot be distinguished from that which -Brongniart found in the lower part of the chalk series at the Perte -du Rhone, was collected by us, both at Tomependa in the basin of the -Amazons and at Micuipampa,--stations of which the elevations differ -9900 (10551 English) feet. In a similar manner, in the Amuich Chain -of the Caucasian Daghestan, the cretaceous beds rise from the banks -of the Sulak, which are hardly 530 English feet above the sea, to a -height of fully 9000 (9592 English) feet on the Tschunum; while on -the summit of the Schadagh Mountain, 13090 (13950 English) feet high, -the Ostrea diluviana (Goldf.) and the same cretaceous beds are again -found. Abich’s excellent observations in the Caucasus would thus appear -to have confirmed in the most brilliant manner Leopold von Buch’s -geological views on the mountain development of the cretaceous group. - -From the lonely grazing farm of Montan surrounded by herds of lamas, we -ascended more to the south the eastern declivity of the Cordilleras, -and arrived as night was closing in at an elevated plain where the -argentiferous mountain of Gualgayoc, the principal site of the -celebrated silver mines of Chota, afforded us a remarkable spectacle. -The Cerro de Gualgayoc, separated by a deep-cleft ravine or valley -(Quebrada) from the limestone mountain of Cormolatsche, is an isolated -mass of siliceous rock traversed by a multitude of veins of silver -which often meet or intersect, and terminated to the north and west by -a deep and almost perpendicular precipice. The highest workings are -1445 (1540 English) feet above the floor of the gallery, the Socabon de -Espinachi. The outline of the mountain is broken by numerous tower-like -and pyramidal points; the summit bears indeed the name of “Las Puntas,” -and offers the most decided contrast to the “rounded outlines” which -the miners are accustomed to attribute to metalliferous districts -generally. “Our mountain,” said a rich possessor of mines with whom we -had arrived, “stands there like an enchanted castle (como si fuese un -castillo encantado).” The Gualgayoc reminds the beholder in some degree -of a cone of dolomite, but still more of the serrated crest of the -Monserrat Mountains in Catalonia, which I have also visited, and which -were subsequently described in so pleasing a manner by my brother. The -silver mountain Gualgayoc, besides being perforated to its summit by -many hundred galleries driven in every direction, presents also natural -openings in the mass of the siliceous rock, through which the intensely -dark blue sky of these elevated regions is visible to a spectator -standing at the foot of the mountain. These openings are popularly -called “windows,” “las ventanillas de Gualgayoc.” Similar “windows” -were pointed out to us in the trachytic walls of the volcano of -Pichincha, and called by a similar name,--“ventanillas de Pichincha.” -The strangeness of the view presented to us was still farther increased -by the numerous small sheds and dwelling-houses, which nestled on the -side of the fortress-like mountain wherever a flat surface permitted -their erection. The miners carry down the ore in baskets by very steep -and dangerous paths to the places where the process of amalgamation is -performed. - -The value of the silver furnished by the mines in the first thirty -years (from 1771 to 1802) amounted probably to considerably above -thirty-two millions of piastres. Notwithstanding the hardness of the -quartzose rock, the Peruvians, before the arrival of the Spaniards -(as ancient galleries and excavations testify), extracted rich -argentiferous galena on the Cerro de la Lin and on the Chupiquiyacu, -and gold in Curumayo (where native sulphur is also found in the quartz -rock as well as in the Brazilian Itacolumite). We inhabited near the -mines the small mountain town of Micuipampa, which is 11140 (11873 -English) feet above the level of the sea, and where, though only 6° 43´ -from the equator, water freezes in the house nightly throughout a large -portion of the year. In this desert devoid of vegetation live three -or four thousand persons, who are obliged to have all their means of -subsistence brought from the warm valleys, as they themselves only rear -some kinds of kale and excellent salad. In this wilderness, as in every -town in the high mountains of Peru, ennui leads the richer class of -persons, who are not on that account more cultivated or more civilised, -to pass their time in deep gambling: thus wealth quickly won is still -more quickly dissipated. There is much that reminds one of the soldier -of Pizarro’s troop, who, after the pillage of the temple at Cuzco, -complained that he had lost in one night at play “a great piece of the -sun” (a gold plate). I observed the thermometer at Micuipampa at 8 in -the morning 1°, and at noon 7° Reaumur (34°.2 and 47°.8 Fahrenheit). -We found among the thin blades of Ichhu-grass (perhaps our Stipa -eriostachya), a beautiful Calceolaria (C. sibthorpioides), which we -should not have expected at such an elevation. - -Not far from the town of Micuipampa, in a high plain called Llanos or -Pampa de Navar, there have been found throughout an area of above an -English geographical square mile, immediately under the turf, and as -it were intertwined with the roots of the alpine grasses, enormous -masses of rich red silver ore and threads of pure silver (in remolinos, -clavos, and vetas manteadas). Another elevated plain west of the -Purgatorio, near the Quebrada de Chiquera, is called “Choropampa” or -the “Field of Shells” (_churu_, in the Quichua language, signifies -shells, and particularly small eatable kinds, _hostion_, _mexillon_). -The name refers to fossils which belong to the cretaceous group, and -which are found there in such abundance that they early attracted the -attention of the natives. This is the place where there was obtained -near the surface a mass of pure gold spun round with threads of silver -in the richest manner. Such an occurrence shows how independent many -of the ores thrown up from the interior of the earth into fissures -or veins, are of the nature of the adjacent rock and of the relative -age of the formations broken through. The rock of the Cerro de -Gualgayoc and of Fuentestiana has a great deal of water, but in the -Purgatorio absolute dryness prevails. I found to my astonishment -that notwithstanding the height of the strata above the level of the -sea, the temperature of the last named mine was 15°.8 Reaumur (67°.4 -Fahr.); while in the neighbouring Mina de Guadalupe the water in the -mine showed about 9° Reaumur (52°.2 Fahr.) As in the open air the -thermometer only rises to about 4° Reaumur (41° Fahr.), the miners, -whose toil is severe, and who are almost without clothing, call the -subterranean heat in the Purgatorio stifling. - -The narrow path from Micuipampa to the ancient city of the Incas, -Caxamarca, is difficult even for mules. The name of the town was -originally Cassamarca or Kazamarca, _i. e._ the Frost town; (_marca_, -as signifying a place or locality, belongs to the northern Chinchaysuyo -or Chinchaysuyu dialect, while the word in the general Quichua language -signifies the stories of houses, and also defences or forts). Our -way lay for five or six hours over a succession of Paramos, where we -were exposed almost incessantly to the fury of the wind and to the -sharp-edged hail so peculiar to the ridges of the Andes. The height of -the route above the level of the sea is generally between nine and ten -thousand feet (about 9600 and 10660 Eng.) It afforded me, however, the -opportunity of making a magnetic observation of general interest; _i. -e._ the determination of the point where the North Inclination of the -Needle passes into South Inclination, or where the traveller’s route -crosses the Magnetic Equator.[52] - -On reaching at length the last of these mountain wildernesses, the -Paramo de Yanaguanga, the traveller looks down with increased pleasure -on the fertile valley of Caxamarca. It affords a charming prospect: -a small river winds through the elevated plain, which is of an oval -form and about six or seven German geographical square miles in extent -(96 or 112 English geographical square miles). The plain resembles -that of Bogota: both are probably the bottoms of ancient lakes; but at -Caxamarca there is wanting the myth of the wonder-working Botschica -or Idacanzas, the high priest of Iraca, who opened for the waters a -passage through the rock of Tequendama. Caxamarca is situated 600 (640 -Eng.) feet higher than Santa Fé de Bogota, therefore almost as high -as the city of Quito; but being sheltered by surrounding mountains it -enjoys a far milder and more agreeable climate. The soil is extremely -fertile, and the plain full of cultivated fields and gardens traversed -by avenues of Willows, large flowered red, white, and yellow varieties -of Datura, Mimosas, and the beautiful Quinuar-trees (our Polylepsis -villosa, a Rosacea allied to Alchemilla and Sanguisorba). Wheat yields -on an average in the Pampa de Caxamarca fifteen to twentyfold, but -the hopes of a plentiful harvest are sometimes disappointed by night -frosts, occasioned by the great radiation of heat towards the unclouded -sky through the dry and rarefied mountain air: the frosts are not felt -in the roofed houses. - -In the northern part of the plain, small porphyritic domes break -through the widely extended sandstone strata, and probably once formed -islands in the ancient lake before its waters had flowed off. On the -summit of one of these domes, the Cerro de Santa Polonia, we enjoyed a -pleasing prospect. The ancient residence of Atuhuallpa is surrounded -on this side by fruit gardens and by irrigated fields of lucerne -(Medicago sativa, “campos de alfalfa”). Columns of smoke are seen at -a distance rising from the warm baths of Pultamarca, which are still -called Baños del Inca. I found the temperature of these sulphur-springs -55°.2 Reaumur (156°.2 Fahrenheit). Atahuallpa spent a part of the year -at these baths, where some slight remains of his palace still survive -the devastating rage of the Conquistadores. The large and deep basin or -reservoir in which, according to tradition, one of the golden chairs -in which the Inca was carried had been sunk and has ever since been -sought in vain, appeared to me, from the regularity of its circular -shape, to have been artificially excavated in the sandstone rock above -one of the fissures through which the springs issue. - -Of the fort and palace of Atahuallpa there are also only very slight -remains in the town, which is now adorned with some fine churches. -The destruction of the ancient buildings has been accelerated by -the devouring thirst of gold which led men, before the close of the -sixteenth century, in digging for supposed hidden treasures, to -overturn walls and carelessly to undermine or weaken the foundations -of all the houses. The palace of the Inca was situated on a hill of -porphyry which had originally been hollowed at the surface, so that it -surrounds the principal dwelling almost like a wall or rampart. A state -prison and a municipal building (la Casa del Cabildo) have been erected -on a part of the ruins. The most considerable ruins still visible, but -which are only from 13 to 16 feet high, are opposite the convent of -San Francisco; they consist, as may be observed in the house of the -Cacique, of fine cut blocks of stone two or three feet long, and placed -upon each other without cement, as in the Inca-Pilca or strong fortress -of Cañar in the high land of Quito. - -There is a shaft sunk in the porphyritic rock which once led into -subterranean chambers, and a gallery said to extend to the other -porphyritic dome before spoken of, that of Santa Polonia. Such -arrangements shew an apprehension of the uncertainties of war, and the -desire to secure the means of escape. The burying of treasures was an -old and very generally prevailing Peruvian custom. There may still -be found subterranean chambers below many of the private dwellings of -Caxamarca. - -We were shown steps cut in the rock, and also what is called the Inca’s -foot-bath (el lavatorio de los pies). The washing of the monarch’s feet -was accompanied by some inconvenient usages of court etiquette.[53] -Minor buildings, designed according to tradition for the servants, -are constructed partly like the others of cut stones, and provided -with sloped roofs, and partly with well formed bricks alternating -with siliceous cement (muros y obra de tapia). In the latter class of -constructions there are vaulted recesses, the antiquity of which I long -doubted, but, as I now believe, without sufficient grounds. - -In the principal building the room is still shown in which the unhappy -Atahuallpa was kept a prisoner for nine months[54] from November 1532, -and there is pointed out to the traveller the wall on which the captive -signified to what height he would fill the room with gold if set free. -This height is given very variously, by Xerez in his “Conquista del -Peru” which Barcia has preserved for us, by Hernando Pizarro in his -letters, and by other writers of the period. The prince said that -“gold in bars, plates, and vessels, should be heaped up as high as he -could reach with his hand.” Xerez assigns to the room a length of 23, -and a breadth of 18 English feet. Garcilaso de la Vega, who quitted -Peru in his 20th year, in 1560, estimates the value of the treasure -collected from the temples of the sun at Cuzco, Huaylas, Huamachuco, -and Pachacamac, up to the fateful 29th of August 1553, on which day -the Inca was put to death, at 3,838,000 Ducados de Oro[55]. - -In the chapel of the state prison, to which I have before alluded as -built upon the ruins of the Inca’s palace, the stone still marked -by the indelible stains of blood is shown to the credulous. It is a -very thin slab, 13 feet long, placed in front of the altar, and has -probably been taken from the porphyry or trachyte of the vicinity. One -is not permitted to make any more precise examination by striking off -a part of the stone, but the three or four supposed blood spots appear -to be natural collections of hornblende or pyroxide in the rock. The -Licentiate Fernando Montesinos, who visited Peru scarcely a hundred -years after the taking of Caxamarca, even at that early period gave -currency to the fable that Atahuallpa was beheaded in prison, and that -stains of blood were still visible on the stone on which the execution -had taken place. There is no reason to doubt the fact, confirmed by -many eye-witnesses, that the Inca, in order to avoid being burnt alive, -consented to be baptised under the name of Juan de Atahuallpa by his -fanatic persecutor, the Dominican monk Vicente de Valverde. He was -put to death by strangulation (el garrote) publicly, and in the open -air. Another tradition relates that a chapel was raised over the spot -where Atahuallpa was strangled, and that his body rests beneath the -stone; in such case, however, the supposed spots of blood would remain -unaccounted for. In reality, however, the corpse was never placed -beneath the stone in question. After a mass for the dead, and solemn -funereal rites, at which the brothers Pizarro were present in mourning -habits (!), it was conveyed first to the churchyard of the convent of -San Francisco, and afterwards to Quito, Atahuallpa’s birthplace. This -last transfer was in compliance with the expressed wish of the dying -Inca. His personal enemy, the astute Rumiñavi (“stone-eye,” a name -given from the disfigurement of one eye by a wart; “rumi,” signifying -“stone,” and “ñaui,” “eye,” in the Quichua language), from political -motives caused the body to be buried at Quito with solemn obsequies. - -We found descendants of the monarch, the family of the Indian Cacique -Astorpilco, dwelling in Caxamarca, among the melancholy ruins of -ancient departed splendour, and living in great poverty and privation; -but patient and uncomplaining. Their descent from Atahuallpa through -the female line has never been doubted in Caxamarca, but traces of -beard may perhaps indicate some admixture of Spanish blood. Of the sons -of the Great (but for a child of the sun somewhat free thinking),[56] -Huayna Capac, neither of the two who swayed the sceptre before the -arrival of the Spaniards, Huascar and Atahuallpa, left behind them -acknowledged sons. Huascar became the prisoner of Atahuallpa in the -plains of Quipaypan, and was soon afterwards secretly murdered by his -order. Neither were there any surviving male descendants of the two -remaining brothers of Atahuallpa, the insignificant youth Toparca, -who Pizarro caused to be crowned as Inca in the autumn of 1553, and -the enterprising Manco Capac, similarly crowned, but who afterwards -rebelled again. Atahuallpa left indeed a son, whose christian name -was Don Francisco, (but who died very young), and a daughter, Doña -Angelina, by whom Francisco Pizarro (with whom she led a wild and -warlike life), had a son whom he loved fondly, grandchild of the -slaughtered monarch. Besides the family of the Cacique Astorpilco, with -whom I was acquainted at Caxamarca, the Carguraicos and Titu Buscamayta -were pointed out at the period of my visit as belonging to the Inca -dynasty; but the Buscamayta family has since become extinct. - -The son of the Cacique Astorpilco, a pleasing and friendly youth of -seventeen, who accompanied me over the ruins of the palace of his -ancestor, while living in extreme poverty, had filled his imagination -with images of buried splendour and golden treasures hidden beneath -the masses of rubbish upon which we trod. He related to me that one -of his more immediate forefathers had bound his wife’s eyes, and -then conducted her through many labyrinths cut in the rock into -the subterranean garden of the Incas. There she saw, skilfully and -elaborately imitated, and formed of the purest gold, artificial trees, -with leaves and fruit, and birds sitting on the branches; and there -too was the much sought for golden travelling chair (una de las andas) -of Atahuallpa. The man commanded his wife not to touch any of these -enchanted riches, because the long foretold period of the restoration -of the empire had not yet arrived, and that whoever should attempt -before that time to appropriate aught of them would die that very -night. These golden dreams and fancies of the youth were founded on -recollections and traditions of former days. These artificial “golden -gardens” (Jardines o Huertas de oro) were often described by actual -eye-witnesses, Cieza de Leon Sarmiento, Garcilaso, and other early -historians of the Conquest. They were found beneath the temple of the -sun at Cuzco, in Caxamarca, and in the pleasant valley of Yucay, a -favourite residence of the monarch’s family. Where the golden Huertas -were not below ground, living plants grew by the side of the artificial -ones: among the latter, tall plants and ears of maize (mazorcas) are -mentioned as particularly well executed. - -The morbid confidence with which the young Astorpilco assured me -that below our feet, a little to the right of the spot on which I -stood at the moment, there was an artificial large-flowered Datura -tree (Guanto), formed of gold wire and gold plates, which spread its -branches over the Inca’s chair, impressed me deeply but painfully, for -it seemed as if these illusive and baseless visions were cherished as -consolations in present sufferings. I asked the lad--“Since you and -your parents believe so firmly in the existence of this garden, are not -you sometimes tempted in your necessities to dig in search of treasures -so close at hand?” The boy’s answer was so simple, and expressed -so fully the quiet resignation characteristic of the aboriginal -inhabitants of the country, that I noted it in Spanish in my journal. -“Such a desire (tal antojo) does not come to us; father says it would -be sinful (que fuese pecado). If we had the golden branches with all -their golden fruits our white neighbours would hate and injure us. We -have a small field and good wheat (buen trigo).” Few of my readers, -I think, will blame me for recalling here the words of the young -Astorpilco and his golden visions. - -The belief, so widely current among the natives, that to take -possession of buried treasures which belonged to the Incas would be -wrong, and would incur punishment and bring misfortune on the entire -race, is connected with another belief which prevailed, especially -in the 16th and 17th centuries, _i. e._ the future restoration of a -kingdom of the Incas. Every suppressed nationality looks forward to a -day of change, and to a renewal of the old government. The flight of -Manco Inca, the brother of Atahuallpa, into the forests of Vilcapampa -on the declivity of the eastern Cordillera, and the sojourn of Sayri -Tupac and Inca Tupac Amaru in those wildernesses, have left permanent -recollections. It was believed that the dethroned dynasty had settled -between the rivers Apurimac and Beni, or still farther to the east in -Guiana. The myth of el Dorado and the golden city of Manoa, travelling -from the west to the east, increased these dreams, and Raleigh’s -imagination was so inflamed by them, that he founded an expedition -on the hope of “conquering ‘the imperial and golden city,’ placing -in it a garrison of three or four thousand English, and levying from -the ‘Emperor of Guiana,’ a descendant of Huayna Capac, and who holds -his court with the same magnificence, an annual tribute of £300,000 -sterling, as the price of his promised restoration to the throne in -Cuzco and Caxamarca.” Wherever the Peruvian Quichua language has -extended, some traces of such expectations of the return of the Inca’s -sovereignty continue[57] to exist in the minds of many among those of -the natives who are possessed of some knowledge of the history of their -country. - -We remained for five days in the town of the Inca Atahuallpa, which at -that time scarcely reckoned seven or eight thousand inhabitants. Our -departure was delayed by the number of mules which were required for -the conveyance of our collections, and by the necessity of making a -careful choice of the guides who were to conduct us across the chain -of the Andes to the entrance of the long but narrow Peruvian sandy -desert (Desierto de Sechura). The passage over the Cordillera is -from north-east to south-west. Immediately after quitting the plain -of Caxamarca, on ascending a height of scarcely 9600 (10230 English) -feet, the traveller is struck with the sight of two grotesquely -shaped porphyritic summits, Aroma and Cunturcaga (a favourite haunt -of the powerful vulture which we commonly call Condor; _kacca_ in the -Quichua language signifies “the rock.”) These summits consisted of -five, six, or seven-sided columns, 37 to 42 English feet high, and -some of them jointed. The Cerro Aroma is particularly picturesque. By -the distribution of its often converging series of columns placed one -above another, it resembles a two-storied building, which, moreover, is -surmounted by a dome or cupola of non-columnar rock. Such outbursts of -porphyry and trachyte are, as I have before remarked, characteristic of -the high crests of the Cordilleras, to which they impart a physiognomy -quite distinct from that presented by the Swiss Alps, the Pyrenees, and -the Siberian Altai. - -From Cunturcaga and Aroma we descended by a zig-zag course a steep -rocky declivity of 6400 English feet into the deep cleft valley of the -Magdalena, the bottom of which is still 4260 English feet above the -level of the sea. A few wretched huts, surrounded by the same wool or -cotton-trees (Bombax discolor) which we had first seen on the banks -of the Amazons, were called an Indian village. The scanty vegetation -of the valley bears some resemblance to that of the province of Jaen -de Bracamoros, but we missed the red groves of Bougainvillæa. This -valley is one of the deepest with which I am acquainted in the chain -of the Andes: it is a true transverse valley directed from east to -west, deeply cleft, and hemmed in on the two sides by the Altos de -Aroma and Guangamarca. In this valley recommences the same quartz -formation which we had observed in the Paramo de Yanaguanga, between -Micuipampa and Caxamarca, at an elevation of 11720 English feet, and -which, on the western declivity of the Cordillera, attains a thickness -of several thousand feet, and was long an enigma to me. Since von Buch -has shown us that the cretaceous group is also widely extended in the -highest chains of the Andes, on either side of the Isthmus of Panama, -the quartz formation which we are now considering, which has perhaps -been altered in its texture by the action of volcanic forces, may be -considered to belong to the Quadersandstein, intermediate between -the upper part of the chalk series, and the Gault and Greensand. On -quitting the mild temperature of the Magdalena valley we had to ascend -again for three hours the mountain wall of 5120 English feet, opposite -to the porphyritic group of the Alto de Aroma. The change of climate -in so doing was the more sensible, as we were often enveloped in the -course of the ascent in a cold fog. - -The longing desire which we felt to enjoy once more the open view of -the sea after eighteen months’ constant sojourn in the ever restricted -range of the interior of the mountains, had been heightened by -repeated disappointments. In looking from the summit of the volcano of -Pichincha, over the dense forests of the Provincia de las Esmeraldas, -no sea horizon can be clearly distinguished, by reason of the too great -distance of the coast and height of the station: it is like looking -down from an air-balloon into vacancy. One divines, but one does not -distinguish. Subsequently, when between Loxa and Guancabamba we reached -the Paramo de Guamini, where there are several ruined buildings of the -times of the Incas, and from whence the mule-drivers had confidently -assured us that we should see beyond the plain, beyond the low -districts of Piura and Lambajeque, the sea itself which we so much -desired to behold, a thick mist covered both the plain and the distant -sea shore. We saw only variously shaped masses of rock alternately rise -like islands above the waving sea of mist, and again disappear, as had -been the case in our view from the Peak of Teneriffe. We were exposed -to almost the same disappointment in our subsequent transit over the -pass of Guangamarca, at the time of which I am now speaking. As we -toiled up the mighty mountain side, with our expectations continually -on the stretch, our guides, who were not perfectly acquainted with the -road, repeatedly promised us that at the end of the hour’s march which -was nearly concluded, our hopes would be realised. The stratum of mist -which enveloped us appeared occasionally to be about to disperse, but -at such moments our field of view was again restricted by intervening -heights. - -The desire which we feel to behold certain objects does not depend -solely on their grandeur, their beauty, or their importance; it is -interwoven in each individual with many accidental impressions of his -youth, with early predilection for particular occupations, with an -attachment to the remote and distant, and with the love of an active -and varied life. The previous improbability of the fulfilment of a -wish gives besides to its realisation a peculiar kind of charm. The -traveller enjoys by anticipation the first sight of the constellation -of the cross, and of the Magellanic clouds circling round the Southern -Pole,--of the snow of the Chimborazo, and the column of smoke ascending -from the volcano of Quito,--of the first grove of tree-ferns, and -of the Pacific Ocean. The days on which such wishes are realised -form epochs in life, and produce ineffaceable impressions; exciting -feelings of which the vividness seeks not justification by processes -of reasoning. With the longing which I felt for the first view of the -Pacific from the crests of the Andes, there mingled the interest with -which I had listened as a boy to the narrative of the adventurous -expedition of Vasco Nuñez de Balboa,[58] the fortunate man who -(followed by Francisco Pizarro) first among Europeans beheld from the -heights of Quarequa, on the Isthmus of Panama, the eastern part of -the Pacific Ocean,--the “South Sea.” The reedy shores of the Caspian, -at the place where I first saw them, _i. e._ from the Delta formed by -the mouths of the Volga, cannot certainly be called picturesque; yet -I viewed them with a gratification heightened almost into delight by -the particular interest and pleasure with which, in early childhood, I -had looked at the shape of this Asiatic inland sea on maps. That which -is thus excited in us[59] by childish impressions, or by accidental -circumstances in life, takes at a later period a graver direction, and -often becomes a motive for scientific labours and distant enterprises. - -When after many undulations of the ground, on the summit of the steep -mountain ridge, we finally reached the highest point, the Alto de -Guangamarca, the heavens which had long been veiled became suddenly -clear: a sharp west wind dispersed the mist, and the deep blue of the -sky in the thin mountain air appeared between narrow lines of the -highest cirrous clouds. The whole of the western declivity of the -Cordillera by Chorillos and Cascas, covered with large blocks of quartz -13 to 15 English feet long, and the plains of Chala and Molinos as far -as the sea shore near Truxillo, lay beneath our eyes in astonishing -apparent proximity. We now saw for the first time the Pacific Ocean -itself; and we saw it clearly: forming along the line of the shore a -large mass from which the light shone reflected, and rising in its -immensity to the well-defined, no longer merely conjectured horizon. -The joy it inspired, and which was vividly shared by my companions -Bonpland and Carlos Montufar, made us forget to open the barometer -until we had quitted the Alto de Guangamarca. From our measurement -taken soon after, but somewhat lower down, at an isolated cattle-farm -called the Hato de Guangamarca, the point from which we first saw the -sea would be only somewhere between 9380 and 9600 English feet above -the level of the sea. - -The view of the Pacific was peculiarly impressive to one who like -myself owed a part of the formation of his mind and character, and many -of the directions which his wishes had assumed, to intercourse with -one of the companions of Cook. My schemes of travel were early made -known, in their leading outlines at least, to George Forster, when I -enjoyed the advantage of making my first visit to England under his -guidance, more than half a century ago. Forster’s charming descriptions -of Otaheite had awakened throughout Northern Europe a general interest -(mixed, I might almost say, with romantic longings) for the Islands of -the Pacific which had at that time been seen by very few Europeans. -I too cherished at the time of which I am speaking the hope of soon -landing on them; for the object of my visit to Lima was twofold,--to -observe the transit of Mercury over the solar disk, and to fulfil an -engagement made with Captain Baudin before I left Paris, to join him -in a voyage of circumnavigation which was to take place as soon as the -Government of the French Republic could furnish the requisite funds. - -Whilst we were in the Antilles, North American newspapers announced -that the two Corvettes, Le Géographe and Le Naturaliste, would sail -round Cape Horn and touch at Callao de Lima. On receiving this -intelligence at Havana, where I then was, after having completed my -Orinoco journey, I relinquished my original plan of going through -Mexico to the Philippines, and hastened to engage a vessel to convey -me from the Island of Cuba to Cartagena de Indias. Baudin’s Expedition, -however, took quite a different route from that which was announced -and expected; instead of sailing round Cape Horn, as had been designed -when it had been intended that Bonpland and myself should form part -of it, it sailed round the Cape of Good Hope. One of the two objects -of my Peruvian journey and of our last passage over the Chain of the -Andes failed; but on the other hand I had, at the critical moment, the -rare good fortune of a perfectly clear day, during a very unfavourable -season of the year, on the misty coast of Low Peru. I observed the -passage of Mercury over the Sun at Callao, an observation which has -become of some importance towards the exact determination of the -longitude of Lima[60], and of all the south-western part of the New -Continent. Thus in the intricate relations and graver circumstances of -life, there may often be found, associated with disappointment, a germ -of compensation. - - - - -ANNOTATIONS AND ADDITIONS. - - -[41] p. 267.--“_On the ridge of the Chain of the Andes or Antis._” - -The Inca Garcilaso, who was well acquainted with the language of his -country and was fond of dwelling on etymologies, always calls the Chain -of the Andes las Montañas de los Antis. He says positively, that the -great Mountain chain east of Cuzco derived its name from the tribe -of the Antis, and the Province of Anti which is to the east of the -Capital of the Incas. The Quaternary division of the Peruvian Empire -according to the four quarters of the Heavens, reckoned from Cuzco, -borrowed its terminology not from the very circumstantial words taken -which signify East, West, North, and South in the Quichua language -(intip lluscinanpata, intip yaucunanpata, intip chaututa chayananpata, -intip chaupunchau chayananpata); but from the names of the Provinces -and of the tribes or races, (Provincias llamadas Anti, Cunti, Chincha -y Colla), which are east, west, north, and south of the Centre of the -Empire (the city of Cuzco). The four parts of the Inca-theocracy are -called accordingly Antisuyu, Cuntisuyu, Chinchasuyu, and Collasuyu. -The word _suyu_ signifies “strip,” and also “part.” Notwithstanding -the great distance, Quito belonged to Chinchasuyu; and in proportion -as by their religious wars the Incas extended still more widely the -prevalence of their faith, their language, and their absolute form of -government, these Suyus also acquired larger and unequally increased -dimensions. Thus the names of provinces came to be used to express the -different quarters of the heavens; “Nombrar aquellos Partidos era lo -mismo,” says Garcilaso, “que decir al Oriente, ó al Poniente.” The Snow -Chain of the Antis was thus looked upon as an East chain. “La Provincia -Anti da nombre á las Montañas de los Antis. Llamaron la parte á del -Oriente Antisuyu, por la qual tambien llaman Anti á toda aquella gran -Cordillera de Sierra Nevada que pasa al Oriente del Peru, por dar á -entender, que está al Oriente.” (Commentarios Reales, P. I. p. 47 and -122.) Later writers have tried to deduce the name of the Chain of the -Andes from “anta,” which signifies “copper” in the Quichua language. -This metal was indeed of the greatest importance to a nation whose -tools and cutting instruments were made not of iron but of copper mixed -with tin; but the name of the “Copper Mountains” can hardly have been -extended to so great a chain; and besides, as Professor Buschmann very -justly remarks, the word anta retains its terminal _a_ when making -part of a compound word: _anta_, cobre, y _antamarca_ Provincia de -Cobre. Moreover, the form and composition of words in the ancient -Peruvian language are so simple that there can be no question of the -passage of an _a_ into an _i_; and thus “anta” (copper) and “Anti or -Ante” (meaning as dictionaries of the country explain “la tierra de -los Andes, el Indio hombre de los Andes, la Sierra de los Andes,” _i. -e._ the country of the Andes, an inhabitant of the Andes, or the chain -of mountains themselves), are and must continue two wholly different -and distinct words. There are no means of interpreting the proper -name (Anti) by connecting it with any signification or idea; if such -connection exist it is buried in the obscurity of the past. Other -Composites of Anti besides the above-mentioned Antisuyu are “Anteruna” -(the native inhabitant of the Andes), and Anteunccuy or Antionccoy, -(sickness of the Andes, mal de los Andes pestifero). - -[42] p. 268.--“_The Countess of Chinchon._” - -She was the wife of the Viceroy Don Geronimo Fernandez de Cabrera, -Bobadilla y Mendoza, Conde de Chinchon, who administered the government -of Peru from 1629 to 1639. The cure of the Vice-Queen falls in the -year 1638. A tradition which has obtained currency in Spain, but which -I have heard much combated at Loxa, names a Corregidor del Cabildo de -Loxa, Juan Lopez de Cañizares, as the person by whom the Quina-bark -was first brought to Lima and generally recommended as a remedy. I -have heard it asserted in Loxa that the beneficial virtues of the -tree were known long before in the mountains, though not generally. -Immediately after my return to Europe I expressed the doubts I felt as -to the discovery having been made by the natives of the country round -Loxa, since even at the present day the Indians of the neighbouring -valleys, where intermittent fevers are very prevalent, shun the use -of bark. (Compare my memoir entitled “über die China-wälder” in the -“Magazin der Gesellschaft naturforschender Freunde” zu Berlin, Jahrg. -I. 1807, S. 59.) The story of the natives having learnt the virtues of -the Cinchona from the lions who “cure themselves of intermittent fevers -by gnawing the bark of the China (or Quina) trees,”--(Hist. de l’Acad. -des Sciences, année 1738, Paris, 1740, p. 233),--appears to be entirely -of European origin, and nothing but a monkish fable. Nothing is known -in the New Continent of the “Lion’s fever,” for the large so-called -American Lion (Felis concolor), and the small mountain Lion (Puma) -whose foot-marks I have seen on the snow, are never tamed and made -the subjects of observation; nor are the different species of Felinæ -in either continent accustomed to gnaw the bark of trees. The name of -Countess’s Powder (Pulvis Comitissæ), occasioned by the remedy having -been distributed by the Countess of Chinchon, was afterwards changed -to that of Cardinal’s or Jesuit’s powder, because Cardinal de Lugo, -Procurator-General of the order of the Jesuits, spread the knowledge of -this valuable remedy during a journey through France, and recommended -it to Cardinal Mazarin the more urgently, as the brethren of the -order were beginning to prosecute a lucrative trade in South American -Quina-bark which they obtained through their missionaries. It is -hardly necessary to remark, that in the long controversy which ensued -respecting the good or bad effects of the fever bark, the protestant -physicians sometimes permitted themselves to be influenced by religious -intolerance and dislike of the Jesuits. - -[43] p. 271.--“_Aposentos de Mulalos._” - -Respecting these aposentos (dwellings, inns, in the Quichua language -_tampu_, whence the Spanish form tambo), compare Cieça, Chronica del -Peru, cap. 41, (ed. de 1554, p. 108) and my Vues des Cordillères, Pl. -xxiv. - -[44] p. 272.--“_The fortress of the Cañar._” - -Is situated not far from Turche, at an elevation of 9984 (10640 -English) feet. I have given a drawing of it in the Vues des -Cordillères, Pl. xvii. (compare also Cieça, cap. 44, P. i. p. 120). -Not far from the Fortaleza del Cañar, in the celebrated ravine of the -Sun, Inti-Guaycu, (in the Quichua or Qquechhua language, _huaycco_), -is the rock on which the natives think they see a representation of -the sun and of an enigmatical sort of bank or bench which is called -Inga-Chungana (Incachuncana), the Inca’s play. I have drawn both. See -Vues des Cordillères, Pl. xviii. and xix. - -[45] p. 272.--“_Artificial roads covered with cemented gravel._” - -Compare Velasco, Historia de Quito, 1844, T. i. p. 126-128, and -Prescott, Hist. of the Conquest of Peru, Vol. i. p. 157. - -[46] p. 273.--“_Where the road was interrupted by flights of steps._” - -Compare Pedro Sancho in Ramusio, Vol. iii. fol. 404, and Extracts -from Manuscript Letters of Hernando Pizarro, employed by the great -historical writer now living at Boston; Prescott, Vol. i. p. 444. “El -camino de las sierras es cosa de ver, porque en verdad en tierra tan -fragosa en la cristiandad no se han visto tan hermosos caminos, toda la -mayor parte de calzada.” - -[47] p. 275.--“_Greeks and Romans shew these contrasts._” - -“If,” says Strabo, (Lib. v. p. 235, Casaub) “the Greeks in building -their cities sought for a happy result by aiming especially at beauty -and solidity, the Romans on the other hand have regarded particularly, -objects which the Greeks left unthought of;--stone pavements in the -streets; aqueducts bringing to the city abundant supplies of water; and -provisions for drainage so as to wash away and carry to the Tiber all -uncleanliness. They also paved the roads through the country, so that -waggons may transport with ease the goods brought by trading ships.” - -[48] p. 276.--“_The messenger of the deity Nemterequeteba._” - -The civilisation of ancient Mexico (the Aztec land of Anahuac), and -that of the Peruvian theocracy or empire of the Incas, the children -of the Sun, have so engrossed attention in Europe, that a third point -of comparative light and of dawning civilisation, which existed among -the nations inhabiting the mountains of New Granada, was long almost -entirely overlooked. I have touched on this subject in some detail in -the Vue des Cordillères et Monumens des Peuples Indigènes de l’Amérique -(ed. in 8vo.) T. ii. p. 220-267. The form of the government of the -Muyscas of New Granada reminds us of the constitution of Japan and the -relation of the Secular Ruler (Kubo or Seogun at Jeddo) to the sacred -personage the Daïri at Miyako. When Gonzalo Ximenez de Quesada advanced -to the high table land of Bogota (Bacata, _i. e._ the extremity of -the cultivated fields, probably from the proximity of the mountain -wall), he found there three powers or authorities respecting whose -reciprocal relations and subordination there remains some uncertainty. -The spiritual chief, who was appointed by election, was the high priest -of Iraca or Sogamoso (Sugamuxi, the place of the disappearance of -Nemterequeteba): the secular rulers or princes were the Zake (Zaque of -Hunsa or Tunja), and the Zipa of Funza. In the feudal constitution the -last-named prince appears to have been originally subordinate to the -Zake. - -The Muyscas had a regular mode of computing time, with intercalation -for amending the lunar year: they used small circular plates of gold, -cast of equal diameter, as money (any traces of which among the highly -civilised ancient Egyptians have been sought in vain), and they had -temples of the Sun with stone columns, remains of which have very -recently been discovered in the Valley of Leiva. (Joaquin Acosta, -Compendio historico del Descubrimiento de la Nueva Granada, 1848, -p. 188, 196, 206, and 208; Bulletin de la Société de Géographie de -Paris, 1847, p. 114.) The tribe or race of the Muyscas ought properly -speaking to be always denoted by the name of Chibchas; as Muysca in -the Chibcha language signifies merely “men,” “people.” The origin -and elements of the civilisation introduced are attributed to two -mystical forms, Bochica (Botschica) and Nemterequeteba which are often -confounded together. The first of these is still more mythical than the -second; for it was only Botschica who was regarded as divine, and made -almost equal to the Sun itself. His fair companion Chia or Huythaca -occasioned by her magical arts the overflowing of the valley of Bogota, -and for so doing was banished by Botschica from the earth, and made -to revolve round it for the first time, as the moon. Botschica struck -the rock of Tequendama, and gave a passage for the waters to flow off -near the field of the Giants (Campo de Gigantes) in which the bones -of elephant-like mastodons lie buried at an elevation of 8250 (8792 -Engl.) feet above the level of the sea. Captain Cochrane (Journal of -a Residence in Colombia, 1825, Vol. ii. p. 390) and Mr. John Ranking -(Historical Researches on the Conquest of Peru, 1827, p. 397), state -that animals of this species are still living in the Andes, and shed -their teeth! Nemterequeteba, also called Chinzapogua (enviado de Dios) -is a human person, a bearded man, who came from the East, from Pasca, -and disappeared at Sogamoso. The foundation of the sanctuary of Iraca -is sometimes ascribed to him and sometimes to Botschica, and as the -latter is said to have borne also the name of Nemqueteba, the confusion -between the two, on ground so unhistoric, is easily accounted for. - -My old friend Colonel Acosta, in his instructive work entitled -Compendio de la Hist. de la Nueva Granada, p. 185, endeavours to prove -by means of the Chibcha language that “potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) -bear at Usmè the native non-Peruvian name of Yomi, and were found by -Quesada already cultivated in the province of Velez as early as 1537, -a period when their introduction from Chili, Peru, and Quito, would -seem improbable, and therefore that the plant may be regarded as a -native of New Granada.” I would remark, however, that the Peruvian -invasion and complete possession of Quito took place before 1525, the -year of the death of the Inca Huayna Capac. The southern provinces -of Quito even fell under the dominion of Tupac Inca Yupanqui at the -conclusion of the 15th century (Prescott, Conquest of Peru, Vol. i. -p. 332.) In the unfortunately still very obscure history of the first -introduction of the potato into Europe, the merit of its introduction -is still very generally attributed to Sir John Hawkins, who is supposed -to have received it from Santa Fé in 1563 or 1565. It appears more -certain that Sir Walter Raleigh planted the first potatoes on his -Irish estate near Youghal, from whence they were taken to Lancashire. -Before the conquista, the plantain (Musa), which since the arrival -of the Spaniards has been cultivated in all the warmer parts of New -Granada, was only found, as Colonel Acosta believes, (p. 205) at Choco. -On the name Cundinamarca,--applied by a false erudition to the young -republic of New Granada in 1811, a name “full of golden dreams” (sueños -dorados), more properly Cundirumarca (not Cunturmarca, Garcilaso, lib. -viii. cap. 2),--see also Joaquin Acosta, p. 189. Luis Daza, who joined -the small invading army of the Conquistador Sebastian de Belalcazar -which came from the south, had heard of a distant country abounding -in gold, called Cundirumarca, inhabited by the tribe of the Chicas, -and whose prince had solicited Atahuallpa at Caxamarca for auxiliary -troops. These Chicas have been confounded with the Chibchas or Muyscas -of New Granada; and thus the name of the unknown more southern country -has been unduly transferred to that territory. - -[49] p. 278.--“_The fall of the Rio de Chamaya._” - -Compare my Recueil d’Observ. Astron., vol. i. p. 304; Nivellement -barométrique, No. 236-242. I have given in the Vues des Cordillères, Pl -xxxi. a drawing of the “swimming post,” as he binds round his head the -handkerchief containing the letters. - -[50] p. 280.--“_Which, on account of an old observation of La -Condamine, was of some importance to the geography of South America._” - -I desired to connect chronometrically Tomependa, the point at which La -Condamine began his voyage, and other places geographically determined -by him on the Amazons river, with the town of Quito. La Condamine -had been in June 1743, (59 years before me) at Tomependa, which -place I found, by star observations taken for three nights, to be in -south lat. 5° 81´ 24´´, and west longitude from Paris 80° 56´ 37´´ -(from Greenwich 78° 84´ 55´´). Previous to my return to France the -longitude of Quito was in error to the full amount of 50-1/2 minutes -of arc, as Oltmanns has shown by my observations, and by a laborious -recalculation of all those previously made. (Humboldt, Recueil -d’Observations Astron., vol. ii. p. 309-359). Jupiter’s satellites, -lunar distances, and occultations, give a satisfactory accordance, and -all the elements of the calculation are placed before the public. The -too easterly longitude of Quito was transferred by La Condamine to -Cuenca and the Amazons river. “Je fis,” says La Condamine, “mon premier -essai de navigation sur un radeau (balsa) en descendant la rivière de -Chinchipe jusqu’à Tomependa. Il fallut me contenter d’en déterminer -la latitude et de conclure la longitude par les routes. J’y fis mon -testament politique en rédigeant l’extrait de mes observations le plus -importantes.” (Journal du Voyage fait à l’Equateur, 1751, p. 186.) - -[51] p. 282.--“_At upwards of twelve thousand feet above the sea we -found fossil marine shells._” - -See my Essai géognostique sur le Gisement des Roches, 1823, p. 236; -and for the first zoological determination of the fossils contained -in the cretaceous group in the chain of the Andes, see Léop. de Buch, -Pétrifications recueillies en Amérique, par Alex. de. Humboldt et -Charles Degenhardt, 1839 (in fol.), pp. 2-3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 18-22. -Pentland found fossil shells of the Silurian formation in Bolivia, on -the Nevado de Antakäua, at the height of 16400 French (17480 English) -feet, (Mary Somerville, Physical Geography, 1849, Vol. i. p. 185). - -[52] p. 287.--“_Where the chain of the Andes is intersected by the -magnetic equator._” - -Compare my Rélation hist. du Voyage aux Régions équinoxiales, T. iii. -p. 622; and Kosmos, Bd. i. S. 191 and 432; where, however, by errors -of the press, the longitude is once 48° 40´, and afterwards 80° 40´, -instead of, as it should be, 80° 54´ from Paris (or 78° 32´ from -Greenwich), (English edit. p. 173, and note 159). - -[53] p. 290.--“_Accompanied by inconvenient ceremonies of Court -etiquette._” - -In conformity with a highly ancient Court ceremonial, Atahuallpa spat -not on the ground, but into the hand of one of the principal ladies -present; “all,” says Garcilaso, “on account of his majesty.” El Inca -nunca escupia en el suelo, sino en la mano de una Señora mui principal, -por Majestad, (Garcilaso, Comment. Reales, P. ii. p. 46). - -[54] p. 290.--“_Captivity of Atahuallpa._” - -A short time before the captive Inca was put to death, he was taken -into the open air, in compliance with his request, to see a large -comet. The “greenish black comet, nearly as thick as a man,” (Garcilaso -says, P. ii. p. 44, una cometa verdinegra, poco menos gruesa que el -cuerpo de un hombre), seen by Atahuallpa before his death, therefore -in July or August 1533, and which he supposed to be the same malignant -comet which had appeared at the death of his father, Huayna Capac, is -certainly the one observed by Appian (Pingré, Cométographie, T. i. p. -496; and Galle’s “Notice of all the Paths of Comets hitherto computed,” -in “Olber’s Leichtester Methode die Bahn eines Cometen zu berechnen,” -1847, S. 206), and which, on the 21st of July, standing high in the -north, near the constellation of Perseus, represented the sword which -Perseus holds in his right hand. (Mädler, Astronomie, 1846, S. 307; -Schnurrer, Die Chronik der Seuchen in Verbindung mit gleichzeitigen -Erscheinungen, 1825, Th. ii. S. 82.) Robertson considers the year of -Huayna Capac’s death uncertain; but, from the researches of Balboa and -Velasco, that event appears to have occurred towards the close of 1525: -thus the statements of Hevelius (Cometographia, p. 844), and of Pingré -(T. i. p. 485), derive confirmation from the testimony of Garcilaso -(P. i. p. 321) and the tradition preserved among the “amautas, que son -los filosofos de aquella Republica.” I may here introduce the remark, -that Oviedo alone, and certainly erroneously, asserts, in the inedited -continuation of his Historia de las Indias, that the proper name of the -Inca was not Atahuallpa, but Atabaliva (Prescott, Conquest of Peru, -Vol. i. p. 498.) - -[55] p. 291.--“_Ducados de Oro._” - -The sum mentioned in the text is that which is stated by Garcilaso -de la Vega in the Commentarios reales de los Incas, Parte ii. 1722, -pp. 27 and 51. The statements of Padre Blas Valera and of Gomara, -Historia de las Indias, 1553, p. 67, differ, however, considerably. -Compare my Essai politique sur la Nouvelle Espagne (éd. 2), T. iii. -p. 424. It is, moreover, no less difficult to determine the value of -the Ducado, Castellano, or Peso de Oro. (Essai pol. T. iii. pp. 371 -and 377; Joaquin Acosta, Descubrimiento de la Nueva Granada, 1848, p. -14.) The modern excellent historical writer, Prescott, has been able -to avail himself of a manuscript bearing the very promising title, -“Acta de Reparticion del Rescate de Atahuallpa.” The estimate of the -whole Peruvian booty which the brothers Pizarro and Almagro divided -amongst themselves at the (I believe) too large value of three and a -half millions of pounds sterling, includes doubtless the gold of the -ransom and that taken from the different temples of the Sun and from -the enchanted gardens, (Huertas de Oro). (Prescott, Conquest of Peru, -Vol. i. pp. 464-477.) - -[56] p. 292.--“_The great, but, for a Son of the Sun, somewhat -free-thinking Huayna Capac._” - -The nightly absence of the Sun excited in the Inca many philosophical -doubts as to the government of the world by that luminary. Padre Blas -Valera noted down the remarks of the Inca on the subject of the Sun: -“Many maintain that the Sun lives, and is the Maker and Doer of all -things (el hacedor de todas las cosas); but whoever would complete -any thing must remain by what he is doing. Now many things take place -when the Sun is absent; therefore he is not the original cause of all -things. It seems also doubtful whether he is living; for though always -circling round, he is never weary (no se cansa). If he was living, -he would become weary, as we do; and if he was free, he would surely -move sometimes into parts of the heavens where we never see him. The -Sun is like an animal fastened by a cord so as always to move in the -same round, (como una Res atada que siempre hace un mismo cerco); -or as an arrow which only goes where it is sent, and not where it -chooses itself.” (Garcilaso, Comment. Reales, P. i. lib. viii. cap. 8, -p. 276.) The view taken of the circling round of a heavenly body, as -if it was fastened to a cord, is very striking. As Huayna Capac died -at Quito in 1525, seven years before the arrival of the Spaniards, he -no doubt used, instead of “res atada,” the general expression of an -“animal” fastened to a cord; but indeed, even in Spanish, “res” is by -no means limited to oxen, but may be applied to any tame cattle. We -cannot examine here how far the Padre may have mingled parts of his own -sermons with the heresies of the Inca, with the view of weaning the -natives from the official and dynastic worship of the Sun, the religion -of the Court. We see in the very conservative State policy, and in -the maxims of State and proceedings of the Inca Roca, the conqueror -of the province of Charcas, the solicitude which was felt to guard -strictly the lower classes of the people from such doubts. This Inca -founded schools for the upper classes only, and forbade, under heavy -penalties, to teach the common people any thing, “lest they should -become presumptuous, and should create disturbances in the State!” (No -es lecito que enseñen á los hijos de los Plebeios las Ciencias, porque -la gente baja no se eleve y ensobervezca y menoscabe la Republica; -Garcilaso, P. i. p. 276.) Thus the policy of the Inca’s theocracy was -almost the same as that of the Slave States in the United Free States -of North America. - -[57] p. 295.--“_The restoration of an empire of the Incas._” - -I have treated this subject more fully in another place (Relation -hist. T. iii. p. 703-705 and 713). Raleigh thought there was in Peru -an old prophecy “that from Inglaterra those Ingas should be againe in -time to come restored and deliuered from the seruitude of the said -conquerors. I am resolued that if there were but a smal army afoote in -Guiana marching towards Manoa, the chiefe citie of Inga, he would yield -Her Majestie by composition so many hundred thousand pounds yearely, as -should both defend all enemies abroad and defray all expences at home, -and that he woulde besides pay a garrison of 3000 or 4000 soldiers very -royally to defend him against other nations. The Inca wil be brought -to tribute with great gladnes.” (Raleigh, “The Discovery of the large, -rich, and beautiful Empire of Guiana, performed in 1595,” according to -the edition published by Sir Robert Schomburgk, 1848, p. 119 and 137.) -This scheme of a Restoration promised much that might be very agreeable -to both sides, but unfortunately the dynasty who were to be restored, -and who were to pay the money, were wanting! - -[58] p. 299.--“_Of the expedition of Vasco Nuñez de Balboa._” - -I have already remarked elsewhere (Examen critique de l’histoire de -la Géographie du Nouveau Continent, et des progrès de l’Astronomie -nautique aux 15ème et 16ème siècles, T. i. p. 349) that Columbus -knew fully ten years before Balboa’s expedition the existence of -the South Sea and its great proximity to the east coast of Veragua. -He was conducted to this knowledge not by theoretical speculations -respecting the configuration of Eastern Asia, but by the local and -positive reports of the natives, which he collected on his fourth -voyage (May 11, 1502, to November 7, 1504). On this fourth voyage the -Admiral went from the coast of Honduras to the Puerto de Mosquitos, the -western end of the Isthmus of Panama. The reports of the natives, and -the comments of Columbus on those reports in the “Carta rarissima” of -the 7th of July, 1503, were to the effect that “not far from the Rio -de Belen the other sea (the South Sea) turns (boxa) to the mouths of -the Ganges, so that the countries of the Aurea (_i. e._ the countries -of the Chersonesus aurea of Ptolemy) are situated in relation to the -eastern coasts of Veragus, as Tortosa (at the mouth of the Ebro) is to -Fuentarrabia (on the Bidassoa) in Biscay, or as Venice in relation to -Pisa.” Although Balboa first saw the South Sea from the heights of the -Sierra de Quarequa on the 25th of September (Petr. Martyr, Epist. dxl. -p. 296), yet it was not until several days later that Alonso Martin de -Don Benito, who found a way from the mountains of Quarequa to the Gulf -of San Miguel, embarked on the South Sea in a canoe. (Joaquin Acosta, -Compendio hist. del Descubrimiento de la Nueva Granada, p. 49.) - -As the taking possession of a considerable part of the west coast -of the New Continent by the United States of North America, and the -report of the abundance of gold in New California (now called Upper -California) have rendered more urgent than ever the formation of a -communication between the Atlantic States and the regions of the West -through the Isthmus of Panama, I feel it my duty to call attention -once again to the circumstance that the shortest way to the shores of -the Pacific, which was shown by the natives to Alonso Martin de Don -Benito, is in the eastern part of the Isthmus, and led to the Golfo de -San Miguel. We know that Columbus (Vida del Almirante por Don Fernando -Colon, cap. 90) sought for an “estrecho de Tierra firmë”; and in the -official documents which we possess of the years 1505 and 1507, and -especially 1514, mention is made of the desired “opening” (abertura), -and of the pass (passo), which should lead directly to the “Indian -Land of Spices.” Having for more than forty years been occupied with -the subject of the means of communication between the two seas, I have -constantly, both in my printed works and in the different memoirs which -with honourable confidence the Free States of Spanish America have -requested me to furnish, urged that the Isthmus should be examined -hypsometrically throughout its entire length, and more especially -where, in Darien and the inhospitable former Provincia de Biruquete, -it joins the continent of South America; and where, between the Atrato -and the Bay of Cupica (on the shore of the Pacific), the mountain -chain of the Isthmus almost entirely disappears. (See in my Atlas -géographique et physique de la Nouvelle Espagne, Pl. iv.; in the Atlas -de la Relation historique, Pl. xxii. and xxiii.; Voyage aux Régions -équinoxiales du Nouveau Continent, T. iii. p. 117-154; and Essai -politique sur le Royaume de la Nouvelle Espagne, T. i. 2de édit. 1825, -p. 202-248.) - -General Bolivar at my request caused an exact levelling of the Isthmus -between Panama and the mouth of the Rio Chagres to be made in 1828 and -1829 by Lloyd and Falmarc. (Philosophical Transactions of the Royal -Society of London for the year 1830, p. 59-68.) Other measurements have -since been executed by accomplished and experienced French engineers, -and projects have been formed for canals and railways with locks and -tunnels, but always in the direction of a meridian between Portobello -and Panama,--or more to the west, towards Chagres and Cruces. Thus -the _most important_ points of the _eastern_ and _south-eastern_ part -of the Isthmus have remained unexamined on both shores! So long as -this part is not examined geographically by means of exact but easily -obtained determinations of latitude and of longitude by chronometers, -as well as hypsometrically in the conformation of the surface by -barometric measurements of elevation,--so long I consider that the -statement I have repeatedly made, and which I now repeat in 1849, will -still be true; viz. “that it is as yet unproved and _quite premature_ -to pronounce that the Isthmus does not admit of the formation of an -Oceanic Canal (_i. e._ a canal with fewer locks than the Caledonian -Canal) permitting at all seasons the passage of the same sea-going -ships between New York and Liverpool on the one hand, and Chili and -California on the other.” - -On the Atlantic side (according to examinations which the Direccion -of the Deposito hidrografico of Madrid have entered on their maps -since 1809) the Ensenada de Mandinga penetrates so deeply towards the -south that it appears to be only four or five German geographical -miles, fifteen to an equatorial degree, (_i. e._ 16 or 20 English -geographical miles), from the coast of the Pacific on the _east_ of -Panama. On the Pacific side the isthmus is almost equally indented by -the deep Golfo de San Miguel, into which the Rio Tuyra falls, with -its tributary river the Chuchunque (Chuchunaque). This last-named -stream in the upper part of its course approaches within 16 English -geographical miles of the Atlantic side of the isthmus to the west of -Cape Tiburon. For more than twenty years I have had inquiries made -from me on the subject of the problem of the Isthmus of Panama, by -associations desirous of employing considerable pecuniary means: but -the simple advice which I have given has never been followed. Every -scientifically educated engineer knows that between the tropics, (even -without corresponding observations), good barometric measurements (the -horary variations being taken into account) afford results which are -well assured to less than from 70 to 90 French or 75 to 96 English -feet. It would besides be easy to establish for a few months on the -two shores two fixed corresponding barometric stations, and to compare -repeatedly the portable instruments employed in preliminary levelling, -with each other and with those at the fixed stations. Let that part -be particularly examined where, near the continent of South America, -the separating mountain ridge sinks into hills. Seeing the importance -of the subject to the great commerce of the world, the research ought -not, as hitherto, to be restricted to a limited field. A great and -comprehensive work, which shall include the whole eastern part of the -Isthmus,--and which will be equally useful for every possible kind of -operation or construction,--for canal, or for railway,--can alone -decide the much discussed problem either affirmatively or negatively. -That will be done at last, which should, and, had my advice been taken, -would have been done in the first instance. - -[59] p. 300.--“_That which is awakened in us by childish impressions or -by the circumstances of life._” - -On the incitements to the study of nature, compare Kosmos, Bd. ii. S. -5, (English edit. vol. ii. p. 5). - -[60] p. 302.--“_Of importance for the exact determination of the -longitude of Lima._” - -At the period of my Expedition, the Longitude of Lima was given in -the maps published in the Deposito hidrografico de Madrid, from the -observations of Malaspina, which made it 5h. 16m. 53s. from Paris. The -transit of Mercury over the Sun’s disk on the 9th of November, 1802, -which I observed at Callao, the Port of Lima, (in the northern Torreon -del Fuerte de San Felipe) gave for Callao by the mean of the contact of -both limbs 5h. 18m. 16s. 5, and by the exterior contact only 5h. 18m. -18s. (79° 34´ 30´´). This result (obtained from the Transit of Mercury) -is confirmed by those of Lartigue, Duperrey, and Captain FitzRoy in -the Expedition of the Adventure and Beagle. Lartigue found Callao 5h. -17m. 58s., Duperrey 5h. 18m. 16s., and FitzRoy 5h. 18m. 15s. (all West -of Paris). As I determined the difference of longitude between Callao -and the Convent de San Juan de Dios at Lima by carrying chronometers -between them four times, the observation of the transit of Mercury -gives the longitude of Lima 5h. 17m. 51s. (79° 27´ 45´´ W. from Paris, -or 77° 06´ 03´´ W. from Greenwich). Compare my Recueil d’observations -astron. Vol. ii. p. 397, 419 and 428, with my Relat. hist. T. iii. p. -592. - - Potsdam, June 1849. - - - - -GENERAL SUMMARY - -OF THE - -CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME. - - - _Physiognomy of Plants_--p. 1 to p. 31. - - Universal profuse distribution of organic life on the declivities of - the highest mountains, on the ocean, and in the atmosphere. - Subterranean Flora. Siliceous-shelled Polygastrica in masses of polar - ice. Podurellæ in tubular holes in the glaciers of the Alps; the - glacier flea (Desoria glacialis). Small organic creatures in the - dust which falls like rain in the neighbourhood of the African - Desert 3-8 - - History of the vegetable covering of the surface of the globe. Gradual - extension of vegetation over the bare rocky crust. Lichens, - mosses, and succulent plants. Causes of the present absence of - vegetation in particular districts 8-13 - - Each zone has its peculiar character. All animal and vegetable forms - attached to fixed and always recurring types. Physiognomy of - Nature. Analysis of the general impression produced by the aspect - of a country or district. The several elements which make up this - impression; outlines of the mountains, azure of the sky, and form - of the clouds: but principally determined by the vegetable covering. - Animal organisation far less influential on the landscape from - deficiency of mass. The power of locomotion of individuals, and - frequently their small size, also contribute to lessen their general - effect on the landscape 13-16 - - Enumeration of the forms of plants which principally determine the - physiognomy of Nature, and which decrease or increase from the - equator to the poles according to laws which have been made the - subject of investigation 17-20 - - - Palms 20, 21, 126-140 - - Plantains or Bananas 21, 22, 140, 141 - - Malvaceæ 22, 141-143 - - Mimosæ 22, 23, 143-145 - - Ericeæ, or Heath form 23, 24, 145-147 - - Cactus form 24, 147-151 - - Orchideæ 24, 25, 151, 152 - - Casuarineæ 25, 152, 153 - - Needle trees 25, 153-175 - - Pothos and Aroideæ 26, 175-178 - - Lianes, or twining rope plants 26, 178-180 - - Aloë form 27, 180-183 - - Gramineæ 27, 28, 183-187 - - Ferns 28, 188-193 - - Liliaceæ 28, 193 - - Willow form 28, 193-196 - - Myrtaceæ 28, 196-200 - - Melastomaceæ 28, 200 - - Laurel form 28, 200 - - - Enjoyment derived from the sight of the natural grouping and contrasts - of these forms of plants. Importance of the physiognomic - study of plants to the landscape painter 29-31, 200-203 - - - _Scientific Elucidations and Additions_--p. 33 to p. 210. - - Organic forms, animal and vegetable, in the highest mountain regions - adjacent to the limit of perpetual snow in the Andes and the Alps; - insects carried up involuntarily by ascending currents of air. The - Hypudæus nivalis of the Swiss Alps. On the true elevation above - the sea reached by the Chinchilla laniger in Chili 33-35 - - Lecidias and Parmelias on rocks not entirely covered with snow; - some phænogamous plants also wander in the Cordilleras beyond - the limits of perpetual snow, as the Saxifraga boussingaulti, to - 15770 English feet above the level of the sea. Groups of phænogamous - plants extend in the Andes to 13700 and 14920 English - feet above the sea; species of Culcitium, Espeletia, and Ranunculus; - small umbelliferous plants resembling mosses in appearance; - Myrrhis andicola and Fragosa arctioides 35, 36 - - Measurement of the height of Chimborazo, and etymology of the - name 36-39 - - On the greatest absolute heights which have yet been reached by any - human beings in either continent; in the Cordilleras and the - Himalaya, on the Chimborazo and the Tarhigang 40 - - Habits and haunts of the Condor (Cuntur in the Inca language), and - singular mode of capturing these powerful birds in an enclosure - fenced by palisades 40-44 - - Useful services rendered by the Gallinazos (Cathartes urubu and C. - aura) in purifying the air in the neighbourhood of human habitations; - these birds sometimes tamed 44, 45 - - On what has been called the revivification of Rotiferæ; views of - Ehrenberg and Doyère. According to Payen, germs of Cryptogamia - preserve their power of germination even after being exposed - to the highest temperatures 45-47 - - Diminution, if not entire suspension, of organic functions in the - winter sleep of animals belonging to the higher classes 47, 48 - - Summer sleep of animals in the tropical zone; great dryness acts - like winter cold. Tenrecs, crocodiles, tortoises, and the Lepidosiren - of Eastern Africa 48-51 - - Anther dust or pollen; fertilization of flowers. The Cœlebogyne - found to produce perfect seeds in England without any traces of - pollen being discovered 51-53 - - The luminosity of the ocean produced by living luminous animals and - by decaying fibres and membranes of animals. Acalephæ and - siliceous-shelled luminous Infusoria. Influence on the luminosity - of a stimulus applied to the nerves 53-60 - - Pentastomes inhabiting the pulmonary cells of the rattle-snake of - Cumana 60, 61 - - Rock-building corals. The scaffolding or solid material which survives - the death of the coral animals. More correct views of recent times. - Shore reefs, encircling reefs, and lagoon islands. Atolls, or coral - walls enclosing a lagoon. The coral islands to the south of Cuba, the - Jardines del Rey of Columbus. The living gelatinous investment - of the calcareous scaffolding of the coral trunks attracts fish and - turtles in search of food. Singular mode of fishing by the aid of - the Remora (the Echeneis naucrates) 62-72 - - Probable greatest depth of coral structures 72-75 - - Besides much carbonate of lime and magnesia, Madrepores and - Astræas also contain some fluoric and phosphoric acids 75, 76 - - Oscillatory state of the bottom of the sea according to Darwin 76-79 - - Traditions of Samothrace. Irruptions of the sea. Mediterranean. - Sluice theory of Strato. Myth of Lyktonia, and the “Atlantis - broken into fragments” 78-83 - - On the causes which prevent the sinking down of clouds and - precipitation taking place from them 83-84 - - Heat disengaged from the crust of the earth while solidifying. Hot - currents of air which in the early ages of the earth, from frequent - corrugations of the strata and elevations of land, may have been - diffused in the atmosphere from temporary fissures 84, 85 - - Colossal size and great age of some kinds of trees; Dragon tree - of Orotava thirteen, and Adansonia digitata (Baobab) thirty-two - English feet in diameter. Characters cut in the bark of the trees in - the 15th century. Adanson assigns to some of the Baobab trunks - in Senegambia an age of between 5100 and 6000 years 86-92 - - Judging by the annular rings, there are yew-trees (Taxus baccata) - from 2600 to 3000 years old. Is it true that in the northern - temperate zone the part of the tree turned towards the north has - narrower annular rings, as Michel Montaigne affirmed in 1581? - Species of trees in which individuals attain a size of above twenty- - one or twenty-two English feet diameter, and an age of several - centuries, belong to the most different natural families 92-94 - - Diameter of the Mexican Schubertia disticha of Santa Maria del Tule - 40-1/2 English feet; the sacred Banyan fig-tree of Ceylon almost 30; - and the oak at Saintes (Dep. de la Charente Inférieure) 29-1/2 English - feet. The age of the oak tree estimated from its annular rings at - from 1800 to 2000 years. The root of the rose tree growing - against the crypt of the Cathedral of Hildesheim is 800 years old. - A kind of sea-weed, Macrocystis pyrifera, attains a length of 630 - English feet, exceeding therefore the height of the loftiest Coniferæ, - even that of the Sequoia gigantea 94-97 - - Examination of the probable number of phænogamous plants hitherto - described or preserved in herbariums. Relative numbers. Laws - discovered in the geographical distribution of plants. Relative - numbers of the great divisions of Cryptogamia to Cotyledonous - plants, and of Monocotyledonous to Dicotyledonous plants, in the - torrid, temperate, and frigid zones. Elements of arithmetical botany. - Number of individuals; predominance of social plants. The forms - of organic beings are mutually dependent on and limit each other. - If we know exactly the number of species of one of the great - families of Glumaceæ, Leguminosæ, or Compositæ, at any one - part of the globe, we may infer approximatively both the number - of species in the remaining families, and the entire number of - phænogamous plants in the same district. Application of the - numerical ratios to the direction of the isothermal lines. Mysterious - original distribution of types. Absence of Roses in - the southern, and of Calceolarias in the northern hemisphere. - Why has our heather (Calluna vulgaris), and why have our oaks - never advanced eastward beyond the Ural Mountains into Asia? - The vegetation cycle of each species requires for its successful - organic development a certain minimum amount of temperature. 97-113 - - Analogy between the numerical laws of the distribution of animal and - of vegetable forms. If there are now cultivated in Europe above - 35000 species of phænogamous plants, and if our herbariums probably - contain, described and undescribed, from 160000 to 212000 - species of phænogamous plants, it is probable that the number of - collected insects and collected phænogamous plants are nearly - equal; whilst we know that certain well-explored districts in - Europe have more than three times as many insects as phænogamous - plants 113-119 - - Considerations on the probable proportion which the number of known - phænogamous plants bears to the entire number existing on the - surface of the globe 119-125 - - The different forms of plants successively noticed. Physiognomy of - plants treated in a threefold manner; viz. as to the absolute - diversity of forms, their local predominance in comparison with the - entire number of species in different phænogamous Floras, and - their geographical climatic distribution 126-200 - - Greatest extension in height or of the longitudinal axis in - arborescent vegetation: examples of 235 to 245 English feet in Pinus - lambertiana and P. douglasii; of 266 English feet in P. strobus; of - 298 and 300 English feet in Sequoia gigantea and Pinus trigona. All - these examples are from the north-west part of the New Continent. - Araucaria excelsa of Norfolk Island only attains, according to - well-assured measurements, 203 to 223 English feet; and the - Mountain Palm of the Cordilleras, Ceroxylon andicola, 192 English - feet 165-168 - - These gigantic vegetable forms contrasted with the stem of two - inches high of a willow-tree stunted by cold of latitude or of - mountain elevation; and still more remarkably with a phænogamous - plant, Tristicha hypnoides, which, when fully developed in the plains - of a tropical country, is only a quarter of an English inch in - height 169 - - Bursting forth of blossoms from the rough bark of the Crescentia - cujete, the Gustavia augusta, and the roots of the Cacao tree. - The largest flowers, Rafflesia arnoldi, Aristolochia cordata, - Magnolia, Helianthus annuus, Victoria regina, Euryale amazonica, - &c. 203, 240 - - The different forms of plants determine the character of the landscape - as dependent on vegetation in different zones. Physiognomic - classification or division into groups according to external “facies” - or aspect, entirely different in its principles from the - classification according to the system of natural families. The study - of the physiognomy of plants is based principally on what are called - the vegetative organs, or those on which the preservation of the - _individual_ depends; systematic botany grounds the arrangement - of natural families on a consideration of the reproductive organs, - or those on which the _preservation of the species_ depends 205-210 - - - _On the Structure and Mode of Action of Volcanos in the different - Parts of the Earth_--p. 211 to p. 241. - - Influence of journeys in distant countries on the generalisation of - ideas, and the progress of physical geology. Influence of the - form of the Mediterranean on the earliest ideas respecting volcanic - phenomena. Comparative geology of volcanos. Periodical recurrence - of certain natural changes or revolutions which have their - origin in the interior of the globe. Relative proportion of the - height of volcanos to that of their cones of ashes in Pichincha, - the Peak of Teneriffe, and Vesuvius. Changes in the height of - the summit of volcanos. Measurements of the height of the - margins of the crater of Vesuvius from 1773 to 1822: the author’s - measurements comprise the period from 1805 to 1822 213-228 - - Particular description of the eruption in the night of 23-24 - October, 1822. Falling in of a cone of cinders 426 English feet in - height, which previously stood in the interior of the crater. The - eruption of ashes from the 24th to the 28th of October is the most - remarkable of which we possess any certain knowledge since the - death of the elder Pliny 228-235 - - Difference between volcanos with permanent craters; and the - phenomena (very rarely observed within historic times) in which - trachytic mountains open suddenly, emit lava and ashes, and - reclose again perhaps for ever. The latter class of phenomena - are particularly instructive to the geologist, because they recall the - earliest revolutions of the oscillating, upheaved, and fissured - surface of the globe. They led, in classical antiquity, to the view - of the Pyriphlegethon. Volcanos are intermitting earth springs, - indicating a communication (permanent or transient) between the - interior and the exterior of our planet; they are the result of a - reaction of the still fluid interior against the crust of the earth; - it is therefore needless to ask what chemical substance burns, or - supplies materials for combustion, in volcanos 235-238 - - The primitive cause of subterranean heat is, as in all planets, the - process of formation itself, _i. e._ the forming of the aggregating - mass from a cosmical gaseous fluid. Power and influence of the - radiation of heat from numerous open fissures and unfilled veins - in the ancient world. Climate (or atmospheric temperature) at that - period very independent of the geographical latitude, or of the - position of the planet in respect to the central body, the sun. - Organic forms of the present tropical world buried in the icy - regions of the north 238-241 - - - _Scientific Elucidations and Additions_--p. 243 to p. 248. - - Barometric measurements of Vesuvius. Comparison of the height - of different points of the crater of Vesuvius 243-247 - - Increase of temperature with depth, 1° Reaumur for every 113 - Parisian feet, or 1° of Fahrenheit for every 53·5 English feet. - Temperature of the Artesian well at Oeynhausen’s Bad (New - Salzwerk, near Minden), the greatest depth yet reached below the - level of the sea. The hot springs near Carthage led Patricius, - Bishop of Pertusa, in the 3rd century, to form just conjectures - respecting the cause of the increase of temperature in the interior - of the earth 248 - - - _The Vital Force, or the Rhodian Genius_--p. 249 to p. 257. - - - _Note to “The Vital Force, or the Rhodian Genius”_--p. 259 to p. 263. - - The Rhodian Genius, the development of a physiological idea in a - mythical garb. Difference of views respecting the hypothesis of - peculiar vital forces. 259, 260 - - The difficulty of satisfactorily reducing the vital phenomena of - organisation to physical and chemical laws, is principally founded on - the complication of the phenomena, and on the multiplicity of - simultaneously acting forces, as well as the varying conditions of - the activity of those forces. Definition of the expressions “animate” - and “inanimate” substances. Criteria derived from the - composition of the elements after a substance has been separated - into parts by external agency are the simple enunciation of - facts. 260-263 - - - _The Plateau of Caxamarca, the ancient residence of the Inca - Atahuallpa, and the first view of the Pacific from the crest of - the Andes_--p. 265 to p. 302. - - Quina-producing forests in the valleys of Loxa. First use of the - fever-bark in Europe; the Countess of Chinchon, wife of the - Viceroy 267-269 - - Alpine vegetation of the Paramos. Remains of ancient Peruvian - artificial roads; they rise in the Paramo del Assuay almost to the - height of the summit of Mont Blanc 269-277 - - Singular mode of communication by a “swimming post” messenger 277-279 - - Descent to the Amazons river. Vegetation round Chamaya and - Tomependa; Red Groves of Bougainvillæa. Ridges of rock - traverse the Amazons. Its breadth at the Pongo de Manseriche - less than 160 English feet. The falling in of masses of rock at - Rentema left the bed of the river below the falls dry for some hours, - to the great alarm of those who lived on the banks 279-281 - - Passage across the chain of the Andes at the part where it is - intersected by the magnetic equator. Ammonites nearly 15 English - inches long, Echini, and Isocardias of the cretaceous group, - collected between Guambos and Montan, 12790 English feet above - the level of the sea. Rich silver mines of Chota. The picturesquely - towering Cerro de Gualgayoc. Large mass of pure - native silver in filaments or wire found in the Pampa de Navar. - A fine piece of pure gold, wound round with similar threads of - silver, found in the Choropampa (field of shells), so called from the - numerous fossils. Outbursts of silver and gold ores amongst the - cretaceous rocks. The small mountain town of Micuipampa is - 11874 English feet above the level of the sea 282-286 - - From the mountain wilderness of the Paramo de Yanaguanga the - traveller descends into the beautiful valley, or rather plateau, - of Caxamarca (the elevation of which is nearly equal to that of - the city of Quito). Hot baths of the Incas. Ruins of the - Palace of Atahuallpa inhabited by his descendants, the family of - Astorpilco, who live there in the greatest poverty. Strong belief - of the still remaining subterranean “golden gardens” of the Inca - beneath the ruins; such certainly existed in the valley of Yucay, - beneath the Temple of the Sun at Cuzco, and at several other points. - Conversation with the youthful son of the Curaca Astorpilco. - The room is still shewn in which (1553) the unhappy Atahuallpa - was imprisoned for nine months, also the wall on which the Inca - indicated the height to which he would fill the room with gold if - he should regain his liberty. Manner in which the Inca was - put to death on the 29th of August, 1533, and remarks on what - are erroneously called “the indelible stains of blood” on a stone - slab in front of the altar of the chapel of the state prison 287-295 - - Hope of a restoration of the empire of the Incas (which was also - entertained by Raleigh) has been preserved among the natives. - Cause of this expectation 295 - - Journey from Caxamarca to the sea-coast. Passage over the - Cordillera by the Altos de Guangamarca. Often disappointed - hope of enjoying the first view of the Pacific Ocean from the crest - of the Andes. This hope at last fulfilled at an elevation of 9380 - English feet 296-302 - - - _Scientific Elucidations and Additions_--p. 303 to p. 324. - - On the origin of the name borne by the chain of the Andes 303-305 - - Epoch of the introduction of the Quina-bark in Europe 305, 306 - - Remains of the roads of the Incas, and of fortified dwellings; - Apozentos de Mulalo, Fortalezar del Cañar, Inti-Guaycu 307, 308 - - On the ancient civilisation of the Chibchas or Muyscas of New - Granada 308-310 - - Potatoes and Plantains, when first cultivated 311 - - Etymology of the word Cundinamarca, which has been corrupted - from Cundirumarca, and was used in the first years of republican - independence to denote the whole country of New Granada 311, 312 - - Chronometric connection of the town of Quito with Tomependa on - the upper waters of the Amazons, and with Callao de Lima, the - position of which was accurately determined by observations of - the transit of Mercury on the 9th day of November, 1802 312, 313 - - Unpleasant etiquette in the Inca’s court. Atahuallpa’s captivity; - his proposed ransom 314 - - Philosophic doubts of Huayna Capac (according to the report of Padre - Blas Valera) respecting the Deity of the Sun. Objections of the - Inca-government to the extension of knowledge among the poorer - and lower classes of the people 316, 317 - - Raleigh’s project for restoring the dynasty of the Incas under - English protection, for which a yearly tribute of several hundred - thousand pounds was to be paid 317, 318 - - Earliest evidence obtained by Columbus of the existence of the - South Sea or Pacific Ocean. The South Sea first beheld by Vasco - Nuñez de Balboa (25th Sept. 1513), and first navigated by Alonso - Martin de Don Benito 318, 319 - - On the possibility of the formation of an oceanic canal (with fewer - locks than the Caledonian Canal) through the Isthmus of Panama. - Points in which the examination has been neglected 319-323 - - Determination of the longitude of Lima 323, 324 - - - - -INDEX - - - Adansonia digitata (monkey-bread tree), one of the largest and oldest - trees of the globe, ii. 89. - - Allco, the native Peruvian dog, i. 108. - - Aloë, ii. 27, 180. - - Altai, one of the four parallel mountain chains in Central Asia, - i. 86. - - American races, connection between the inhabitants of Western America - and Eastern Asia probable, but its nature and period uncertain, - i. 176. - - Andes, etymological considerations connected with the word Andes or - Antis, ii. 303. - - Animal life, its universal diffusion, ii. 1. - - Asia, Central, general review of its mountain systems, i. 85. - - Atlas.--The position of the ancient Atlas discussed, i. 144. - - Atahuallpa, site of his ancient palace, ii. 289; - his prison, 290; - death, 291; - descendants, 292; - notice of the comet which appeared in the year on which the Inca - was put to death, 313. - - - Banks, slightly elevated portions of the Llanos, called “Banks” by - the natives, i. 2, 33. - - Boa, swims in the South American rivers, and carries its head above - water like a dog, i. 190. - - Bogota, the seat of an ancient civilisation of the Muyscas or - Chibchas, ii. 309. - - - Cactus, ii. 24, 147. - - Camel, i. 68; - Ritter’s memoir on the diffusion of the camel, present existence - in a wild state, i. 70; - fossil in the Sewalik hills, i. 71. - - Casas grandes, ruins of an Aztec palace, i. 168. - - Casuarineæ, ii. 25, 152. - - Caxamarca, the ancient capital of the Incas, ii. 267, 287. - - Cereals.--Original country of the principal Cereals discussed, i. 169. - - Chibchas, ii. 309. - - Chimborazo, conjectures as to the origin of the name, ii. 37. - - Chota, silver mines of, ii. 282. - - Cinchona, fever-bark, or quina, ii. 267, 305. - - Climate of the eastern or flat portions of South America widely - different from that of Africa in the same latitudes, causes - of the difference, i. 8, 123; - the southern hemisphere cooler and moister than the northern, 139. - - Climatic effects of extensive forests, i. 126. - - Cœlebogyne, produces perfect seeds without any trace of pollen having - been discovered, ii. 51. - - Condor.--Discussion of the height in the atmosphere to which the - condor ascends, ii. 40. - - Coniferæ, or needle trees, ii. 25, 175. - - Coral reefs, classified by Darwin, ii. 64; - his hypothesis of the origin and growth of coral reefs, 76. - - Correo que nada, the “swimming post” in the upper waters of the - Amazons river, ii. 277. - - Curare, plant from which the poison is obtained, i. 203. - - Current.--Great revolving current of the Atlantic Ocean discussed, - i. 159. - - - Dogs.--European dogs have become wild in South America, and live in - troops in the Pampas, i. 107; - native Peruvian dogs, 108; - Tschudi’s remarks on the indigenous races of dogs in America, 111. - - Dragon-tree of Orotava, ii. 16, 85. - - - Esquimaux, instances recorded of their having been carried across the - Atlantic to the shores of Europe, i. 162. - - - Ferns, ii. 28, 188. - - Figured rocks, _i. e._ figures engraven on rocks in an extensive - district of South America, i. 196. - - Fresh-water springs in the ocean near Cuba, i. 233. - - Fournel, recent contributions to the physical geography of Northern - Africa, i. 115. - - Frémont, Captain, importance of his geographical memoirs on our - knowledge of the geography of North America, i. 37, and - generally in Note[5], also i. 280. - - - Geographical distribution of plants, laws of the, ii. 102. - - Gobi, the plateau of, i. 74, 79. - - Gramineæ, ii. 27, 183. - - Guaranis, a tribe inhabiting the sea-coast and rivers near the mouth - of the Orinoco, i. 178. - - Granite, leaden-coloured rocks of, in the Orinoco, i. 188. - - Great basin, the elevated plain so called, between the Rocky Mountains - and the Sierra Nevada of California, i. 44; - forms an inland closed river basin, 280. - - Gymnotus, description of its capture in South America by means of - horses, i. 22. - - - Heat in plants developed during inflorescence, ii. 175. - - Heaths, ii. 23, 145. - - Himalaya, one of the four parallel mountain chains of Central Asia, - i. 92. - - Hiongnu, i. 101. - - Hooker, Dr. J., recent determination of the elevation of the - Kinchinjinga, one of the highest peaks of the - Himalaya, i. 93; - on the production of perfect seeds by the Cœlebogyne, ii. 51; - remarks on the geographical distribution of plants in Antarctic - floras, ii. 122. - - - Illimani and Sorata, their height above the sea recently corrected, - i. 57, 96, 277. - - - Kashmeer, valley of, i. 80. - - Kinchinjinga, one of the highest peaks of the Himalaya, its elevation - recently determined, i. 92. - - Kuen-lün, one of the four parallel mountain chains in Central Asia, - i. 72, 90. - - - Lama, alpaca, and guanaco, three originally distinct species of - animals, described, i. 166. - - Laurels as a characteristic form of vegetation, ii. 28, 200. - - Lianes, ii. 26, 178. - - Liliaceæ, ii. 28, 193. - - Llanos, their description, i. 7; - climate strongly contrasted with that of the African plains, 8; - animals which inhabit them, 15; - their prevalent vegetation, 120. - - Luminosity of the ocean, ii. 53. - - - Malvaceæ, ii. 22. - - Marañon, or Amazons, upper valley of, ii. 281. - - Mauritia palm, i. 16, 181. - - Melastomaceæ, ii. 28, 200. - - Mimoseæ, ii. 22, 145. - - Mississipi, river, its source correctly ascertained, i. 52. - - Moon, mountains of the, their existence, extent, distance from the - Equator, and general direction, discussed, i. 149. - - Mountain chains in Asia, in the direction of parallels of latitude, - i. 85; - those coinciding nearly with meridians, i. 94. - - Muyscas, ancient civilisation of the, ii. 308. - - Myrtaceæ, ii. 28, 196. - - - North America, general aspect of its natural features, and - considerations on its physical geography, i. 39. - - - Orchideæ, ii. 24, 151. - - Orinoco, i. 207; - magnitude of the river compared with that of the rivers Plate and - Amazons, 211; - its sources yet unvisited, 213; - general description of its course, 214; - “black waters” of the Upper Orinoco, 215; - cataracts of Atures and Maypures, 217; - discussion of questions concerning its sources, 239; - supposed origin in a lake, 243. - - Otomacs, a tribe on the Orinoco who use earth as food, i. 190. - - - Pacific, the author’s gratification at first seeing the Pacific from - the Alto de Guangamarca, ii. 300. - - Palms, ii. 20, 128. - - Panama.--Communication by canal or railroad across the Isthmus of - Panama discussed, ii. 319. - - Paramo, a mountainous region in South America so called, i. 105; - its climate and vegetation, i. 105, ii. 269. - - Pastoral life almost unknown to the original inhabitants of America, - i. 13. - - Plants, physiognomy of, essentially distinct from a botanical - arrangement, ii. 14, 17, 208; - is the principal element in the characteristic aspect of different - portions of the earth’s surface, 16; - about sixteen different forms of plants enumerated, which are - chiefly concerned in determining the aspect of Nature, 18; - Palms, 20; - Plantains or Bananas, 21; - Malvaceæ and Bombaceæ, 22; - Mimosas, 22; - Heaths, 28; - Cactuses, 24; - Orchideæ, 24; - Casuarineæ, 25; - Coniferæ, 25; - Pothos, 26; - Lianes, 26; - Aloes, 27; - Grasses, 27; - Ferns, 28; - Liliaceæ, 28; - Willows, 28; - Myrtaceæ, Melastomaceæ, and Laurineæ, 29; - number of species contained in herbariums, 97; - points of view in which the laws of the geographical distribution of - plants may be regarded, 102; - conjectures as to the whole number of species on the globe, 119; - more than half the number of species are probably yet unknown, 121; - heat developed during inflorescence, 175; - general remarks on a physiognomic classification, 205. - - Pothos, ii. 26, 175. - - - Quina (or fever bark), ii. 267. - - - Roads, old Peruvian, of the times of the Incas, ii. 270. - - Rotiferæ, their revivification, ii. 45. - - - Sahara (African desert) composed of several detached basins, i. 114. - - Sand-spouts a phenomenon characteristic of the Peruvian Sand Desert, - i. 183. - - Sargasso, Mar de; its geographical position discussed, i. 63; - is the most remarkable assemblage of plants of a single species yet - known on the globe, i. 64. - - Schomburgk.--Travels of the brothers Robert and Richard Schomburgk - important in many respects in regard to the physical geography - of Guiana and the bordering countries, i. 178, 197, 236, 250. - - Sleep, summer and winter, of animals, i. 18, 185; ii. 48. - - Snow, limit of perpetual; inequality of this limit on the northern - and southern declivities of the Himalaya, i. 98. - - Sorata and Illimani; their heights above the sea recently corrected, - i. 57, 96, 277. - - Steppes and Deserts, Characteristics of the European, i. 2; - African, i. 3; - Asiatic, i. 4; - South American, i. 7; - analogies and contrasts between the steppes and the ocean, i. 2, 35. - - Strato, his sluice theory, ii. 78. - - Sugar-cane; of Tahiti, of the West Indies, and of Guiana, i. 31. - - - Tacarigua, Lake of, i. 1; - its scenery and vegetation, i. 27. - - Temperature.--Contrast between the temperature of the east coast of - America and the west coast of Europe in the same latitudes, - i. 129; - general remarks on the temperature of the United States of America, - i. 131. - - Thian-schan, one of the four parallel mountain chains in Central Asia, - i. 72, 82. - - Thibet, occupying the valley between the great chains of the Kuen-lün - and Himalaya, divided into Upper, Middle, and Little Thibet; its - mean elevation and description, i. 81. - - Tibbos, i. 67. - - Timpanogos, Laguna de, i. 44; - is the Great Salt Lake of Frémont, 280. - - Traditions of Samothrace, ii. 78. - - Trees, age of, ii. 86; - trees of highest growth, ii. 165. - - Trisetum subspicatum, an inhabitant both of the Arctic and Antarctic - Circles, ii. 186. - - Tuaricks, i. 67. - - - Urwald, or primeval forest, a name too lightly used, i. 261; - true character of a primeval forest, 262; - description of the nocturnal life of wild animals in the Urwald, - 266. - - - Vegetation, its propagation and extension over newly formed lands, - ii. 8; - the absence of trees erroneously supposed to characterise hot - countries, 10; - extensive arid tracts in countries otherwise of luxuriant vegetation - a geological problem which has not been sufficiently considered, - 12; - characteristic aspect of vegetation in the tropics, 30; - characteristic vegetation of the Alps and Andes at great elevations, - 35. - - Vesuvius, measurements of height at different periods, ii. 225, 243; - particulars of the eruption of 1822, 228. - - Vital force, the, or Rhodian Genius, ii. 251. - - Volcanos of the Thian-schan chain situated in the interior of Asia far - distant from the sea, i. 88; - structure and mode of action of, ii. 213; - instances of extensive volcanic connection, 221; - importance of repeating exact measurements of the heights of - craters, 224. - - - Willows, ii. 28, 193. - - -THE END. - - -Wilson and Ogilvy, Printers, 57, Skinner Street, Snowhill, London. - - - - -Transcriber's Note - - -Duplicate chapter headings have been removed. - - -The following apparent errors have been corrected: - -p. i "BY." changed to "BY" - -p. 13 "heat, But," changed to "heat. But," - -p. 52 "as follows:--Un" changed to "as follows:--”Un" - -p. 60 "of a line,) S. xix." changed to "of a line,)” S. xix." - -p. 64 "of the Carolinas;--and" changed to "of the Carolinas);--and" - -p. 81 "“A more richly varied" changed to "A more richly varied" - -p. 93 "have been counted.”" changed to "have been counted." - -p. 100 "entitled “De distributione" changed to "entitled De -distributione" - -p. 113 "acccording to" changed to "according to" - -p. 126 "Muskel-und Nervenfaser" changed to "Muskel- und Nervenfaser" - -p. 127 "Chæmerops and Cocos" changed to "Chamærops and Cocos" - -p. 133 "systematically 12. “How interesting" changed to "systematically -12. How interesting" - -p. 134 "concentric rings.”" changed to "concentric rings." - -p. 134 "Rio Atabapo.”" changed to "Rio Atabapo." - -p. 135 "Nature has lavished" changed to "“Nature has lavished" - -p. 145 "10.°5 Reanmur" changed to "10.°5 Reaumur" - -p. 146 "in the Canaries.”" changed to "in the Canaries." - -p. 160 "aus Indien wahrend der" changed to "aus Indien während der" - -p. 160 "torulosa (Don)," changed to "torulosa, Don)," - -p. 172 "Tännen-stöcke" changed to "Tannenstöcke" - -p. 184 "Asiat Res." changed to "Asiat. Res." - -p. 210 "organic devolopment" changed to "organic development" - -p. 239 "study of fosssils" changed to "study of fossils" - -p. 307 "fortress of the Cañar" changed to "fortress of the Cañar." - -p.311 "native of New Granada" changed to "native of New Granada." - -p. 313 "164000 French" changed to "16400 French" - -p. 315 "p. 424)." changed to "p. 424." - -p. 323 "p. 300" changed to "p. 300." - -p. 323 "79° 34" changed to "79° 34´" - -p. 341 "Alöe" changed to "Aloë" - -p. 344 "Maranon" changed to "Marañon" - - -Inconsistent or archaic spelling and punctuation have otherwise been -kept as printed. - - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASPECTS OF NATURE (VOL. 2 OF -2) *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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