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diff --git a/old/68953-h/68953-h.htm b/old/68953-h/68953-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 0f3cb7c..0000000 --- a/old/68953-h/68953-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,11497 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> -<head> - <meta charset="UTF-8" /> - <title> - Aspects of Nature (Vol. 2 of 2), by Alexander von Humboldt—A Project Gutenberg eBook - </title> - <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover" /> - <style> /* <![CDATA[ */ - -body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; -} - - h1,h2,h3 { - text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ - clear: both; - margin-top: 2em; -} - -.small {font-size: small;} -.smaller {font-size: smaller;} -.larger {font-size: larger;} -.large {font-size: large;} -.x-large {font-size: x-large;} - -.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} -.p4 {margin-top: 4em;} - -.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} - -.break {page-break-before: always;} - -.titlepage {text-align: center; margin: auto; max-width: 32em;} - -.titlepage p {text-align: center;} - -.toc {text-align: left; max-width: 40em;} - -.sig {margin-left: 4em;} - -.i4 {margin-left: 4em;} - -p { - margin-top: .51em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .49em; -} - -.p2 {margin-top: 2em;} -.p4 {margin-top: 4em;} - - -hr { - width: 33%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 2em; - margin-left: 33.5%; - margin-right: 33.5%; - clear: both; -} - -hr.tb {width: 45%; margin-left: 27.5%; margin-right: 27.5%; visibility: hidden;} - -hr.full {width: 95%; margin-left: 2.5%; margin-right: 2.5%;} - -hr.r5 {width: 5%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 47.5%; margin-right: 47.5%;} - -div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} -h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} - -ul.index { list-style-type: none; } -li.ifrst { - margin-top: 1em; - text-indent: -2em; - padding-left: 1em; -} -li.indx { - margin-top: .5em; - text-indent: -2em; - padding-left: 1em; -} -li.isub1 { - text-indent: -2em; - padding-left: 2em; -} - -table { - margin-left: auto; - margin-right: auto; -} -table.autotable { border-collapse: collapse; } -table.autotable td, -table.autotable th { padding: 4px; } - -.tdl {text-align: left;} -.tdr {text-align: right;} -.tdc {text-align: center;} - -.pagenum { - position: absolute; - right: 1%; - font-size: x-small; - font-weight: normal; - font-variant: normal; - font-style: normal; - letter-spacing: normal; - text-indent: 0em; - text-align: right; - color: #999999; - background-color: #ffffff; -} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} - - -/* Footnotes */ - -.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} - -.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} - -.fnanchor { - vertical-align: super; - font-size: .8em; - text-decoration: - none; -} - - -/* Transcriber's notes */ -.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; - color: black; - font-size:smaller; - padding:0.5em; - margin-bottom:5em; - font-family:sans-serif, serif; } - - /* ]]> */ </style> -</head> -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Aspects of Nature (Vol. 2 of 2), by Alexander von Humboldt</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. 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. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Aspects of Nature (Vol. 2 of 2)</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em;'>In different lands and different climates; with scientific elucidations</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Alexander von Humboldt</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Translator: Elizabeth Sabine</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: September 10, 2022 [eBook #68953]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>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)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASPECTS OF NATURE (VOL. 2 OF 2) ***</div> - -<div class="chapter titlepage"> - - - - -<h1> -ASPECTS OF NATURE,<br /> - -<span class="small">IN</span><br /> - -<span class="smaller">DIFFERENT LANDS AND DIFFERENT CLIMATES;</span><br /> - -<span class="small">WITH</span><br /> - -<span class="smaller">Scientific Elucidations.</span></h1> - -<p class="p2"> -<span class="small">BY</span><br /> - -<span class="large">ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT.</span><br /> - -TRANSLATED BY MRS. SABINE.<br /> - -<span class="smaller">IN TWO VOLUMES.</span></p> - -<p>VOL. II.</p> - -<p class="p2">LONDON:<br /> -<br /> -<span class="small"> -PRINTED FOR</span><br /> -LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS,<br /> -<span class="small">PATERNOSTER ROW; AND</span><br /> -JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.<br /> - -1849. -</p> - -</div> - - - - - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p class="break p4 center small">Wilson and Ogilvy, Skinner Street, Snowhill, London.</p> -</div> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS_OF_VOL_II">CONTENTS OF VOL. II.</h2> -</div> - - - - -<table class="toc autotable"> -<tr> -<td colspan="2" class="tdr"><span class="small">PAGE</span></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Physiognomy of Plants</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_3">3</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="i4">Annotations and Additions</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="i4">Postscript on the Physiognomic Classification of Plants</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_205">205</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">On the Structure and Mode of Action of Volcanos, in different Parts of the Globe</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_213">214</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="i4">Annotations and Additions</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_243">243</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Vital Force, or the Rhodian Genius</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_249">251</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="i4">Note</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_259">259</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">The Plateau of Caxamarca, the Ancient Capital of The Inca Atahuallpa</span>, and the First View of the Pacific Ocean, from the Crest of the Andes</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_265">267</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="i4">Annotations and Additions</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_303">303</a></td> -</tr> -<tr><td colspan="2"><hr class="r5" /></td></tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">General Summary of the <span class="smcap">Contents</span> of the Second Volume</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_325">327</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl"><span class="smcap">Index</span></td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_341">341</a></td> -</tr> -</table> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[3]</span></p> - -<p class="p4 center"> -<span class="x-large">ASPECTS OF NATURE</span><br /> - -IN<br /> - -<span class="larger">DIFFERENT LANDS AND DIFFERENT CLIMATES.</span><br /> -</p> - -</div> - - - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="PHYSIOGNOMY_OF_PLANTS">PHYSIOGNOMY OF PLANTS.</h2> - - - -<p>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,<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> -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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[4]</span> -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,<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> 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.</p> - -<p>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,<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> and, probably by means of -the oxygen which all waters contain, breathe new irritability -into their dormant organs.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[5]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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,<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> 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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[6]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[7]</span> -two cubic feet of the Bilin polishing slate. In the sea, gelatinous -worms, living or dead, shine like stars,<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> 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.</p> - -<p>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.<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[8]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> -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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[9]</span> -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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[10]</span> -earth, has its epochs, as well as that of the migrations of -the animal world.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[11]</span> -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,<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> 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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[12]</span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a>, thousands<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span> -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,<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> 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.<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> 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.</p> - -<p>Mineralogy is not more distinct from geology than is the -individual description of natural objects from a general<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[15]</span> -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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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,<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> -(as sacred in the eyes of the inhabitants of the Canaries as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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,<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[18]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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,<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> have not always been the same, the physiognomy<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>We will begin with palms,<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</span> -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<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a>. 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.</p> - -<p>The form of Malvaceæ<a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> 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.</p> - -<p>The delicately pinnated foliage of the Mimosa form<a id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a>, -of which Acacia, Desmanthus, Gleditschia, Porleria, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>The Heath form<a id="FNanchor_19" href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>The Cactus form,<a id="FNanchor_20" href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a>, 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.</p> - -<p>While the above-mentioned plants flourish in deserts -almost devoid of other vegetation, the Orchideæ<a id="FNanchor_21" href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>The Casuarina form<a id="FNanchor_22" href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a>, 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.</p> - -<p>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<a id="FNanchor_23" href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> (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.</p> - -<p>Like mosses and lichens in our latitudes, and like orchideæ -in the tropical zone, plants of the Pothos form<a id="FNanchor_24" href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> clothe<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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,<a id="FNanchor_25" href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> -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.</p> - -<p>In strong contrast with the extreme flexibility and fresh light-coloured -verdure of the climbing plants, of which we have just<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</span> -been speaking, are the rigid self-supporting growth and bluish -hue of the form of Aloes,<a id="FNanchor_26" href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> 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.</p> - -<p>If the Aloe form is characterised by an almost mournful -repose and immobility, the form of Gramineæ,<a id="FNanchor_27" href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>The form of Ferns,<a id="FNanchor_28" href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> 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.</p> - -<p>I will next name the form of Liliaceeous plants,<a id="FNanchor_29" href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> -(Amaryllis, Ixia, Gladiolus, Pancratium) with their flag-like -leaves and superb blossoms, of which Southern Africa is the -principal country; also the Willow form<a id="FNanchor_30" href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a>, 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[29]</span> -in that of the ramification), by Schinus Molle; Myrtaceæ<a id="FNanchor_31" href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a>, -(Metrosideros, Eucalyptus, Escallonia myrtilloides); Melastomaceæ<a id="FNanchor_32" href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a>, -and the Laurel form<a id="FNanchor_33" href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a>.</p> - -<p>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<a id="FNanchor_34" href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> 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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span> -the thick and rough bark of the Crescentias and the -Gustavia.<a id="FNanchor_35" href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> 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.</p> - -<p>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.<a id="FNanchor_36" href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> -In the islands of the Indian Archipelago the flower of the -Rafflesia is nearly three feet in diameter, and weighs above -fourteen pounds.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span> -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.<a id="FNanchor_37" href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a></p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span></p> - -<h3 class="nobreak" id="ANNOTATIONS_AND_ADDITIONS_1">ANNOTATIONS AND ADDITIONS.</h3> -</div> - - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> p. 3.—“<i>On the Chimborazo, eight thousand feet -higher than Etna.</i>”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span> -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<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>5</sub> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[35]</span> -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.)</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[37]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[38]</span> -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 <i>j</i> 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 <i>a</i>), 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 <i>b</i>.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[39]</span> -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.)</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span> -for 1847, S. 176.) The great height to which the snow line -on the northern side of the Himalaya is raised <i>in summer</i>, -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 30½ 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.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> p. 4.—“<i>The Condor, the giant of the Vulture tribe.</i>”</p> - -<p>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 <i>flying</i> birds.</p> - -<p>The region which may be regarded as the ordinary haunt -of the Condor begins at the height of Etna, and comprises<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span> -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 (8½ 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span> -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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[43]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span> -the Condor can support forty days’ hunger; when -free, his voracity is excessive, and, vulture-like, is directed -by preference to dead flesh.</p> - -<p>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.)</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span> -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.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> p. 4.—“<i>Their rotating bodies.</i>”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>What has been called the revivification of Rotiferæ, since -observations have been more exact and have had to undergo<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span> -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>i. e.</i> 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>i. e.</i> from 11°.2 to -113°.0 Fah. They preserve the capability of apparent -revivification, in <i>dry sand</i>, up to 56°.4 R. (158°.9 Fah.); -but they lose it, and cannot be excited afresh, if heated in -<i>moist sand</i> 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°<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span> -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?</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[48]</span> -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.)</p> - -<p>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)<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[49]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span> -and motionless, encased in indurated earth, from May to -December.”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[51]</span> -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.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> p. 5.—“<i>Winged insects.</i>”</p> - -<p>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.)</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span> -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.”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[53]</span> -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.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">[5]</a> p. 7.—“<i>Shine like stars.</i>”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Le Gentil and the elder Forster attributed the flashing to -the electric friction excited by the ship in moving through<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[54]</span> -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.)</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The luminosity of the sea, so far as it is produced by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[55]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[56]</span> -(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.)</p> - -<p>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 <i>without any -farther influence of the living animal</i> (for example, in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[57]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[58]</span> -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).</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[59]</span> -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>i. e.</i> when waves coming from opposite directions -meet and clash.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span> -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.)</p> - -<p>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 <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>3000</sub> of a line,)” S. xix. and 244.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">[6]</a> p. 7.—“<i>Which inhabits the large pulmonary cells of -the rattle-snake of the tropics.</i>”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[61]</span> -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 <i>pure nitrogen</i> 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.)</p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[62]</span></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">[7]</a> p. 8.—“<i>The collected labours of united Lithophytes.</i>”</p> - -<p>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>i. e.</i>, 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[63]</span> -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.”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Every coral-trunk is a whole which has arisen by a formation -of buds taking place according to certain laws, the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[64]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[65]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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°<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[66]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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>i. e.</i>, 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[67]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[68]</span> -free and detached polypifers, and those which form wall-like -structures and rocks.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>In the Pacific, the Galapagos Islands, and the whole<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[69]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>While this absence of coral reefs appears to characterise -the <i>western</i> coasts of Africa, America, and Australia, on -the other hand such reefs abound on the <i>eastern</i> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span> -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.)</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span></p> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[72]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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. 72½°.</p> - -<p>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.)<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[73]</span> -“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 (26½ 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[74]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[75]</span> -that of light almost equally so; and the existence of numerous -Infusoria at great depths shews that the polypifers would -not want for food.</p> - -<p>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.)</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[76]</span> -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.)</p> - -<p>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>i. e.</i>, 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[77]</span> -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.</p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[78]</span></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="label">[8]</a> p. 11.—“<i>Traditions of Samothrace.</i>”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[79]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span> -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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[81]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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>i. e.</i>, 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:—</p> - -<p>A more richly varied and broken outline gives to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span> -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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span> -the Samothracian tradition of a great flood which had -changed the form of that district.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="label">[9]</a> p. 12.—“<i>Prevents precipitation taking place from -clouds.</i>”</p> - -<p>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 -<i>want of rain</i>, and the <i>absence of vegetation</i>, 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[84]</span> -into a steppe or grassy plain, because without water no -organic development is possible.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="label">[10]</a> p. 14.—“<i>The mass of the earth in solidifying and -parting with its heat.</i>”</p> - -<p>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 <i>might</i> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[85]</span> -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.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="label">[11]</a> p. 14.—“<i>The mountain declivities of the southern -part of Mexico.</i>”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[86]</span></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="label">[12]</a> p. 16.—“<i>The dragon-tree of Orotava.</i>”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span> -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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span></p> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[89]</span> -which, bearing no fruit, lived eighty years. (Grundzüge -der Botanik, 1843, S. 1003).</p> - -<p>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, <i>talent de bien faire</i>, en la corteza de los -arboles.” (Compare also Barros, Asia, Dec. I. liv. ii. cap. 2, -T. i. p. 148; Lisboa, 1778.)</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[90]</span> -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 2½° 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.)</p> - -<p>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 28½ English feet in diameter, with a height of -little more than 70 feet, and a top about 180 feet broad;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[91]</span> -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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span> -it is called Mulapa, <i>i. e.</i> 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.”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[93]</span> -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.)</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span> -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.)</p> - -<p>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 (40½ English) feet. (Mühlenpfordt, -Versuch einer getreuen Schilderung der Republik Mexico, -Bd. i. S. 153.) The two fine Ahuahuetes near Chapoltepec,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span> -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 (29½ 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.</p> - -<p>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 8½ inches -(29½ English feet) near the ground; 21½ (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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span> -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.)</p> - -<p>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 26½ 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.</p> - -<p>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>i. e.</i>, to the Fucus giganteus,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[97]</span> -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.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="label">[13]</a> p. 17.—“<i>Species of phænogamous plants already -contained in herbariums.</i>”</p> - -<p>We must carefully distinguish between three different -questions: How many species of plants are described in -printed works? how many have been discovered, <i>i. e.</i> 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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[98]</span> -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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[99]</span> -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!”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[100]</span> -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 : 2½. (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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[101]</span> -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.)</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[102]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[103]</span> -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>i. e.</i> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[104]</span> -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 4½° S. lat. and at an elevation -of about 6400 to 8000 English feet, is from 12½° to 16° -Réaumur (60°·2 to 68° Fahr.) (Humboldt and Bonpland, -Plantes équinoxiales, T. i. p. 88, tab. 10.)</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[105]</span> -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 <i>absolute number</i> is less than in France or -Germany, are yet <i>relatively</i> more numerous than in those -countries; <i>i. e.</i> 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 <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>73</sub> and -<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>71</sub>, and in Lapland <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>25</sub>. I published numerical ratios of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[106]</span> -this kind,—(<i>i. e.</i> 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 <i>absolute</i> 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.</p> - -<p>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>i. e.</i> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[107]</span> -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 <i>à priori</i> inclined to regard as belonging -exclusively to the vegetation of the plains.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[108]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - - -<p> -Glumaceæ <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>8</sub> (Grasses alone <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>12</sub>)<br /> -Compositæ <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>8</sub><br /> -Leguminosæ <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>18</sub><br /> -Labiatæ <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>24</sub><br /> -Umbelliferæ <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>40</sub><br /> -Amentaceæ (Cupuliferæ, Betulineæ, and Salicineæ) <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>45</sub><br /> -Cruciferæ <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>19</sub><br /> - -</p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[109]</span> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[110]</span> -torrid zone (from 0° to 10° of latitude) at <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>10</sub>, we obtain -for the part of the temperate zone which is between 45° -and 52° latitude <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>18</sub>, and for the frigid zone (lat. 67° to -70°) only <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>35</sub>. 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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[111]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<th>Families.</th> -<th>Germany.</th> -<th>France.</th> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Gramineæ.</td> -<td class="tdc"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>13</sub></td> -<td class="tdc"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>13</sub></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Umbelliferæ.</td> -<td class="tdc"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>22</sub></td> -<td class="tdc"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>21</sub></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Cruciferæ.</td> -<td class="tdc"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>18</sub></td> -<td class="tdc"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>19</sub></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Compositæ.</td> -<td class="tdc"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>8</sub></td> -<td class="tdc"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>7</sub></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Leguminosæ.</td> -<td class="tdc"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>18</sub></td> -<td class="tdc"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>16</sub></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Labiatæ.</td> -<td class="tdc"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>26</sub></td> -<td class="tdc"><sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>24</sub></td> -</tr> -</table> - - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[112]</span>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[113]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[114]</span> -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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[115]</span> -from our eyes all that relates to the manner of the first -creation and commencement of organic beings.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[116]</span> -Royal Herbarium at Schöneberg, near Berlin, of which he -is the curator, at 74000 species.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[117]</span> -(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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[118]</span> -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).<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[119]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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>i. e.</i> 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 <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>21</sub>—as we find it <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>10</sub> within -the tropics, <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>18</sub> in the middle temperate, and <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>33</sub> in the -cold northern zone. The <i>described</i> 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 <i>known</i> species. The discordance is instructive, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[120]</span> -may be further elucidated and illustrated by the following -analogous considerations.</p> - -<p>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, -(<sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>15</sub> between the tropics, <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>7</sub> in the temperate zone, and <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>13</sub> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[121]</span> -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 <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>12</sub>), 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 <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>8</sub> or <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>10</sub> part -as known.</p> - -<p>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>i. e.</i> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[122]</span> -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 34½° to 47¼° 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[123]</span> -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. 80½° 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[124]</span> -countries, and in the latitudes from 12° to 15° distant from -the tropics.</p> - -<p>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 <i>one</i> of the great -families of phanerogamous or flowering plants, we should -learn thereby at the same time, approximatively, the entire -sum of <i>all</i> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[125]</span> -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.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="label">[14]</a> p. 19.—“<i>If the height of the aerial ocean and -its pressure have not always been the same.</i>”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[126]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="label">[15]</a> p. 20.—“<i>Palms.</i>”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[127]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[128]</span> -(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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[129]</span> -reaches on the sub-Himalayan mountains a height of -5000 English feet. (Wallich, Plantæ Asiaticæ, Vol. iii. -Tab. 211.)</p> - -<p>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 43½° 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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[130]</span> -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).</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[131]</span> -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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[132]</span> -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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[133]</span> -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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[134]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“The direction of the leaves is a character not less important -than their form and colour. The leaflets (foliola), are<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[135]</span> -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!</p> - -<p>“Nature has lavished every beauty of form on the Jagua -palm, which, intermingled with the Cucurito or Vadgihai,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[136]</span> -(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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[137]</span></p> - -<p>“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).</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[138]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.)</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[139]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[140]</span> -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.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="label">[16]</a> p. 22.—“<i>Since the earliest infancy of human -civilisation.</i>”</p> - -<p>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.)</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[141]</span> -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.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17" class="label">[17]</a> p. 22—“<i>The form of Malvaceæ.</i>”</p> - -<p>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. <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.) 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[142]</span> -Turbaco near Carthagena in South America, and the celebrated -Ochroma-like Hand-tree, the Macpalxochiquahuitl of -the Mexicans, (from <i>macpalli</i>, 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[143]</span> -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.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18" class="label">[18]</a> p. 22.—“<i>The Mimosa form.</i>”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[144]</span> -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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[145]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_19" href="#FNanchor_19" class="label">[19]</a> p. 23—“<i>Heaths.</i>”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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>i. e.</i> in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[146]</span> -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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[147]</span> -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.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_20" href="#FNanchor_20" class="label">[20]</a> p. 4.—“<i>The Cactus form.</i>”</p> - -<p>If we take the natural family of the Opuntiaceæ separated<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[148]</span> -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.)</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[149]</span> -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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[150]</span> -(Zucc.) and by E. platyceras (Lem.) (Wislizenus, Tour to -Northern Mexico, 1848, p. 97.) The Echinocactus stainesii -reaches from 2 to 2½ 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 <i>rave</i>, <i>raven</i>, a leaf, and <i>ala</i>, the Javanese -<i>halas</i>, 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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[151]</span> -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.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_21" href="#FNanchor_21" class="label">[21]</a> p. 24.—“<i>Orchideæ.</i>”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>While in the temperate and cold zones there are only “terrestrial” -Orchideæ, <i>i. e.</i> growing on and close to the ground, -tropical countries possess both forms, <i>i. e.</i> the “terrestrial” -and the “parasitic,” which grow on trunks of trees. To the -first-named of these two divisions belong the tropical genera<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[152]</span> -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.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_22" href="#FNanchor_22" class="label">[22]</a> p. 25.—“<i>The Casuarinæ.</i>”</p> - -<p>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).<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[153]</span> -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.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_23" href="#FNanchor_23" class="label">[23]</a> p. 25.—“<i>Needle-leaved trees.</i>”</p> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[154]</span> -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.)</p> - -<p>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)<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[155]</span> -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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[156]</span></p> - -<p>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 6½° 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?</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[157]</span> -zone, in the Alps (lat. 45¾°), Pinus picea (Du Roi) -advances highest, leaving the birches behind; and in the -Pyrenees (lat. 42½°), 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 <i>arborescent</i> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[158]</span> -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).</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[159]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[160]</span> -(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.)</p> - -<p>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 13½ 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[161]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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>i. e.</i> 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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[162]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>This absence, from the Southern Hemisphere, of true Abietineæ, -Juniperineæ, Cupressineæ, and all the Taxodineæ, as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[163]</span> -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>i. e.</i> varieties -which have become wild) occupy large tracts of ground -in Chili, near Valdivia and Osorno. (Gay, Flora Chilensis, -p. 340.)</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[164]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[165]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[166]</span> -(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.)</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>Pinus grandis (Douglas) in New California attains 224 -English feet.</p> - -<p>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.)</p> - -<p>Dacrydium cupressinum (Solander), from New Zealand, -213 English feet.</p> - -<p>Pinus lambertiana (Dougl.), in North-west America, -224-235 English feet.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[167]</span> -which have become known to us hitherto, fall, according to -Endlicher, into two groups:</p> - -<p><i>a.</i> 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.</p> - -<p><i>b.</i> 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.).</p> - -<p>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 57½ 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.)</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[168]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.)</p> - -<p>Sequoia gigantea (Endl.), Condylocarpus (Sal.) from -New California; like Pinus trigona, about 300 English feet -high.</p> - -<hr class="tb" /> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[169]</span> -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 (<sup>27</sup>⁄<sub>100</sub>ths, 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.)</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[170]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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 <i>atl</i>, water, -and <i>huehuetl</i>, 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[171]</span> -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 4½ 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[172]</span> -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>i. e.</i> 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.)</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[173]</span> -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).</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[174]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[175]</span> -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.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_24" href="#FNanchor_24" class="label">[24]</a> p. 26.—“<i>The Pothos-form, Aroideæ.</i>”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[176]</span> -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 17½° -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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[177]</span> -This vital heat disappeared at night, but was not prevented -by placing the plants in the dark during the day-time.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[178]</span> -Victoria are the genera which present the greatest extension -in all dimensions of the parenchyma of the <i>leaves</i>, the greatest -known dimensions of a <i>flower</i> 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.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_25" href="#FNanchor_25" class="label">[25]</a> p. 26.—“<i>Lianes, rope-plants</i>, (<i>‘Bush ropes;’ -in Spanish, Vejuccos.</i>”)</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>In the South of Europe and in North America, Hops<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[179]</span> -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.)</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[180]</span> -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.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_26" href="#FNanchor_26" class="label">[26]</a> p. 27.—“<i>The form of Aloës.</i>”</p> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[181]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[182]</span></p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[183]</span> -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.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_27" href="#FNanchor_27" class="label">[27]</a> p. 27—“<i>The form of Gramineæ.</i>”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[184]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[185]</span></p> - -<p>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 -<i>tvakkschira</i>, 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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[186]</span></p> - -<p>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 17½° -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 74½° North latitude, -or through 128½° 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[187]</span> -62¼°, S. latitude) a small grass, Aira antarctica (Hooker, -Icon. Plant. Vol. ii. Tab. 150) which is “the most antarctic -flowering plant hitherto discovered.”</p> - -<p>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, <i>land</i>-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 18½° nearer to the pole than in the -southern hemisphere: Walden Island (N. lat. 80½°) 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.)</p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[188]</span></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_28" href="#FNanchor_28" class="label">[28]</a> p. 28.—“<i>Ferns.</i>”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[189]</span> -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 -(42½ 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.)</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[190]</span> -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 <i>feledschun</i>, <i>f</i> being changed into <i>h</i> -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.)</p> - -<p>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 52½° lat., and -even there the stem of the Aspidium venustum rises to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[191]</span> -4 feet (4 feet 3 inches, English) before the fronds branch -off.</p> - -<p>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 <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>33</sub>, for France <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>58</sub>, for Germany <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>52</sub>, -for the dry parts of the south of Italy <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>74</sub>, and for Greece <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>84</sub>. -Towards the colder regions of the north we see the <i>relative</i><span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[192]</span> -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 <i>absolute</i> numbers. -According to Wahlenberg’s and Hornemann’s Catalogues -the relative numbers of Filices are, for Lapland <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>25</sub>, for -Iceland <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>18</sub>, and for Greenland <sup>1</sup>⁄<sub>12</sub>.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[193]</span> -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.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_29" href="#FNanchor_29" class="label">[29]</a> p. 28.—“<i>Liliaceæ.</i>”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_30" href="#FNanchor_30" class="label">[30]</a> p. 28.—“<i>Willow Form.</i>”</p> - -<p>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;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[194]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[195]</span> -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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[196]</span> -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.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_31" href="#FNanchor_31" class="label">[31]</a> p. 29.—“<i>Myrtaceæ.</i>”</p> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[197]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[198]</span> -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.”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[199]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[200]</span> -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 -56½° 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 50½° South latitude.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_32" href="#FNanchor_32" class="label">[32]</a> p. 29.—“<i>Melastomaceæ.</i>”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_33" href="#FNanchor_33" class="label">[33]</a> p. 29.—“<i>Laurel-form.</i>”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[201]</span></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_34" href="#FNanchor_34" class="label">[34]</a> p. 29.—“<i>How interesting and instructive to the -landscape painter would be a work which should -present to the eye the leading forms of vegetation!</i>”</p> - -<p>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).</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -<p>“Nature, in every region of the earth, is indeed a reflex -of the whole; the forms of organised beings are repeated<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[202]</span> -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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[203]</span> -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.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_35" href="#FNanchor_35" class="label">[35]</a> p. 30.—“<i>From the rough bark of Crescentias -and Gustavia.</i>”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[204]</span> -“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.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_36" href="#FNanchor_36" class="label">[36]</a> p. 30.—“<i>Draw over their heads.</i>”</p> - -<p>The flowers of our Aristolochia cordata, to which I have -already referred in Note <a href="#Footnote_25">25</a>. 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.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_37" href="#FNanchor_37" class="label">[37]</a> p. 31—“<i>To behold all the shining worlds which -stud the heavenly vault from pole to pole.</i>”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -</div> - - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[205]</span></p> - -<h3 class="nobreak" id="POSTSCRIPT">POSTSCRIPT<br /> - - -<span class="small">ON THE</span><br /> - -PHYSIOGNOMIC CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS.</h3> - -</div> - -<p>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>i. e.</i> -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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[206]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>As, therefore, a “physiognomic classification,” or a division<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[207]</span> -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>i. e.</i> 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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[208]</span> -organs of reproduction; the second from the form of the parts -which constitute the axes (<i>i. e.</i> 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>i. e.</i> 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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[209]</span> -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 <i>independent</i> 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>i. e.</i> -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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[210]</span> -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.)</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[213]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Volcanos"> - -<span class="small">ON THE</span><br /> - - -STRUCTURE AND MODE OF ACTION<br /> - -<span class="small">OF</span><br /> - -<span class="x-large">VOLCANOS,</span><br /> - -<span class="small">IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE GLOBE.</span></h2> - -<p class="center p2">[This dissertation was read in a public assembly of the Academy at -Berlin, on the 24th of January, 1823.]</p> - -</div> - - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">[214]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">[215]</span> -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>i. e.</i> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">[216]</span> -the earth are superposed upon each other, penetrate each -other as veins or dykes, or are upheaved or elevated by -elastic forces.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">[217]</span> -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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">[218]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">[219]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">[220]</span> -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>i. e.</i> 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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">[221]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The whole plateau or high-land of Quito, of which -Pichincha, Cotopaxi, and Tunguragua form the summits,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">[222]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">[223]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">[224]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">[225]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">[226]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<a id="FNanchor_38" href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a>. 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">[227]</span> -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).</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">[228]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">[229]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">[230]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">[231]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">[232]</span> -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 -15½ 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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">[233]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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>i. e.</i> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">[234]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">[235]</span> -recorded in a note the measurements of height made by -myself and others on Vesuvius and in its vicinity.</p> - -<p>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,<a id="FNanchor_39" href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> presenting the form of obsidian with pumice.</p> - -<p>Distinct from these volcanos provided with permanent<span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">[236]</span> -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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">[237]</span> -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>i. e.</i> 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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">[238]</span> -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>i. e.</i> 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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">[239]</span> -experiments on the waters of springs rising from different -depths,<a id="FNanchor_40" href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> 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.</p> - -<p>It may be that in the Ancient World, exhalations of heat -issuing forth through the many openings of the deeply<span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">[240]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">[241]</span> -me difficult to separate vegetable and animal remains from -each other. The same mode of explanation ought to comprehend -both.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">[243]</span></p> - -<h3 class="nobreak" id="ANNOTATIONS_AND_ADDITIONS_2">ANNOTATIONS AND ADDITIONS.</h3> -</div> - - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_38" href="#FNanchor_38" class="label">[38]</a> p. 226.—“<i>A more complete determination of the -height of all parts of the margin of the crater.</i>”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<p class="p2 center">A. <i>Rocca del Palo, the highest and northern margin of the Crater -of Vesuvius.</i></p> - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<th> </th> -<th>Toises.</th> -<th>Eng. ft.</th> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Saussure, barometric measurement computed in 1773, probably by Deluc’s formula</td> -<td class="tdl">609</td> -<td class="tdl">3894</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Poli, 1794, barometric</td> -<td class="tdl">606</td> -<td class="tdl">3875</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Breislak, 1794, barometric (but, like Poli, the formula employed uncertain)</td> -<td class="tdl">613</td> -<td class="tdl">3920</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Gay-Lussac, Leopold von Buch, and Humboldt, 1805, barometric, computed by Laplace’s formula, as are also all the barometric results which follow</td> -<td class="tdl">603</td> -<td class="tdl">3856</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Brioschi, 1810, trigonometric</td> -<td class="tdl">638</td> -<td class="tdl">4080</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Visconti, 1816, trigonometric</td> -<td class="tdl">622</td> -<td class="tdl">3977</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Lord Minto, 1822, barometric, often repeated</td> -<td class="tdl">621</td> -<td class="tdl">3971<span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">[244]</span></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Poulett Scrope, 1822, barometric, somewhat uncertain from the proportion between the diameters of the tube and cistern being unknown</td> -<td class="tdl">604</td> -<td class="tdl">3862</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Monticelli and Covelli, 1822</td> -<td class="tdl">624</td> -<td class="tdl">3990</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Humboldt, 1822</td> -<td class="tdl">629</td> -<td class="tdl">4022</td> -</tr> -</table> - -<p>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.</p> - - -<p class="p2 center">B. <i>The lowest and southern margin of the crater opposite to -Bosche Tre Case.</i></p> - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<th> </th> -<th>Toises.</th> -<th>Eng. ft.</th> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">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)</td> -<td class="tdl">559</td> -<td class="tdl">3574</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Gay-Lussac, Leopold von Buch, and Humboldt, 1805, barometric</td> -<td class="tdl">534</td> -<td class="tdl">3414</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Humboldt, 1822, barometric</td> -<td class="tdl">546</td> -<td class="tdl">3491</td> -</tr> -</table> - - -<p class="p2 center">C. <i>Height of the cone of scoriæ inside the crater, which fell in on -the 22d of October, 1822.</i></p> - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<th> </th> -<th>Toises.</th> -<th>Eng. ft.</th> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Lord Minto, barometric</td> -<td class="tdl">650</td> -<td class="tdl">4156</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Brioschi, trigonometric, according to different combinations either</td> -<td class="tdl">636</td> -<td class="tdl">4066</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Or</td> -<td class="tdl">641</td> -<td class="tdl">4098</td> -</tr> -</table> - -<p>Probable final result for the height of the above-mentioned cone -of scoriæ 646 toises, or 4130 English feet.</p> - - -<p class="p2 center">D. <i>Punta Nasone, highest summit of the Somma.</i></p> - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<th> </th> -<th>Toises.</th> -<th>Eng. ft.</th> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Schuckburgh, 1794, barometric, probably computed by his own formula</td> -<td class="tdl">584</td> -<td class="tdl">3734</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Humboldt, 1822, barometric, Laplace’s formula</td> -<td class="tdl">586</td> -<td class="tdl">3747</td> -</tr> -</table> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">[245]</span></p> - -<p class="p2 center">E. <i>Plain of the Atrio del Cavallo.</i></p> - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<th> </th> -<th>Toises.</th> -<th>Eng. ft.</th> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Humboldt, 1822, barometric</td> -<td class="tdl">403</td> -<td class="tdl">2577</td> -</tr> -</table> - -<p class="p2 center">F. <i>Foot of the cone of ashes.</i></p> - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<th> </th> -<th>Toises.</th> -<th>Eng. ft.</th> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Gay-Lussac, Leopold von Buch, and Humboldt, 1805, barometric</td> -<td class="tdl">370</td> -<td class="tdl">2366</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Humboldt, 1822, barometric</td> -<td class="tdl">388</td> -<td class="tdl">2481</td> -</tr> -</table> - -<p class="p2 center">G. <i>Hermitage del Salvatore.</i></p> - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<th> </th> -<th>Toises.</th> -<th>Eng. ft.</th> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Gay-Lussac, Leopold von Buch, and Humboldt, 1805, barometric</td> -<td class="tdl">300</td> -<td class="tdl">1918</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Lord Minto, 1822, barometric</td> -<td class="tdl">307.9</td> -<td class="tdl">1969</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Humboldt, 1822, barometric repeated</td> -<td class="tdl">308.7</td> -<td class="tdl">1974</td> -</tr> -</table> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>My measurements in 1822, at the time of the Congress -of Verona, when I accompanied the late King of Prussia to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">[246]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">[247]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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!</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_39" href="#FNanchor_39" class="label">[39]</a> p. 235.—“<i>Where the pressure is less.</i>”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">[248]</span></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_40" href="#FNanchor_40" class="label">[40]</a> p. 289—“<i>Waters of springs rising from different -depths.</i>”</p> - -<p>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 2094½ Parisian feet -(2232¼ 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.)</p> - -</div> - - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_249">[249]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Rhodian"> -<span class="small">THE</span><br /> - - -<span class="x-large">VITAL FORCE;</span><br /> - -<span class="small">OR,</span><br /> - -THE RHODIAN GENIUS.</h2> - -<p class="center p2">[FIRST PRINTED IN 1795.]</p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">[251]</span></p> - - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>The multitude (comprehending therein many classes of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_252">[252]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_253">[253]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_254">[254]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_255">[255]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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:—</p> - -<p>“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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_256">[256]</span> -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 (<span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">στυπτηρια υγρα</span>), 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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_257">[257]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>“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.</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_259">[259]</span></p> - -<h3 class="nobreak" id="NOTE">NOTE.</h3> -</div> - - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_260">[260]</span></p> - -<p>“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).</p> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_261">[261]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_262">[262]</span> -to lifeless or inorganic, organic nature <i>appears</i> 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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_263">[263]</span> -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.)</p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_265">[265]</span></p> - - - - -<h2 class="nobreak"> -<span class="small">THE</span><br /> - -<span class="x-large">PLATEAU OF CAXAMARCA,</span><br /> - -<span class="small">THE</span><br /> - -ANCIENT CAPITAL OF THE INCA ATAHUALLPA:<br /> - -<span class="small">AND</span><br /> - -<span class="smaller">THE FIRST VIEW OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN,<br /> - -FROM THE CREST OF THE ANDES.</span></h2> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_267">[267]</span></p> - - -<p>After a residence of an entire year on the crest of the chain -of the Andes or Antis<a id="FNanchor_41" href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a>, 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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_268">[268]</span> -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<a id="FNanchor_42" href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a>, 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.</p> - -<p>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;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_269">[269]</span> -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 12½° 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.</p> - -<p>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 <i>Paramos</i> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_270">[270]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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 <i>pircca</i>, the wall?). Some of -them are surrounded by a kind of fortification; others were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_271">[271]</span> -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.”<a id="FNanchor_43" href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_272">[272]</span> -fortress of Cañar<a id="FNanchor_44" href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a>, belonging probably to the same period, -that of Tupac Yupanqui, or to that of his warlike son, -Huayna Capac.</p> - -<p>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<a id="FNanchor_45" href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> (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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_273">[273]</span> -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<a id="FNanchor_46" href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a>. 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.</p> - -<p>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.”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_274">[274]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_275">[275]</span> -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<a id="FNanchor_47" href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a>, 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>i. e.</i> 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.</p> - -<p>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),<span class="pagenum" id="Page_276">[276]</span> -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<a id="FNanchor_48" href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> (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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_277">[277]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_278">[278]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<a id="FNanchor_49" href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_279">[279]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_280">[280]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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).<a id="FNanchor_50" href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> 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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_281">[281]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_282">[282]</span> -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<a id="FNanchor_51" href="#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> (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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_283">[283]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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,”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_284">[284]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_285">[285]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_286">[286]</span> -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” (<i>churu</i>, in the -Quichua language, signifies shells, and particularly small -eatable kinds, <i>hostion</i>, <i>mexillon</i>). 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.</p> - -<p>The narrow path from Micuipampa to the ancient city of -the Incas, Caxamarca, is difficult even for mules. The name<span class="pagenum" id="Page_287">[287]</span> -of the town was originally Cassamarca or Kazamarca, <i>i. e.</i> -the Frost town; (<i>marca</i>, 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>i. e.</i> 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.<a id="FNanchor_52" href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a></p> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_288">[288]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_289">[289]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_290">[290]</span> -prevailing Peruvian custom. There may still be found -subterranean chambers below many of the private dwellings -of Caxamarca.</p> - -<p>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.<a id="FNanchor_53" href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> 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.</p> - -<p>In the principal building the room is still shown in which -the unhappy Atahuallpa was kept a prisoner for nine months<a id="FNanchor_54" href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> -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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_291">[291]</span> -fateful 29th of August 1553, on which day the Inca was -put to death, at 3,838,000 Ducados de Oro<a id="FNanchor_55" href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a>.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_292">[292]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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),<a id="FNanchor_56" href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> 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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_293">[293]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_294">[294]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_295">[295]</span></p> - -<p>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>i. e.</i> 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<a id="FNanchor_57" href="#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> to -exist in the minds of many among those of the natives who are -possessed of some knowledge of the history of their country.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_296">[296]</span></p> - -<p>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; <i>kacca</i> 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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_297">[297]</span> -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.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_298">[298]</span></p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_299">[299]</span> -to disperse, but at such moments our field of view was -again restricted by intervening heights.</p> - -<p>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,<a id="FNanchor_58" href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> 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>i. e.</i> from the Delta formed by -the mouths of the Volga, cannot certainly be called picturesque;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_300">[300]</span> -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<a id="FNanchor_59" href="#Footnote_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> 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.</p> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_301">[301]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_302">[302]</span> -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<a id="FNanchor_60" href="#Footnote_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a>, 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.</p> - - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_303">[303]</span></p> - -<h3 class="nobreak" id="ANNOTATIONS_AND_ADDITIONS_3">ANNOTATIONS AND ADDITIONS.</h3> -</div> - - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_41" href="#FNanchor_41" class="label">[41]</a> p. 267.—“<i>On the ridge of the Chain of the Andes -or Antis.</i>”</p> - -<p>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 <i>suyu</i> signifies “strip,” and also -“part.” Notwithstanding the great distance, Quito belonged<span class="pagenum" id="Page_304">[304]</span> -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 <i>a</i> when making -part of a compound word: <i>anta</i>, cobre, y <i>antamarca</i> 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 <i>a</i> into an <i>i</i>; -and thus “anta” (copper) and “Anti or Ante” (meaning as -dictionaries of the country explain “la tierra de los Andes,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_305">[305]</span> -el Indio hombre de los Andes, la Sierra de los Andes,” <i>i. e.</i> -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).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_42" href="#FNanchor_42" class="label">[42]</a> p. 268.—“<i>The Countess of Chinchon.</i>”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_306">[306]</span> -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.</p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_307">[307]</span></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_43" href="#FNanchor_43" class="label">[43]</a> p. 271.—“<i>Aposentos de Mulalos.</i>”</p> - -<p>Respecting these aposentos (dwellings, inns, in the -Quichua language <i>tampu</i>, whence the Spanish form tambo), -compare Cieça, Chronica del Peru, cap. 41, (ed. de 1554, -p. 108) and my Vues des Cordillères, Pl. xxiv.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_44" href="#FNanchor_44" class="label">[44]</a> p. 272.—“<i>The fortress of the Cañar.</i>”</p> - -<p>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, <i>huaycco</i>), 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.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_45" href="#FNanchor_45" class="label">[45]</a> p. 272.—“<i>Artificial roads covered with cemented -gravel.</i>”</p> - -<p>Compare Velasco, Historia de Quito, 1844, T. i. p. 126-128, -and Prescott, Hist. of the Conquest of Peru, Vol. i. -p. 157.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_46" href="#FNanchor_46" class="label">[46]</a> p. 273.—“<i>Where the road was interrupted by flights -of steps.</i>”</p> - -<p>Compare Pedro Sancho in Ramusio, Vol. iii. fol. 404, -and Extracts from Manuscript Letters of Hernando Pizarro,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_308">[308]</span> -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.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_47" href="#FNanchor_47" class="label">[47]</a> p. 275.—“<i>Greeks and Romans shew these contrasts.</i>”</p> - -<p>“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.”</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_48" href="#FNanchor_48" class="label">[48]</a> p. 276.—“<i>The messenger of the deity -Nemterequeteba.</i>”</p> - -<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_309">[309]</span> -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>i. e.</i> 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.</p> - -<p>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.”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_310">[310]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_311">[311]</span> -“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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_312">[312]</span> -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.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_49" href="#FNanchor_49" class="label">[49]</a> p. 278.—“<i>The fall of the Rio de Chamaya.</i>”</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_50" href="#FNanchor_50" class="label">[50]</a> p. 280.—“<i>Which, on account of an old observation -of La Condamine, was of some importance to the -geography of South America.</i>”</p> - -<p>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 50½ 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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_313">[313]</span> -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.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_51" href="#FNanchor_51" class="label">[51]</a> p. 282.—“<i>At upwards of twelve thousand feet -above the sea we found fossil marine shells.</i>”</p> - -<p>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).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_52" href="#FNanchor_52" class="label">[52]</a> p. 287.—“<i>Where the chain of the Andes is intersected -by the magnetic equator.</i>”</p> - -<p>Compare my Rélation hist. du Voyage aux Régions -équinoxiales, T. iii. p. 622; and Kosmos, Bd. i. S. 191<span class="pagenum" id="Page_314">[314]</span> -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).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_53" href="#FNanchor_53" class="label">[53]</a> p. 290.—“<i>Accompanied by inconvenient ceremonies -of Court etiquette.</i>”</p> - -<p>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).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_54" href="#FNanchor_54" class="label">[54]</a> p. 290.—“<i>Captivity of Atahuallpa.</i>”</p> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_315">[315]</span> -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.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_55" href="#FNanchor_55" class="label">[55]</a> p. 291.—“<i>Ducados de Oro.</i>”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_316">[316]</span> -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.)</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_56" href="#FNanchor_56" class="label">[56]</a> p. 292.—“<i>The great, but, for a Son of the Sun, -somewhat free-thinking Huayna Capac.</i>”</p> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_317">[317]</span> -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.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_57" href="#FNanchor_57" class="label">[57]</a> p. 295.—“<i>The restoration of an empire of the Incas.</i>”</p> - -<p>I have treated this subject more fully in another place<span class="pagenum" id="Page_318">[318]</span> -(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!</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_58" href="#FNanchor_58" class="label">[58]</a> p. 299.—“<i>Of the expedition of Vasco Nuñez de -Balboa.</i>”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_319">[319]</span> -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>i. e.</i> 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.)</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_320">[320]</span> -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.)</p> - -<p>General Bolivar at my request caused an exact levelling of -the Isthmus between Panama and the mouth of the Rio<span class="pagenum" id="Page_321">[321]</span> -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 <i>most important</i> points of the <i>eastern</i> -and <i>south-eastern</i> 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 <i>quite premature</i> to pronounce that the Isthmus -does not admit of the formation of an Oceanic Canal (<i>i. e.</i> -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.”</p> - -<p>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>i. e.</i> 16 or 20 English geographical<span class="pagenum" id="Page_322">[322]</span> -miles), from the coast of the Pacific on the <i>east</i> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_323">[323]</span> -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.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_59" href="#FNanchor_59" class="label">[59]</a> p. 300.—“<i>That which is awakened in us by childish -impressions or by the circumstances of life.</i>”</p> - -<p>On the incitements to the study of nature, compare -Kosmos, Bd. ii. S. 5, (English edit. vol. ii. p. 5).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_60" href="#FNanchor_60" class="label">[60]</a> p. 302.—“<i>Of importance for the exact determination -of the longitude of Lima.</i>”</p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_324">[324]</span> -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.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="sig"> - -Potsdam, June 1849. -</div> - - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_325">[325]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="GENERAL_SUMMARY"> - -<span class="x-large">GENERAL SUMMARY</span><br /> - - -<span class="small">OF THE</span><br /> - -CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME.</h2> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_327">[327]</span></p> - - -<p class="p2 center"><i>Physiognomy of Plants</i>—p. <a href="#Page_3">1</a> to p. <a href="#Page_31">31</a>.</p> - -<p>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 <a href="#Page_3">3</a>-<a href="#Page_8">8</a></p> - -<p>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 <a href="#Page_8">8</a>-<a href="#Page_13">13</a></p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_328">[328]</span> -frequently their small size, also contribute to lessen their general -effect on the landscape <a href="#Page_13">13</a>-<a href="#Page_16">16</a></p> - -<p>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 <a href="#Page_17">17</a>-<a href="#Page_20">20</a></p> - - -<table class="autotable"> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Palms</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>-<a href="#Page_140">140</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Plantains or Bananas</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Malvaceæ</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>-<a href="#Page_143">143</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Mimosæ</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>-<a href="#Page_145">145</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Ericeæ, or Heath form</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>-<a href="#Page_147">147</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Cactus form</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>-<a href="#Page_151">151</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Orchideæ</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Casuarineæ</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Needle trees</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>-<a href="#Page_175">175</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Pothos and Aroideæ</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>-<a href="#Page_178">178</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Lianes, or twining rope plants</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>-<a href="#Page_180">180</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Aloë form</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>-<a href="#Page_183">183</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Gramineæ</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>-<a href="#Page_187">187</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Ferns</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>-<a href="#Page_193">193</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Liliaceæ</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Willow form</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>-<a href="#Page_196">196</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Myrtaceæ</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>-<a href="#Page_200">200</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Melastomaceæ</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdl">Laurel form</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></td> -</tr> -</table> - - -<p>Enjoyment derived from the sight of the natural grouping and contrasts<span class="pagenum" id="Page_329">[329]</span> -of these forms of plants. Importance of the physiognomic -study of plants to the landscape painter <a href="#Page_29">29</a>-<a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>-<a href="#Page_203">203</a></p> - - -<p class="p2 center"><i>Scientific Elucidations and Additions</i>—p. <a href="#Page_33">33</a> to p. <a href="#Page_210">210</a>.</p> - -<p>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 <a href="#Page_33">33</a>-<a href="#Page_35">35</a></p> - -<p>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 <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a></p> - -<p>Measurement of the height of Chimborazo, and etymology of the -name <a href="#Page_36">36</a>-<a href="#Page_39">39</a></p> - -<p>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 <a href="#Page_40">40</a></p> - -<p>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 <a href="#Page_40">40</a>-<a href="#Page_44">44</a></p> - -<p>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 <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_330">[330]</span></p> - -<p>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 <a href="#Page_45">45</a>-<a href="#Page_47">47</a></p> - -<p>Diminution, if not entire suspension, of organic functions in the -winter sleep of animals belonging to the higher classes <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a></p> - -<p>Summer sleep of animals in the tropical zone; great dryness acts -like winter cold. Tenrecs, crocodiles, tortoises, and the Lepidosiren -of Eastern Africa <a href="#Page_48">48</a>-<a href="#Page_51">51</a></p> - -<p>Anther dust or pollen; fertilization of flowers. The Cœlebogyne -found to produce perfect seeds in England without any traces of -pollen being discovered <a href="#Page_51">51</a>-<a href="#Page_53">53</a></p> - -<p>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 <a href="#Page_53">53</a>-<a href="#Page_60">60</a></p> - -<p>Pentastomes inhabiting the pulmonary cells of the rattle-snake of -Cumana <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></p> - -<p>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) <a href="#Page_62">62</a>-<a href="#Page_72">72</a></p> - -<p>Probable greatest depth of coral structures <a href="#Page_72">72</a>-<a href="#Page_75">75</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_331">[331]</span></p> - -<p>Besides much carbonate of lime and magnesia, Madrepores and -Astræas also contain some fluoric and phosphoric acids <a href="#Page_75">75</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></p> - -<p>Oscillatory state of the bottom of the sea according to Darwin <a href="#Page_76">76</a>-<a href="#Page_79">79</a></p> - -<p>Traditions of Samothrace. Irruptions of the sea. Mediterranean. -Sluice theory of Strato. Myth of Lyktonia, and the “Atlantis -broken into fragments” <a href="#Page_78">78</a>-<a href="#Page_83">83</a></p> - -<p>On the causes which prevent the sinking down of clouds and precipitation -taking place from them <a href="#Page_83">83</a>-<a href="#Page_84">84</a></p> - -<p>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 <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></p> - -<p>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 <a href="#Page_86">86</a>-<a href="#Page_92">92</a></p> - -<p>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 <a href="#Page_92">92</a>-<a href="#Page_94">94</a></p> - -<p>Diameter of the Mexican Schubertia disticha of Santa Maria del Tule -40½ English feet; the sacred Banyan fig-tree of Ceylon almost 30; -and the oak at Saintes (Dep. de la Charente Inférieure) 29½ English -feet. The age of the oak tree estimated from its annular rings at<span class="pagenum" id="Page_332">[332]</span> -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 <a href="#Page_94">94</a>-<a href="#Page_97">97</a></p> - -<p>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. <a href="#Page_97">97</a>-<a href="#Page_113">113</a></p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_333">[333]</span> -equal; whilst we know that certain well-explored districts in -Europe have more than three times as many insects as phænogamous -plants <a href="#Page_113">113</a>-<a href="#Page_119">119</a></p> - -<p>Considerations on the probable proportion which the number of known -phænogamous plants bears to the entire number existing on the -surface of the globe <a href="#Page_119">119</a>-<a href="#Page_125">125</a></p> - -<p>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 <a href="#Page_126">126</a>-<a href="#Page_200">200</a></p> - -<p>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 <a href="#Page_165">165</a>-<a href="#Page_168">168</a></p> - -<p>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 <a href="#Page_169">169</a></p> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_334">[334]</span> -Helianthus annuus, Victoria regina, Euryale amazonica, -&c. <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></p> - -<p>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 -<i>individual</i> depends; systematic botany grounds the arrangement -of natural families on a consideration of the reproductive organs, -or those on which the <i>preservation of the species</i> depends <a href="#Page_205">205</a>-<a href="#Page_210">210</a></p> - - -<p class="p2 center"><i>On the Structure and Mode of Action of Volcanos in the different Parts -of the Earth</i>—p. <a href="#Page_213">211</a> to p. <a href="#Page_241">241</a>.</p> - -<p>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 <a href="#Page_213">213</a>-<a href="#Page_228">228</a></p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_335">[335]</span> -remarkable of which we possess any certain knowledge since the -death of the elder Pliny <a href="#Page_228">228</a>-<a href="#Page_235">235</a></p> - -<p>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 <a href="#Page_235">235</a>-<a href="#Page_238">238</a></p> - -<p>The primitive cause of subterranean heat is, as in all planets, the process -of formation itself, <i>i. e.</i> 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 <a href="#Page_238">238</a>-<a href="#Page_241">241</a></p> - - -<p class="p2 center"><i>Scientific Elucidations and Additions</i>—p. <a href="#Page_243">243</a> to p. <a href="#Page_248">248</a>.</p> - -<p>Barometric measurements of Vesuvius. Comparison of the height -of different points of the crater of Vesuvius <a href="#Page_243">243</a>-<a href="#Page_247">247</a></p> - -<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_336">[336]</span> -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 <a href="#Page_248">248</a></p> - - -<p class="p2 center"><i>The Vital Force, or the Rhodian Genius</i>—p. <a href="#Page_249">249</a> to p. <a href="#Page_257">257</a>.</p> - - -<p class="p2 center"><i>Note to “The Vital Force, or the Rhodian Genius”</i>—p. <a href="#Page_259">259</a> to p. <a href="#Page_263">263</a>.</p> - -<p>The Rhodian Genius, the development of a physiological idea in a -mythical garb. Difference of views respecting the hypothesis of -peculiar vital forces. <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></p> - -<p>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. <a href="#Page_260">260</a>-<a href="#Page_263">263</a></p> - - -<p class="p2 center"><i>The Plateau of Caxamarca, the ancient residence of the Inca Atahuallpa, -and the first view of the Pacific from the crest of the Andes</i>—p. -<a href="#Page_265">265</a> to p. <a href="#Page_302">302</a>.</p> - -<p>Quina-producing forests in the valleys of Loxa. First use of the -fever-bark in Europe; the Countess of Chinchon, wife of the -Viceroy <a href="#Page_267">267</a>-<a href="#Page_269">269</a></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_337">[337]</span></p> - -<p>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 <a href="#Page_269">269</a>-<a href="#Page_277">277</a></p> - -<p>Singular mode of communication by a “swimming post” messenger <a href="#Page_277">277</a>-<a href="#Page_279">279</a></p> - -<p>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 <a href="#Page_279">279</a>-<a href="#Page_281">281</a></p> - -<p>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 <a href="#Page_282">282</a>-<a href="#Page_286">286</a></p> - -<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_338">[338]</span> -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 <a href="#Page_287">287</a>-<a href="#Page_295">295</a></p> - -<p>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 <a href="#Page_295">295</a></p> - -<p>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 <a href="#Page_296">296</a>-<a href="#Page_302">302</a></p> - - -<p class="p2 center"><i>Scientific Elucidations and Additions</i>—p. <a href="#Page_303">303</a> to p. <a href="#Page_324">324</a>.</p> - -<p>On the origin of the name borne by the chain of the Andes <a href="#Page_303">303</a>-<a href="#Page_305">305</a></p> - -<p>Epoch of the introduction of the Quina-bark in Europe <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a></p> - -<p>Remains of the roads of the Incas, and of fortified dwellings; Apozentos -de Mulalo, Fortalezar del Cañar, Inti-Guaycu <a href="#Page_307">307</a>, <a href="#Page_308">308</a></p> - -<p>On the ancient civilisation of the Chibchas or Muyscas of New -Granada <a href="#Page_308">308</a>-<a href="#Page_310">310</a></p> - -<p>Potatoes and Plantains, when first cultivated <a href="#Page_311">311</a></p> - -<p>Etymology of the word Cundinamarca, which has been corrupted<span class="pagenum" id="Page_339">[339]</span> -from Cundirumarca, and was used in the first years of republican -independence to denote the whole country of New Granada <a href="#Page_311">311</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a></p> - -<p>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 <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_313">313</a></p> - -<p>Unpleasant etiquette in the Inca’s court. Atahuallpa’s captivity; -his proposed ransom <a href="#Page_314">314</a></p> - -<p>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 <a href="#Page_316">316</a>, <a href="#Page_317">317</a></p> - -<p>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 <a href="#Page_317">317</a>, <a href="#Page_318">318</a></p> - -<p>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 <a href="#Page_318">318</a>, <a href="#Page_319">319</a></p> - -<p>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 <a href="#Page_319">319</a>-<a href="#Page_323">323</a></p> - -<p>Determination of the longitude of Lima <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a></p> - - - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_341">[341]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="INDEX">INDEX</h2> -</div> - - -<ul class="index"> -<li class="ifrst">Adansonia digitata (monkey-bread tree), one of the largest and oldest trees of the globe, ii. <a href="#Page_89">89</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Allco, the native Peruvian dog, i. 108.</li> - -<li class="indx">Aloë, ii. <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Altai, one of the four parallel mountain chains in Central Asia, i. 86.</li> - -<li class="indx">American races, connection between the inhabitants of Western America and Eastern Asia probable, but its nature and period uncertain, i. 176.</li> - -<li class="indx">Andes, etymological considerations connected with the word Andes or Antis, ii. <a href="#Page_303">303</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Animal life, its universal diffusion, ii. <a href="#Page_3">1</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Asia, Central, general review of its mountain systems, i. 85.</li> - -<li class="indx">Atlas.—The position of the ancient Atlas discussed, i. 144.</li> - -<li class="indx">Atahuallpa, site of his ancient palace, ii. <a href="#Page_289">289</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">his prison, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">death, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">descendants, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">notice of the comet which appeared in the year on which the Inca was put to death, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>.</li> - - -<li class="ifrst">Banks, slightly elevated portions of the Llanos, called “Banks” by the natives, i. 2, 33.</li> - -<li class="indx">Boa, swims in the South American rivers, and carries its head above water like a dog, i. 190.</li> - -<li class="indx">Bogota, the seat of an ancient civilisation of the Muyscas or Chibchas, ii. <a href="#Page_309">309</a>.</li> - - -<li class="ifrst">Cactus, ii. <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Camel, i. 68;</li> -<li class="isub1">Ritter’s memoir on the diffusion of the camel, present existence in a wild state, i. 70;</li> -<li class="isub1">fossil in the Sewalik hills, i. 71.</li> - -<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_342">[342]</span>Casas grandes, ruins of an Aztec palace, i. 168.</li> - -<li class="indx">Casuarineæ, ii. <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Caxamarca, the ancient capital of the Incas, ii. <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Cereals.—Original country of the principal Cereals discussed, i. 169.</li> - -<li class="indx">Chibchas, ii. <a href="#Page_309">309</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Chimborazo, conjectures as to the origin of the name, ii. <a href="#Page_37">37</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Chota, silver mines of, ii. <a href="#Page_282">282</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Cinchona, fever-bark, or quina, ii. <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">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;</li> -<li class="isub1">the southern hemisphere cooler and moister than the northern, 139.</li> - -<li class="indx">Climatic effects of extensive forests, i. 126.</li> - -<li class="indx">Cœlebogyne, produces perfect seeds without any trace of pollen having been discovered, ii. <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Condor.—Discussion of the height in the atmosphere to which the condor ascends, ii. <a href="#Page_40">40</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Coniferæ, or needle trees, ii. <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Coral reefs, classified by Darwin, ii. <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">his hypothesis of the origin and growth of coral reefs, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Correo que nada, the “swimming post” in the upper waters of the Amazons river, ii. <a href="#Page_277">277</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Curare, plant from which the poison is obtained, i. 203.</li> - -<li class="indx">Current.—Great revolving current of the Atlantic Ocean discussed, i. 159.</li> - - -<li class="ifrst">Dogs.—European dogs have become wild in South America, and live in troops in the Pampas, i. 107;</li> -<li class="isub1">native Peruvian dogs, 108;</li> -<li class="isub1">Tschudi’s remarks on the indigenous races of dogs in America, 111.</li> - -<li class="indx">Dragon-tree of Orotava, ii. <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>.</li> - - -<li class="ifrst">Esquimaux, instances recorded of their having been carried across the Atlantic to the shores of Europe, i. 162.</li> - - -<li class="ifrst">Ferns, ii. <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Figured rocks, <i>i. e.</i> figures engraven on rocks in an extensive district of South America, i. 196.</li> - -<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_343">[343]</span>Fresh-water springs in the ocean near Cuba, i. 233.</li> - -<li class="indx">Fournel, recent contributions to the physical geography of Northern Africa, i. 115.</li> - -<li class="indx">Frémont, Captain, importance of his geographical memoirs on our knowledge of the geography of North America, i. 37, and generally in Note[<sup>5</sup>], also i. 280.</li> - - -<li class="ifrst">Geographical distribution of plants, laws of the, ii. <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Gobi, the plateau of, i. 74, 79.</li> - -<li class="indx">Gramineæ, ii. <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Guaranis, a tribe inhabiting the sea-coast and rivers near the mouth of the Orinoco, i. 178.</li> - -<li class="indx">Granite, leaden-coloured rocks of, in the Orinoco, i. 188.</li> - -<li class="indx">Great basin, the elevated plain so called, between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada of California, i. 44;</li> -<li class="isub1">forms an inland closed river basin, 280.</li> - -<li class="indx">Gymnotus, description of its capture in South America by means of horses, i. 22.</li> - - -<li class="ifrst">Heat in plants developed during inflorescence, ii. <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Heaths, ii. <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Himalaya, one of the four parallel mountain chains of Central Asia, i. 92.</li> - -<li class="indx">Hiongnu, i. 101.</li> - -<li class="indx">Hooker, Dr. J., recent determination of the elevation of the Kinchinjinga, one of the highest peaks of the Himalaya, i. 93;</li> -<li class="isub1">on the production of perfect seeds by the Cœlebogyne, ii. <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">remarks on the geographical distribution of plants in Antarctic floras, ii. <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.</li> - - -<li class="ifrst">Illimani and Sorata, their height above the sea recently corrected, i. 57, 96, 277.</li> - - -<li class="ifrst">Kashmeer, valley of, i. 80.</li> - -<li class="indx">Kinchinjinga, one of the highest peaks of the Himalaya, its elevation recently determined, i. 92.</li> - -<li class="indx">Kuen-lün, one of the four parallel mountain chains in Central Asia, i. 72, 90.</li> - - -<li class="ifrst"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_344">[344]</span>Lama, alpaca, and guanaco, three originally distinct species of animals, described, i. 166.</li> - -<li class="indx">Laurels as a characteristic form of vegetation, ii. <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Lianes, ii. <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Liliaceæ, ii. <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Llanos, their description, i. 7;</li> -<li class="isub1">climate strongly contrasted with that of the African plains, 8;</li> -<li class="isub1">animals which inhabit them, 15;</li> -<li class="isub1">their prevalent vegetation, 120.</li> - -<li class="indx">Luminosity of the ocean, ii. <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.</li> - - -<li class="ifrst">Malvaceæ, ii. <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Marañon, or Amazons, upper valley of, ii. <a href="#Page_281">281</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Mauritia palm, i. 16, 181.</li> - -<li class="indx">Melastomaceæ, ii. <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Mimoseæ, ii. <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Mississipi, river, its source correctly ascertained, i. 52.</li> - -<li class="indx">Moon, mountains of the, their existence, extent, distance from the Equator, and general direction, discussed, i. 149.</li> - -<li class="indx">Mountain chains in Asia, in the direction of parallels of latitude, i. 85;</li> -<li class="isub1">those coinciding nearly with meridians, i. 94.</li> - -<li class="indx">Muyscas, ancient civilisation of the, ii. <a href="#Page_308">308</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Myrtaceæ, ii. <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>.</li> - - -<li class="ifrst">North America, general aspect of its natural features, and considerations on its physical geography, i. 39.</li> - - -<li class="ifrst">Orchideæ, ii. <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Orinoco, i. 207;</li> -<li class="isub1">magnitude of the river compared with that of the rivers Plate and Amazons, 211;</li> -<li class="isub1">its sources yet unvisited, 213;</li> -<li class="isub1">general description of its course, 214;</li> -<li class="isub1">“black waters” of the Upper Orinoco, 215;</li> -<li class="isub1">cataracts of Atures and Maypures, 217;</li> -<li class="isub1">discussion of questions concerning its sources, 239;</li> -<li class="isub1">supposed origin in a lake, 243.</li> - -<li class="indx">Otomacs, a tribe on the Orinoco who use earth as food, i. 190.</li> - - -<li class="ifrst">Pacific, the author’s gratification at first seeing the Pacific from the Alto de Guangamarca, ii. <a href="#Page_300">300</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_345">[345]</span>Palms, ii. <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Panama.—Communication by canal or railroad across the Isthmus of Panama discussed, ii. <a href="#Page_319">319</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Paramo, a mountainous region in South America so called, i. 105;</li> -<li class="isub1">its climate and vegetation, i. 105, ii. <a href="#Page_269">269</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Pastoral life almost unknown to the original inhabitants of America, i. 13.</li> - -<li class="indx">Plants, physiognomy of, essentially distinct from a botanical arrangement, ii. <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">is the principal element in the characteristic aspect of different portions of the earth’s surface, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">about sixteen different forms of plants enumerated, which are chiefly concerned in determining the aspect of Nature, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Palms, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Plantains or Bananas, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Malvaceæ and Bombaceæ, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Mimosas, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Heaths, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Cactuses, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Orchideæ, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Casuarineæ, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Coniferæ, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Pothos, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Lianes, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Aloes, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Grasses, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Ferns, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Liliaceæ, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Willows, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">Myrtaceæ, Melastomaceæ, and Laurineæ, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">number of species contained in herbariums, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">points of view in which the laws of the geographical distribution of plants may be regarded, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">conjectures as to the whole number of species on the globe, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">more than half the number of species are probably yet unknown, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">heat developed during inflorescence, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">general remarks on a physiognomic classification, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Pothos, ii. <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>.</li> - - -<li class="ifrst">Quina (or fever bark), ii. <a href="#Page_267">267</a>.</li> - - -<li class="ifrst">Roads, old Peruvian, of the times of the Incas, ii. <a href="#Page_270">270</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Rotiferæ, their revivification, ii. <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</li> - - -<li class="ifrst">Sahara (African desert) composed of several detached basins, i. 114.</li> - -<li class="indx">Sand-spouts a phenomenon characteristic of the Peruvian Sand Desert, i. 183.</li> - -<li class="indx">Sargasso, Mar de; its geographical position discussed, i. 63;</li> -<li class="isub1">is the most remarkable assemblage of plants of a single species yet known on the globe, i. 64.</li> - -<li class="indx"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_346">[346]</span>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.</li> - -<li class="indx">Sleep, summer and winter, of animals, i. 18, 185; ii. <a href="#Page_48">48</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Snow, limit of perpetual; inequality of this limit on the northern and southern declivities of the Himalaya, i. 98.</li> - -<li class="indx">Sorata and Illimani; their heights above the sea recently corrected, i. 57, 96, 277.</li> - -<li class="indx">Steppes and Deserts, Characteristics of the European, i. 2;</li> -<li class="isub1">African, i. 3;</li> -<li class="isub1">Asiatic, i. 4;</li> -<li class="isub1">South American, i. 7;</li> -<li class="isub1">analogies and contrasts between the steppes and the ocean, i. 2, 35.</li> - -<li class="indx">Strato, his sluice theory, ii. <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Sugar-cane; of Tahiti, of the West Indies, and of Guiana, i. 31.</li> - - -<li class="ifrst">Tacarigua, Lake of, i. 1;</li> -<li class="isub1">its scenery and vegetation, i. 27.</li> - -<li class="indx">Temperature.—Contrast between the temperature of the east coast of America and the west coast of Europe in the same latitudes, i. 129;</li> -<li class="isub1">general remarks on the temperature of the United States of America, i. 131.</li> - -<li class="indx">Thian-schan, one of the four parallel mountain chains in Central Asia, i. 72, 82.</li> - -<li class="indx">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.</li> - -<li class="indx">Tibbos, i. 67.</li> - -<li class="indx">Timpanogos, Laguna de, i. 44;</li> -<li class="isub1">is the Great Salt Lake of Frémont, 280.</li> - -<li class="indx">Traditions of Samothrace, ii. <a href="#Page_78">78</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Trees, age of, ii. <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">trees of highest growth, ii. <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Trisetum subspicatum, an inhabitant both of the Arctic and Antarctic Circles, ii. <a href="#Page_186">186</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Tuaricks, i. 67.</li> - - -<li class="ifrst">Urwald, or primeval forest, a name too lightly used, i. 261;</li> -<li class="isub1">true character of a primeval forest, 262;</li> -<li class="isub1">description of the nocturnal life of wild animals in the Urwald, 266.</li> - - -<li class="ifrst">Vegetation, its propagation and extension over newly formed lands, ii. <a href="#Page_8">8</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">the absence of trees erroneously supposed to characterise hot countries, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_347">[347]</span>extensive arid tracts in countries otherwise of luxuriant vegetation a geological problem which has not been sufficiently considered, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">characteristic aspect of vegetation in the tropics, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">characteristic vegetation of the Alps and Andes at great elevations, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Vesuvius, measurements of height at different periods, ii. <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">particulars of the eruption of 1822, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Vital force, the, or Rhodian Genius, ii. <a href="#Page_251">251</a>.</li> - -<li class="indx">Volcanos of the Thian-schan chain situated in the interior of Asia far distant from the sea, i. 88;</li> -<li class="isub1">structure and mode of action of, ii. <a href="#Page_213">213</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">instances of extensive volcanic connection, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>;</li> -<li class="isub1">importance of repeating exact measurements of the heights of craters, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>.</li> - - -<li class="ifrst">Willows, ii. <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</li> -</ul> - - - -<p class="p2 center">THE END.</p> - - -<p class="p2 center small">Wilson and Ogilvy, Printers, 57, Skinner Street, Snowhill, London.</p> - - -<hr class="full" /> - -<div class="p4 chapter transnote"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Transcribers_Note">Transcriber's Note</h2> - - - -<p>Duplicate chapter headings have been removed.</p> - - -<p>The following apparent errors have been corrected:</p> - -<ul> -<li>p. i "BY." changed to "BY"</li> - -<li>p. 13 "heat, But," changed to "heat. But,"</li> - -<li>p. 52 "as follows:—Un" changed to "as follows:—”Un"</li> - -<li>p. 60 "of a line,) S. xix." changed to "of a line,)” S. xix."</li> - -<li>p. 64 "of the Carolinas;—and" changed to "of the Carolinas);—and"</li> - -<li>p. 81 "“A more richly varied" changed to "A more richly varied"</li> - -<li>p. 93 "have been counted.”" changed to "have been counted."</li> - -<li>p. 100 "entitled “De distributione" changed to "entitled De distributione"</li> - -<li>p. 113 "acccording to" changed to "according to"</li> - -<li>p. 126 "Muskel-und Nervenfaser" changed to "Muskel- und Nervenfaser"</li> - -<li>p. 127 "Chæmerops and Cocos" changed to "Chamærops and Cocos"</li> - -<li>p. 133 "systematically 12. “How interesting" changed to "systematically 12. How interesting"</li> - -<li>p. 134 "concentric rings.”" changed to "concentric rings."</li> - -<li>p. 134 "Rio Atabapo.”" changed to "Rio Atabapo."</li> - -<li>p. 135 "Nature has lavished" changed to "“Nature has lavished"</li> - -<li>p. 145 "10.°5 Reanmur" changed to "10.°5 Reaumur"</li> - -<li>p. 146 "in the Canaries.”" changed to "in the Canaries."</li> - -<li>p. 160 "aus Indien wahrend der" changed to "aus Indien während der"</li> - -<li>p. 160 "torulosa (Don)," changed to "torulosa, Don),"</li> - -<li>p. 172 "Tännen-stöcke" changed to "Tannenstöcke"</li> - -<li>p. 184 "Asiat Res." changed to "Asiat. Res."</li> - -<li>p. 210 "organic devolopment" changed to "organic development"</li> - -<li>p. 239 "study of fosssils" changed to "study of fossils"</li> - -<li>p. 307 "fortress of the Cañar" changed to "fortress of the Cañar."</li> - -<li>p.311 "native of New Granada" changed to "native of New Granada."</li> - -<li>p. 313 "164000 French" changed to "16400 French"</li> - -<li>p. 315 "p. 424)." changed to "p. 424."</li> - -<li>p. 323 "p. 300" changed to "p. 300."</li> - -<li>p. 323 "79° 34" changed to "79° 34´"</li> - -<li>p. 341 "Alöe" changed to "Aloë"</li> - -<li>p. 344 "Maranon" changed to "Marañon"</li> -</ul> - - -<p>Inconsistent or archaic spelling and punctuation have otherwise been kept as printed.</p> - -</div> - - - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ASPECTS OF NATURE (VOL. 2 OF 2) ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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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