' ^m

#

STUDIES

OF

N A T U R E.

VOL. HI,

u

v <J,Ju^.fl,

J/

STUDIES

OF

NATURE,

BY

JAMES - HENRY- BERNARDIN

DE SAINT -PIERRE.

.MISERIS SUCCURERE DISCO.

TRANSLATED BY

HENRY HUNTER, D. D.

MINISTER OF THE SCOTS CHURCH, LONDON-WALL.

IN FIFE VOLUMES.

VOL. III.

Hon&on :

PRINTED FOR C. DILLY, IN THE POULTRY.

MDCCXCVI.

E

CONTENTS

OF VOL. III.

Page
XPLANATION of the Plates.

Flowers. Plate III. — — - viî

Volatile Grains. Plate IV. x

Aquatic Grains. Plate V. — ■ , . ■ xir

SEQUEL OF

STUDY X. Of the Human Figure i

Of Concerts ■ ■ 35
Of fome other Laws of Nature hitherto im-
perfectly known — """ 54
STUDY XI. Applications of fome general Laws of Na-
ture to Plants — — 97
Elementary Harmonies of Plants — — 1 1 5
Elementary Harmonies of Plants with the

Sun, by the Flowers - 1 1 6

Elementary Harmonies of Plants 'with the

Water and the Air, by Means of their

Leaves and their Fruits — — • 151

Vegetable Harmonies of Plants -■ ■- 229

Animal Harmonies of Plants ■ 247

Human Harmonies of Plants 291

Elementary Harmonies of Plants, relatively to

Man 291

Vegetable Harmonies of Plants with Man 305

Animal Harmonies of Plants with Man — 3 1 4,

Human, or Elementary Harmonies of Plants 318

a 3 STUDY

29

VI CONTENTS.

STUDY XII. Of fome Moral Laws of Nature

—

361

Weaknefs of Reafon, of Feeling ;

Proofs of

the Divinity s and of the Immortality of

the Seul from Feeling —

361

Of Phyfical Senfations

û.02f

Of the Senfe of Tafting —

404

Of the Senfe of Smelling

406

Of the Senfe of Seeing — ■

—

407

Of the Senfe of Hearing —

—

417

Of the Senfe of Touching — —

__

424

EXPLANATION

EXPLANATION of the PLATES,

FLOWERS. PLATE III.

Volume III. Page 132.

AS the explanation of this Plate is inferted in the
text, all I (hall fay of it here is this, that all the
forms of flowers, which have a direel relation to the Sun,
may he reduced to thofe five primary patterns of flowers, to
reverberated perpendicular, conic, fpheric, elliptic, and plane
or parabolic ; and flowers which have negative relations to
the Sun, to the five other patterns of flowers in parafol,
which are here reprefented in contrail with the firft. At
the fame time, though thefe laft be of forms much more
diverfified than reverberated flowers, all their negative fpe-
cies may be referredto thofe five pofitive forms.

I am of opinion, that if there were added to thofe five
pofitive, or primordial forms, a certain number of accents,
to exprefs the modifications of them, we fhould have the
true characters of the florification, and an alphabet of that
agreeable part of vegetation. I likewife prefume, that by
means of this alphabet, it might be poflible to characterize,
on geographical Charts, the different fîtes of the vegetable

a 4. kingdom.

Viii EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.

kingdom. It would be fufficient to apply the figns of them
to the forefts which are there reprefented ; for on feeing in
the Chart, for the fake of fuppofition, that of the reverbe-
rated perpendicular, expreflfed by an ear of corn, or a pro-
minent cone, we fhould inftantly diftinguifh in it the forefts
of the North, or thofe of cold and lofty mountains. Par-
ticular accents, fuperaddcd to this character of prominent
cone, would diftinguifh from each other the pine, the épi-
céa, the laryx, and the cedar ; and rays ifTuing from thefe
modified characters, would indicate the extent of the king-
doms of thofe different fpecies of trees. The thing is not
fo difficult as may be imagined. Geography eafily repre-
fents forefts upon maps ; all that would be farther requifite,
therefore, is to affix to them certain figns, in order to afcer-
tain their fpecies, and thefe figns might likewife charac-
terize, as we have feen, the latitude, or the elevation of the
foil. Befides, we fhould leave out of fuch botanical Charts
a multitude of political divifions, the names of which, in
large characters, ufelefsly fill up a great deal of room. We
fhould reprefent in them the domains of Nature only, and
not thofe of men. Thus, by means of thefe botanical figns,
we might diftinguifh, at a fingle glance, on a map, the
productions natural to each foil, the forefts, with their dif-
ferent fpecies of trees, nay, the meadows too, with the va-
rieties of their herbage. There might be farther conveyed
the humidity or the drynefs of the territory, by adding to
the figns of the flowers, the characters of the leaves and
feeds of vegetables. To thefe might afterwards be affixed,
on the cities and villages reprefented, ciphers expreffing the
number of Families who inhabit them, as I have feen in
Turkifh maps ; thus we fhould have Charts really geogra-
phic, prefenting at the firft glance, an image of the richnefs

and

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. ix

and of the temperature of the territory, and of the number
of it's inhabitants. After all, this is not a plan which I
prefume to prefcribe, but ideas which I have ventured to
fuggeft, to be purfued, improved, and brought to per^
fe£Uon«

VOLATILE

X EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES,

VOLATILE GRAINS. PLATE IV.

Volume III. Page 170.

HERE is prefented, on the one hand, the fpartha, of
rufh of the Spanilh mountains, hollowed into a gutter, for
the purpofe of receiving the rain water ; and, on the other,
the cylindric or full rufh of the marines. The grain of
this laft refembles, in it's ftate of expanfion, the eggs of a
lobfler. I have not been able to procure any of the grains
of the fpartha ; but I have no. doubt that, in oppofition to
thofe of the rufh of the marfhes, it mufl have a volatile cha-
racter. I do not fo much as know whether the fpartha
fructifies in our climate. MefTrs. Thoulny the principal
gardeners of the Royal Garden at Paris, could eafily have
gratified my curiofity in this refpect. To thefe gentlemen
I ftand indebted for furnifhing me with mod of the grains
and leaves which I have got engraved for this Work,
among others the cone of the cedar of Lebanon ; but accuf-
tomed, in my folitary ftudies, to inveftigate, in Nature
alone, the folulion of the difficulties which fhe throws in
my way, I did not make application to them, though their
hearts are replete with liberality and complaifance, toward
the ignorant as well as to the learned.

Whatever the cafe may be as to this, it is to the fruit
that Nature attaches the character of volatility ; and it is by
the leaf that fhe indicates the nature of the fite in which
the vegetable is deftined to grow. Accordingly we perceive,
in this plate, the cone of the cedar to be compofed of thin

flakes

.EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. XI

flakes like the artichoke. Every flake carries it's kernel :
fuch is the one here reprefented, detached from the cone ;
and each of them, as the fruit comes to maturity, flies off,
by the help of the winds, toward the fummit of the lofty
mountains, to which it is deftined. Remark, likewife, that
the leaves of the cedar are filiform, in order to refill the
winds, which are violent on lofty mountains, and they are
aggregated into chillers refembling pencils, for the purpofe
of collecting, in the air, the vapours which float about in it.
Each leaf of this tree has more than one aqueduct traced in
it lengthwife ; but as it is extremely minute, it was impof-
fible to exprefs it in the engraving. Farther, that filiform
and capillaceous lhape, fo well adapted to refilling the
winds, as well as. that which is of the fword-blade form,
is common to vegetables of the mountains, fuch as pines,
larches, cedars, palm-trees ; it is, likewife, frequently
found on the edge of waters equally expôfed to violent
winds, as in ruihes, reeds, the leaves of the willow ; but
the foliage of thefe lall differs eflentially from that of the
firft, in that there is no aqueduct in it, whereas the leaves
of mountain vegetables have one ; neither is their aggrega-
tion fimilar.

The dandelion grows, like the cedar, in dry and elevated
fituations. It's grains are fufpended to a complete fphere
of fhuttle-cocks, which forms outwardly a very regular po-
lyedron, having a multitude of hexagonal, or pentagonal
faces. Thefe faces are not exprefled in the print, becaufe
it has been copied after that of a highly valued botanical
Work, but which, like books in every department of lite-
rature, collects only the characters which make for a favour-
ite fyftem. The )eaf of the dandelion particularly deter-
mines it's natural fite ; it is broad and flefliy, becaufe ex-
panding

Xll EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.

pandïng itfelf clofe to the ground, on which it forms ftarS
of verdure, it has nothing to fear from the winds : it is
deeply indented, like the teeth of a faw, for the purpofe of
opening a paflage to the gralfes ; and it's indentings are
bent inward to catch the rain-water, and convey it to the
roots. Thus Nature adapts the means to each fubject, and
redoubles her attention in proportion to it's weaknefs. The
fphere of the dandelion is more artfully formed than the
cone of the cedar, and, beyond all contradiction, much more
volatile. It requires a temped to carry the feeds of the
cedar to any confiderable diftance ; but the breath of the
zephyr is fuffieient to re-fow thofe of the dandelion. A
Lebanon is likewife neceflary for planting the firft, but the
fécond needs only a mole-hill. This fmall vegetable is
likewife more ufeful in the World than the cedar ; it ferves
for food to a great many quadrupeds, and to a Variety of
fmall birds, which fatten on it's grains. It is very falutary
to the human fpecies, efpecially in the Spring feafon. We
accordingly find great numbers of poor people, at that time,
picking up it's young moots in the fields. It is, moreover,
the only plant which Nature prefents gratuitoufly to Man
in our Climates. It univerfally thrives in dry places, and
even in the learns of the pavement. It frequently carpets
the court-yards of Hotels, the mailers of which are not
over-burthened with valfals, and feems to invite the refe-
rable to walk in. It's gold-coloured flowers very agreeably
enamel the foot of walls, and it's feathered fphere, raifed
upon a long fhaft, in the bofom of a ftar of verdure, is by
no means deftitute of beauty.

It is the leaf, then, which particularly determines the
natural lite of a vegetable ; for, as we have feen, there are
aquatic plants which have their grains volatile, becaufe

they

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. xili

they grow on the brink of lakes or marines, which have no
currents, fuch as the willow and the reed ; but their leaves,
in that cafe have no aqueduct. Nay, there are fome which
have a pendent direction, and which, from that attitude,
refufe to admit the water from Heaven. The maple of
Virginia, which delights in the brinks of lakes, marfhes,
and creeks, has grains attached to membranous wings, re-
fembling thofe of a fly, as the feeds of the mountain maple
reprefented in the plate. But there is this remarkable dif-
ference between them, that the broad leaf of the firfl: is pen-
dent, and attached to a long tail ; that this tail, fo far from
being furnifhed with an aqueduct has a ridge ; and that the
leaf of the mountain maple, which is of a moderate fize,
angular and barky, for refifting the winds, rifes almoft
vertically, and bears an aqueduct on it's tail, to receive
the waters of Heaven.

AQUATIC

XIV EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.

AQUATIC GRAINS. , PLATE V,

Volume III. Page 191.

AQUATIC grains have characters entirely oppofite to
thofe which are produced on the mountains ; if we except,
as has been faid, thofe which thrive on the brink of ftag-
nant waters ; but even thefe poffefs, at once, volatile and
nautical characters, for they are amphibious. They fwim
along the furface of the water, and they fly through the
air; fuch is that of the willow, and feveral others. It is
the leaf which determines the fite, as we have obferved, for
aquatic plants never have any aquedudf. on their leaves.
Nay, moft of them repel the water. The leaves of the
nymphxa and of the reed are never wet. It is likewife fo
with thofe of the nafturtium, which are never humid, how-
ever copioufly the rain may fall, though that plant is ex-
cetfively fond of the water ; for the culture of it confumes
an incredible quantity. I am perfuaded that if a morafs
were fown with plants of this fort, it would be fpeedily
dried up. The leaf of the martinia of Vera Cruz, which is
here reprefented among aquatic plants, is, on the contrary,
always humid. It has even, in it's firft expanfion, a fluting
on it's tail. From this double mountain-chara&er, I am
difpofed to fufpect that the martinia naturally grows on the
parched and fandy fhores of the Sea ; for Nature, in the
view of varying her harmonies, extends very dry places
along the brink of the waters, jufl: as fhe depofits fheets of
water and morafles in the bofom of mountains. But from
the form of the pod of the martinia, which refembles a

hook

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. XV

hook for fifhing gilt-heads, I believe it to be deftined to
grow in fituations expofed to inundations of the Sea, as is,
in fadl, the cafe with the territory of Vera Cruz, from
whence this fpecies originally is. I pre fume, therefore,
that when the mores of Vera Cruz are overflowed by high
tides, you mull fee fifties caught by this plant, for the ftem
of it's pod is not eafily broken off; it's two crotchets are
pointed like fiftiing-hooks, are elaftic, and hard as horn.
Befides, when it is foaked in water, it's furrows, fhaded
with black, fhine as if they were filled with globules of
quick-filver. Now, the luftre of this light is a farther bait
to attract the fifties. I prefent thefe merely as conjectures ;
but I found them on a principle which is indubitably cer-
tain, namely, That Nature has made nothing in vain.

END OF EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES.

STUDIES

NATURE

SEQUEL OF STUDY X.

OF THE HUMAN FIGURE.

ALL the harmonic expreflions are combined
in the Human Figure. In treating this ar-
ticle, I fhall confine myfelf to the examination of
fome of thofe which compofe the head of Man.
Obferve, it's form is an approximation to the
fpherical, which, as we have feen, is the form, by
way of excellence. I do not believe that this con-
figuration is common to it with that of any animal
whatever. On it's anterior part is traced the oval
of the face, terminated by the triangle of the nofe,
and encompafled by the radiations of the hair.
The head is, befides, fupported by a neck of con-
fiderably lefs diameteÇ|han itfelf, which detaches
it from the body by a concave part.

vol. in. b This

•

2 STUDIES OF NATURE.

This flight fketch prefents to us, at firft glance,
the five harmonic terms of the elementary ge-
neration of forms. The hair exhibits lines ;
the nofe the triangle ; the head the fphere ; the
face the oval ; and the void under the chin the
parabola. The neck which, like a column, fuf-
tains the head, exhibits, likewife, the very agree-
able harmonic form of the cylinder, compofed of
the circular and quadrilateral.

Thefe forms, however, are not traeed in a ftiff
and geometrical manner, but imperceptibly run
into each other, and mutually blend, as the parts
of the fame whole ought to do. Thus the hair
does not fall in ftraight lines, but, in flowing ring-
lets, harmonizes with the oval of the face. The
triangle of the nofe is neither acute, nor does it
prefent a right angle; but, by the undulatory
fwelling of the noflrils, prefents a harmony with
the heart-form of the mouth, and, Hoping toward
the forehead, melts away into the cavities of the
eyes. The fpheroid of the head, in like manner,
amalgamates with the oval of the face. The fame
thing holds with refpect to the other parts, as
Nature employs, in their general combination, the
roundings of the forehead, of the cheeks, of the
chin, of the neck, that is,, portions of the mod
beautiful of harmonic expreffions, which is the
fphere.

There

STUDY X. 3

There are, farther, feveral remarkable propor-
tions which form, with each other, very pleafing
harmonies and contrafts : fuch is that of the fore-
head, which prefents a quadrilateral form, in op-
pofition to the triangle, compounded of the eyes
and the mouth ; and that of the ears, formed of
very ingenious acouftic curves, fuch as are not to
be met with in the auditory organ of animals, be-
caufe, in the cafe of mere animals, it is not intended
to colled:, like that of Man, all the modulations
of fpeech.

But I muft be permitted to expatiate, fomewhat
more at large, on the charming forms, afïïgned by
Nature to the eyes and the mouth, which (lie has
placed in the full blaze of evidence, becaufe they
are the two active organs of the foul. The
mouth confifts of two lips, of which the upper
is moulded into the fhape of a heart, that form fo
lovely, as to have become proverbial for it's
beauty ; and the under is rounded into a demi-
cylindric fegment. In the opening between the
lips, we have a glimpfe of the quadrilateral figure
of the teeth, whofe perpendicular and parallel lines
contraft mod agreeably with the round forms ad-
joining, and fo much the more, as we have feen, that
the firft generative term being brought into union
with the fupremely excellent harmonic term, that

b 2 is,

4 STUDIES OF NATURE.

is, the ftraight line with the fpherical form, the
mod harmonic of all contrafls refults from it.

The fame relations are to be found in the eyes,
the forms of which combine Mill more the harmo-
nic elementary exprefiions ; as it was fit the chief
of all the organs mould do. They are two globes,
fringed on the lids with eye-lafhes, radiating with
divergent pencil-ftrokes, which form with them a
moft delightful contraft, and prefent a flriking
confonance with the Sun, after which they feem to
have been modelled, having, like that orb, a fphe-
rical figure, encircled with divergent rays, in the
eye-lafhes; having a movement of felf-rotation,
and poffefling the power, like him, of veiling
themfelves in clouds, by means of their lids.

The fame elementary harmonies may be traced
in the colours of the head, as well as in it's forms;
for we have in the face, the pure white exhibited
in the teeth and in the eyes ; then the fhades of
yellow, which diffolve into it's carnation, as the
Painters well know ; after that the red, the emi-
nently excellent colour, which glows on the lips
and on the cheeks. You farther remark the blue
of the veins, and fometimes that of the eye-balls;
and, finally, the black of the hair which, by it's
oppofition, gives relief to the colours of the face,

as

STUDY X. 5

es the vacuum of the neck detaches the forms of
the head.

You will pleafe to obferve, that Nature employs
not, in decorating the human face, colours harfhly
oppofed ; but blends them, as fhe does the forms,
foftly and infenfibly into each other. Thus, the
white melts here into the yellow, and there into
the red. The blue of the veins has a greenifh
caft. The hair is rarely of a jet black ; but brown,
chefnut, flaxen, and, in general, of a colour into
which a flight tint of the carnation enters, in or-
der to prevent a violently harfh oppofition. You
will farther obferve, that as fhe employs fpherical
fegments in forming the mufcles which unite the
organs, and in order particularly to diftinguifh
thefe very organs, fhe makes ufe of red for the
fame purpofes. She has, accordingly, extended a
flight (hade of it to the forehead, which fhe has
ftrengthened upon the cheeks, and which (he has
applied pure and unmixed to the mouth, that or-
gan of the heart, where it forms a moil agreeable
contrail with the whitenefs of the teeth. The
union of this colour, with that harmonic form, is
the moft powerful confonance of beauty ; and it
is worthy of remark, that wherever the fpherical
forms fwell, there the red colour flrengthens, ex-
cept in the eyes.

b 3 As

6 STUDIES OF NATURE.

As the eyes are the principal organs of the foul,
they are deftined to exprefs all it's emotions ;
which could not have been done with the harmo-
nic red tint, for this would have given but one
fingle expreffion. Nature, in order there to exprefs
the contrary paffions, has united in the eye the
two mod oppofite of colours, the white of the or-
bit and the black of the iris, and fometimes of the
ball, which form a very harm oppofttion, when
the globes of the eyes are difplayed in the full ex-
tent of their diameter; but by means of the eye-
lids, which Man can contract, or dilate, at plea-
fure, he is enabled to give them the expreffion of
all the paffions, from love to fury.

Thofe eyes whofe balls are blue are naturally
the fofteft, becaufe the oppofition, in this cafe, is
lefs harfh with the adjacent white ; but they are
the moll terrible of all when animated with rage,
and this from a moral contrail, which conftrains
us to confider thofe as the mod formidable of all
objects, that menace evil, after having encouraged
us to expect good. Perfons, therefore, who are
thus diftinguifhed, ought to be carefully on their
guard againft treachery to that character of bene-
volence bellowed on them by Nature ; for blue
eyes exprefs, by their colour, fomething enchant-
jngly celeftial.

As

STUDY X. *J

As to the movements of the mufcles of the face,
it would be extremely difficult to defcribe them,
though I am fully perfuaded it might be poffible
to explain their Laws. Whoever fhall attempt
this, muft of neceffity refer them to the moral af-
fections. Thofe of joy are horizontal, as if the
foul, in the enjoyment of felicity, had a difpofuion
to extend itfelf. Thofe of chagrin are perpendi-
cular, as if, under the prefTure of calamity, the
mind was looking toward Heaven for refuge, or
feeking it in the bofom of the earth. Into fuch
an explanation of the Laws of mufcular motion
muft likev/ife enter, the alterations of colours, and
the contractions of forms, and in thefe, at lead,
we fhall difcover the truth of the principle which
we have laid down, that the expreffion of pleafure
is in the harmony of contraries, blending with
each other in colours, forms, and motions ; and
that the expreffion of pain confifts in the vio-
lence of their oppofitions. The eyes alone have
motions ineffable ; and it is remarkable, that,
under the influence of very ftrong emotions, they
are fuffufed with tears, and thus feem to have a
farther analogy with the orb of day, who, in the
ieafon of tempefts, fhrouds himfelf in rainy diftil-
lations.

The principal organs of fenfe, four of which are
placed in the head, have particular contrafts, which

b 4 detack

8 STUDIES OF NATURE.

detach their fpherical forms, by means of radiated
forms ; and their mining colours by means of
dufky tints. Thus the bright organ of virion is
contrafled by the eye-brows ; thofe of fmell and
tafte, by the muftaches ; the organ of hearing, by
that part of the hair called the favourite lock,
which feparates the ear from the face ; and the
face itfelf is diftinguifhed from the reft of the
head, by the beard, and by the hair.

We iliall not here examine the other propor-
tions of the human figure in the cylindric form of
the neck, oppofed to the fphero'id of the head, and
to the plane furface of the breafl; the hemifpherical
forms of the paps, which contraft with the flatnefs
of the cheft ; as well as the cylindrical pyramids of
the arms and fingers with the omoplate of the
fhoulders ; the confonances of the fingers with the
arms, by means of three fimilar articulations, with
a multitude of other curvatures, and of other har-
monies, which, hitherto, have not fo much as a
name in any language, though they are, in every
country, the all-powerful expremon of beauty.

The human body is the only one which unites,
in itfelf, the modulations, and the concerts, inex-
preffibly agreeable, of the five elementary forms,
and of the five primordial colours, without exhi-
biting any thing of the harm and rude oppositions

perceptible

STUDY X. 9

perceptible in the brute creation, fuch as the
prickles of the hedge-hog, the horns of the bull,
the tufks of the wild-boar, the fangs of the lion,
the marbled fkin of the dog, and the livid and dif-
gufting colours of venemous animals. It is the
only one of which the firft touch is perceptible,
and which you can fee completely ; other animals
being difguifed under hair, or feathers, or fcales,
which conceal their limbs, their fhape, their fkin.
Farther, it is the only form which, in its perpen-
dicular attitude, difplays all it's pofitions and di-
rections at once ; for you can hardly perceive
more of a quadruped, of a bird, of afifh, than one
half, in the horizontal pofition which is proper to
them, becaufe the upper part of their body con-
ceals the under.

We muft, likewife, remark, that Man's progref-
five motion is fubject to neither the fhocks, nor
the tardinefs of movement of mod quadrupeds,
nor to the rapidity of that of birds ; but is the re-
mit of movements the mod harmonic, as his
figure is, of forms, and of colours, the mod de-
lightful ».

The

* It has been maintained by certain celebrated Authors,
that the Negros confider their own colour as more beautiful
than that of the whites ; but it is a miftake. I have put many
a queftion, on this fubjeél, to black people, who were in my

own

•

IO STUDIES OF NATURE.

The more that the multiplied confonances of
the human figure are agreeable, the more difguft-
ing are it's diffbnances. This is the reafon that,

on

own fervice, in the Ifle of France, and who were at perfect li-
berty to tell what they really thought, efpecially on a fubjecT: fo
indifferent to (laves, as the beauty of the whites. I fometimes
afked them whether of the two they would prefer, a black wife,
or a white ? They never hefitated an inftant in declaring their
preference of the white woman. Nay, I have feen a Negro,
who had been almoft flead alive by the whip, in one of our plan-
tations, exprefs the higheft delight when the fears of his fores
began to whiten, becaufe it fuggefted the hope, that he was
thereby going to change colour, and to be negro no longer.
The poor wretch would gladly have parted with his whole hide
to become white. This preference, we mall be told, is, in that
cafe, the effect of the fuperiority which they are obliged to
afcribe to the Europeans. But the tyranny of their mafters
ought rather to infpire abhorrence of the colour. Befides, the
black men and women, of our colonies, exprefs the fame taftes
that our peafantry at home do, for fluffs of lively and glaring
colours. Their fupreme luxury in drefs is a red handkerchief
tied round their head. Nature has beftowed no other tints on
the rofes of Africa than upon thofe of Europe.

If the judgment of black flaves is confidered as a fufpicious
authority on the fubjeel, we may refer the decifion to the tafte
of the Sovereigns of Africa, who are under no temptation to
diifemble. They fairly acknowledge that in this, as well as in
many other reipects, they have been more hardly dealt with than
the Europeans. African Princes have made frequent applica-
tion to the Governors of the Englifh, Dutch, and French fet-
tlements on the coaft, for white women, under a promife of
very ample privileges in return. Lamb, an Englifh agent at

Ardra,

STUDY X. IL

on the face of the Earth, there is nothing fo beau-
tiful as a handfome man, nor fo (hocking as a
very ugly one.

This

Ardra, when prifoner to the King of Dahomay, in the year
1724, fent word to the Governor of the Englifh fort at Juida,
that if he could fend a white woman, or even a mulatto, to this
Prince, (he might acquire an unbounded influence over his
mind. {General Hijlory of Voyages, by the Abbé Prcjoft. Book
viii, page 96.)

Another King, on a different part of the coaft of Africa,
promifed, one day, to a Capuchin miffionary, who was preach-
ing the Gofpel in his prefence, to difmifs his feraglio, and em-
brace Chriftianity, if he would procure him a white woman to
wife. The zealous miffionary immediately repaired to the neareft
Portugueze fettlement ; and having enquired, whether there
might not be among them fome poor and virtuous damfel, fuch
as might fuit his purpofe, he was informed of fuch a perfon, the
niece of a very poor man of family, who lived in a ftate of great
privacy. He waited for her one Sunday morning, at the door
of the church, as fhe was returning from mafs with her kinf-
man ; and addreffing himfelf to the uncle, before all the people,
charged him, in the name of God, and as he valued the interefts
of religion, that he would bellow his niece in marriage on the
Negro King. The gentleman and his niece having given their
confent, the black Prince married her, after having difmilTed
all his other women, and received public baptifm. (Hiflory of
Ethiopia, by Labat.)

The beft informed travellers relate many fuch anecdotes, of a
fimilar preference exprelTed by the black Sovereigns of Africa,
and of fouthern Afia. Thomas Ro<we, Ambaffador from Eng-
land at the Court of the Mogul Selim-Scha, relates, that a very
cordial reception was given, by this powerful Monarch, to cer-
tain

J2 STUDIES OF NATURE.

This farther fuggefts a reafon why it will be (or
ever impoflible for art to produce a perfecl: imita-
tion of the human figure, from the difficulty of

uniting

tain Portugueze Jefuits, who had come as miffionaries into his
dominions, with a view to obtain, through their means, fome
women of their country to recruit his feraglio. He began with
conferring on them lingular privileges ; had apartments provided
for them in the vicinity of his palace, and admitted them to his
moft intimate familiarity : but perceiving that thofe good fa-
thers difcovered no great inclination to gratify his defires, he
praftifed a very ingenious artifice to draw them into compli-
ance. He expreffed an extreme partiality to the Chriftian Re-
ligion ; and pretending that he was reftrained, merely by rea-
fons of State, from openly embracing it, he gave ft rift orders to
two of his nephews to attend punftually on the catechetical in-
ftruftions of the miffionaries. When the young men had ac-
quired a competent degree of knowledge, he enjoined them to
get themfelves baptized, and, this being complied with, he thus
addrefled them : " It is now no longer in your power to marry
" pagan women, and of this country ; for you have made pro-
" fefiion of Chriftianity. It is the duty of the fathers, who
" baptized you, to procure you wives. Tell them they muft
" fend to Portugal for women to be your brides." The young
profelytes did not fail to make this demand on the good fa-
thers ; who, fufpefting that the Mogul's real intention, in mar-
rving his nephews to Portugueze wives, was to procure a fupply
of white women for his feraglio, refufed to engage in this négo-
ciation. Their refufal highly incenfed Selim Sc/ja, and expofed
them to much perfecution : he immediately commanded his ne-
phews to renounce Chriftianity. (Memoirs of Thomas Ro<we,
Thevenofs Colleftion.)
The black colour of the fkin is, as we fhall prefently fee, a

bleffing

STUDY X.

13

uniting in it all the harmonies, and from the (till
greater difficulty of effecting a complete combina-
tion of thofe which are of a different nature. For
example, the Painter may fucceed tolerably in
imitating the colours of the face, and the Sculptor
in expreffing it's forms. But were an attempt
made to unite the harmony of colours and of
forms in a fingle buft, fuch a production will be
very inferior to a mere picture, or to a mere piece
of fculpture, becaufe it will combine particular
diffonances of colours and of forms, befides their
general diflbnance, which is (till more marked. If

bleiïing from Heaven to the Nations of the South, becaufe it
abforbs the reflexes of the burning Sun under which they live.
But the men of thofe Nations do not the lefs, on that account,
confider white women as more beautiful than the black, for the
fame reafon that they think the day more beautiful than the
night, becaufe the harmonies of colours and of lights render
themfelves perceptible in the complexion of the whites, whereas
they almoft entirely difappear in that of the blacks, who can
pretend to no competition with the others, in point of beauty,
except as to form and ftature.

The proportions of the human figure, having been taken, as
we have juft feen, from the moft beautiful forms of Nature, are
become, in their t jm, models of beauty for Man. If we attend
to this, we fhall find, that the forms which pleafe us moft in
works of art, as thofe of antique vafes, and the relations of height
and breadth in monuments, have been taken from the human
figure. It is well known that the Ionic column, with it's capital
and it's flutings, was imitated after the fhape, the head-drefs,
and the drapery of the Grecian young women.

to

14 STUDIES OF NATURE.

to thefe it were farther attempted to add the har-
mony of movements, as in the cafe of an automa-
ton, this would only aggravate the incongruity.
Were art to continue it's effort, and try to beftow
the gift of fpeech likewife, this muft produce a
fourth dilïbnance, which would be abfolutely hi-
deous; for here the intelle'ftual fyflem would
clafh frightfully with the phyfical fyftem. It is,
accordingly, matter of no furpize to me, that St.
Thomas Aquinas was fo fhocked at the fpeaking
head, in conftructing which, his matter, Albert the
Great, had employed fo many years, that, under
the influence of horror, he inftantly broke it to
(hivers. It mud have produced on him the fame
impreffion which he would have felt, had he heard
an articulate voice iffuing out of a dead man's
mouth. Such labours, in general, do the Artift
much honour ; but they demonftrate the weaknefs
of art, which falls below Nature juft in proportion
as it aims at uniting more of her harmonies. In-
ftead of blending them, as Nature herfelf does,
art can only place them in oppofition.

All this proves the truth of the principle which
we have laid down, namely, that harmony refults
from the union of two contraries, and difcord
from their collifion : and the more agreeable that
the harmonies of an object are, the more difguft-
ing are it's difcordances. This is the real origin

of

STUDY X.

*5

of pleafure and of diflike, in phyfics as in morals,
and the reafon why the fame object fo frequently
excites affection and averfion.

A great variety of very interefling reflections
remain to be made on the human figure, efpecially
by connecting with it the moral fenfations, which
alone give expreffion to the features. We fhall
introduce fome of thefe in the fequel of this Work,
when we come to fpeak of fentiment. Be it as it
may, the phyfical beauty of Man is fo flriking, in
the eyes even of the animal creation, that to it,
principally, muft be afcribed the empire which he
exercifes over them, in every part of the Earth.
The feeble flee for refuge under his protection,
and the moft powerful tremble at fight of him. Ma-
thiola relates, that the lark will fave herfelf amidft
troops of men, when (he perceives the bird of prey
hovering over her. The reality of this inftinct
was confirmed to me by an officer, who was once
an eye-witnefs of one, in fuch circumftances, flee-
ing for fafety among a very diftinguilhed fquadron
of cavalry, in which he then ferved ; but the
trooper whofe particular protection Hie fought,
trampled her to death under his horfe's feet ; a
moft barbarous action, which drew on him, and
juftly, the indignation of every good man in the
corps.

I myfelf

î6 STUDIES OF NATURE.

I myfelf have feen a flag, when run down by
the hounds, appeal, with fobs, for relief, to the
compaffion of perfons accidentally paffing that way.
Pliny relates a fimilar fact, and it is confident with
my own experience, when I was in the Ifle of
France, which I have detailed in the journal of
my voyage to that Ifland. I have feen, in the farm-
yards, the India-hens, under the impulfe of love,
go and throw themfelves chuckling at the feet of
the ctountry-people. If we meet lefs frequently
with inftances of the effect of animal confidence
in Man, it is becaufe of the noife of our fowling-
pieces, fearing them inceflantly, and of the conti-
nual other perfecutions which they are doomed to
undergo.

It is well known with what familiarity the mon-
keys, and fowls of all kinds, approach travellers
in the forefts of India *. I have feen at the Cape
of Good-Hope, in Cape-town itfelf, the fhores of
the Sea fwarming with water-fowls, which perched
confidently on the fhallops, and a large wild pe-
lican playing clofe by the cuftom-houfe, with a
great dog, whofe head fhe took into her enormous
beak. This fpectacle conveyed to me, from the
moment of my arrival, a mofl powerful impreffion

* See Bemier and Mandejlo.

in

STUDY X. 17

in favour of the happinefs of that country, and of
the humanity of it's inhabitants : nor did my con-
jecture deceive me.

But dangerous animals, on the contrary, arc
feized with terror at the fight of Man, unlefs they
be driven from their natural bias by fome preffing
neceffity. An elephant will fufFer himfelf to be
led about, in Afia, by a little child. The African
lion retires, growling, from the cabin of the Hot-
tentot ; furrenders up to him the pofTeffions of
his anceflors, and feeks for himfelf a kingdom far
remote, in forefts, and among rocks, untrodden by
the foot of Man. The immenfe whale, amidft his
native element, trembles, and flees away before
the puny bark of the Laplander. And thus, to
this day, is executed that all-potent Law, which
fecured empire to Man, though funk into guilt
and wretchednefs : " And the fear of you, and
" the dread of you, (hall be upon every beaft of
" the earth, and upon every fowl of the air; upon
" all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all
" the fifhes of the fea; into your hand are they
" delivered *."

It is fingularly remarkable, that, through thet
whole extent of Nature, there is no animal what-

* Genefis, chap. in.. Yer. 2.
vol. m. c ever,

l8 STUDIES OF NATURE.

ever, nor plant, nor foflil, nor even "globe, but
what has it's confonance and it's contrail out of
itfelf, Man excepted. No one vifible being enters
into fociety with him, but either as his fervant or
as his Have.

We rnult, undoubtedly, reckon, among the hu-
man proportions, that Law fo univerfal, and fo
wonderful, which produces males and females in
equal numbers. Did chance prefide over the ge-
neration of the human race, as over our alliances,
we mould one year have an unmixed crop of male
children, and another, a race entirely female.
Some nations would confift wholly of men, and
others, wholly of women ; but all over the Globe,
the two fexes are born, within the fame fpace of
time, equal in number. A confonance fo regular,
clearly demonftrates, that a Providence is conti-
nually watching over the affairs of Mankind, not-
withstanding the abfurdity and diforder of human
inftitutions. This may be considered as a Standing
testimony to the truth of our Religion, which,
likewife, limits Man to one Woman in marriage,
and by this conformity to natural Laws, peculiar
to itfelf, feems alone to have emanated from the
Author of Nature. It may fairly be concluded,
on the contrary, that a religion which permits, or
connives at, a plurality of wives, mud be erro-
neous.

Ah!

STUDY X. I9

Ah ! how little acquainted are they with the
Laws of Nature, who, in the union of the two
fexes, look for nothing farther than the pleafures
of fenfe ! They are only culling the flowers of life,
without once tailing of it's fruit. The fair fex !
this is the phrafe of our men of pleafure ; women
are known to them under no other idea. But the
fex is fair only to perfons who have no other fa-
culty except that of eye-fight. Befides this it is,
to thofe who have a heart, the creative fex which,
at the peril of life, carries Man, for nine months,
in the wombj and the cherifhing fex, which
fuckles and tends him in infancy. It is the pious
fex which conducts him to the altar while he is yet
a child, and teaches him to draw in, with the milk
of the breaft, the love of a religion which the
cruel policy of men would frequently render odious
to him. It is the pacific fex, which fheds not the
blood of a fellow-creature; the fympathizing fex,
which minifters to the fick, and handles without
hurting them.

To no purpofe does Man pretend to boafl of
his power and his ftrength ; if his robuft hands
are able to fubdue iron and brafs, thofe of the
woman, more dextrous, and more ufefully em-
ployed, can fpin into threads the flax and the
fleeces of the fheep. The one encounters gloomy
care with the maxims of philofophy ; the other

c 2 banifhes

20 STUDIES OF NATURE.

banimes ic by fportivenefs and gaiety. The one
oppofes to external evils the force of his reafon ;
the other, far happier, eludes them by the mobi-
lity of her's. If the man fometimes considers it
as his glory to bid defiance to danger in the field
of battle, the woman triumphs, in calmly meeting
dangers more inevitable, and frequently more
cruel, on her bed, and under the banners of plea-
fure. Thus, they have been created to fupport to-
gether the ills of life, and to form, by their union,
the moft powerful of co nfonances, and the fweeteft
of contrails.

I am obliged, by the plan of my Work, to pro-
ceed forward, and to refrain from purfuing my re-
flections on fubjects fo interefting as the marriage,
and the beauty, of Man and Woman. I muft,
however, hazard fome farther obfervations, ex-
tracted from my (lore, in order to induce others to
dive into this rich mine, with the additional value
of novelty.

All Philofophers who have made Man their par-
ticular ftudy, are agreed, and with good reafon,
that he is the moft wretched of all animals. Moft
of them appear to have been fenfible, that an affo-
ciate was neceffary to him, to relieve his burthens,
and they have made his happinefs, in part, to con-
fift of friendfhip ; which is an evident demonftra-

tion

STUDY X. 21

tîon of human weaknefs and mifery ; for were
Man naturally ftrong, he would ftand in no need
of either affbciate or affiftance. Elephants and
lions live folitary in the forefts. They need no
friends, becaufe Nature has made them ftrong.

It is very remarkable that, when the Ancients
give us a reprefentation of perfect friendfhip, it is
always reftricted to two, and no more, whatever
may be the extent of human weaknefs ; for Man
is frequently reduced to the neceffity of deriving
his felicity from the concurring interpofition of
many beings fimilar to himfelf. Several reafons
may be affigned for this reftriction, the principal
of which are deducible from the nature of the hu-
man heart, which, from it's very weaknefs, is ca-
pable of attaching itfelf to only one object at
once ; and which, being compounded of oppofite
parlions, that maintain a perpetual counterpoife,
is, in fome fenfe, both active and paffive, and ftands
in need of loving and of being beloved, of com-
forting and of being comforted, of honouring and
of being honoured, and fo on. Accordingly, all
the friendfhips celebrated in the hiftoric page, ex-
ifted only between two perfons ; fuch as thofe of
Cafior and Pollux ; of The/ens and Perithoiis ; oï
Hercules and Iotas; of Orejles and Pylades ; of
Alexander and Hepheftion, and many others.

c 3 It

22 STUDIES OF NATURE.

It is farther to be remarked, that thofe lingular
friendfhips have ever been aflbciated with virtuous
and heroic actions ; but whenever the union com-
prehended more perfons than two, it was fpeedily
diffolved by difcord, or, if permitted to fubfift for
any length of time, became famous only for the
mifchief which it brought on Mankind : fuch was
that of the triumvirate among the Romans. In
cafes when the affociates, in fuch alliances, were
flill more numerous, the mifchief which they did
was always in proportion to the greatnefs of the
number of which they confided. Thus, the ty-
ranny of the Decemviri at Rome exhibited a vio-
lence dill more cruel than that of the Triumviri,
for it fpread deftruct.ion, we may venture to fay,
without paflîon, and in cold blood.

There are, likewife, triummillvirates, and de-
cemmillvirates : thefe are your various defcriptions
of Corps. With good reafon have they obtained
the appellation of Corps ; for they frequently have
a centre diftinct from their Country, of which they
ought only to be members. They have, likewife,
views diftinct from thofe of their Country, a di-
flinc~t ambition, and diftincr. interefts. They are,
with relation to the reft; of the citizens, inconftant,
detached, deftitute of an object, and frequently
deftitute alfo, of the fpirit of patriotifm : that, in

a word,

STUDY X. 23

a Word, which regular troops are with relation to
light troops. They will not fuffer them to appear
in an avenue along which they themfelves are ad-
vancing, and difpoffefs them of the ports which
they may have occupied, the whole length of their
route. How many revolutions have been effected
in Ruffia by the Strelitzes ; in Rome, by the Pre-
torian guards ; at Constantinople, by the Janiza-
ries ; and elfewhere, by Corps ftill more political!
Thus, by a juft re-adion of Providence, the fpirit
of Corps has been as fatal to countries, as the fpi-
rit of Country has itfelf been to Mankind.

If the heart of Man admits of but a fingle ob-
ject, what judgment mall we form of our modern
friendfhips, embracing, as they do, fuch a multi-
plicity ? Undoubtedly, if a man has thirty friends,
he can beftow on each of them only the thirtieth
part of his affection, and can receive, in return,
no greater proportion of theirs. He muft of ne-
ceffity, therefore, deceive them, and be deceived
by them ; for no one is difpofed to be a friend by
fractions.

But, if the truth may be told, fuch friendfhips
are merely confederacies of ambition ; relations
interefted and purely political, employed entirely
in practising mutual illusion, in the view of aggran-
dizing themfelves at the expenfe of Society ; and

c 4 which

24 STUDIES OF NATURE.

which would be productive of unfpeakable mif-
chief, were they more clearly united among them-
felves, and unlefs they were counterbalanced by
Oppofite confederacies. Almoft all our general
affociations, accordingly, iflue in inteftine wars.
On the other hand, I do not fpeak of the incon-
veniencies which refult from particular unions,
rather too intimate. The moft celebrated friend-
fhips of Antiquity have not been, in this refpect,
wholly exempt from fufpicion, though, I am per-
fuaded, they were as virtuous as the perfons who
were the objects of them.

The Author of Nature has given to each of
us, in our own fpecies, a natural friend, com-
pletely adapted to all the demands of human life,
capable of fupplyingall the affections of the heart,
and all the reftleflhefs of temperament. He fays,
from the beginning of the World : " It is not
*' good that the man fhould be alone: I will make
" him an help meet for him ; — and the Lord-
*c God made Woman, and brought her unto the
*' Man f." Woman pleafes all our fenfes by her
form and by her graces. She has, in her charac-
ter, every thing that can intereft the heart of Man,
and at every ftage of human life. She merits, by
the long and painful folicitudes which (he exercifes

* Genefis, chap. ii. ver. i8, 22.

over

STUDY X.

25

S

over our infancy, our refpect as a mother, and our
gratitude as a nurfe ; afterward, as Man advances
~^ to youth, ihe attracts all his love as a miltrefs ;
4 and in the maturity of manhood, all his tendernefs
1 as a wife, his confidence as a faithful fteward, his
protection, as being feeble ; and, even in old age,
*SS/ fhe merits our higheft confideration, as the fource
of posterity, and our intimacy, as a friend who
has been the companion of our good and bad for-
tune through life. Her gaiety, nay, her very ca-
prices, balance, at all feafons,-the gravity, and the
over- reflective conftancy of Man, and acquire, re-
ciprocally, a preponderancy over him.

Thus, the defects of the one fex, and the excefs
of the other, are an exact mutual compenfation.
They are formed, if I may ufe the expreffion, to
be grooved into each other, like the correfponding
pieces of carpenters-work, the prominent and re-
treating parts of which conftitute a vefTel, fit to
launch on the ftormy ocean of life, and to attain
additional ftrength from the very buffetings of the
tempeft. Had we not been informed by a Sacred
Tradition, that Woman was extracted from the
fide of Man ; and though this great truth were
not every day manifefled, in the wonderful birth
of the children of the two fexes, in equal numbers,
we mould be fpeedily inftructed in it by our
wants. Man without the Woman, and Woman

without

26 STUDIES OF NATURE.

without the Man, are imperfed beings, in the or-
der of Nature. But, the greater contrait there is
in their characters, the more complete union there
is in their harmonies. It is, as we have already
briefly hinted, from their oppofitions in talents, in
taftes, in fortunes, that the mofl intenfe and the
mod durable affection is produced. Marriage is,
therefore, the friendfhip of Nature, and the only
real union which is not expofed, like thofe which
exift among men, to eftrangement, to rivalfhip,
to jealoufies, and to the changes- which time is ef-
fecting in our inclinations.

But, Wherefore are there fo few happy mar-
riages among us ? I anfvver, becaufe with us the
fexes have diverted themfelves each of it's proper
nature, and affumed the other. It is becaufe the
women, with us, adopt the manners of men, from
education ; and men the manners of women, from
habit. The women have been defpoiled of the
graces, and of the talents, peculiar to their lex, by
the matters, the fciences, the cuftoms, the occupa-
tions of men. There is no way left, fave one,
but that is infallible, to bring both back to Na
ture J it is to infpire them with a tafte for Reli-
gion. By Religion, I do not mean attachment to
ceremonies, nor fyftems of Theology ; but the re-
ligion of the heart, pure, fimple, unoftentatious j
fuch as it is fo beautifully depicted in the Gofpel.

Religion

STUDY X.

27

Religion will reftore to the two fexes, not only
their moral character, but their phyfical beauty.
It is not climate, it is not aliment, it is not bodily
exercife, nor all thefe together, which form human
beauty ; it is the moral fentiment of virtue, which
cannot fubfift independantly of Religion. Ali-
ment and exercife, no doubt, contribute greatly
to the magnitude and the expaniion of the body ;
but they have no manner of influence on the
beauty of the face, which is the true phyfionomy
of the foul. It is by no means uncommon to fee
perfons tall and robuft difguftingly ugly ; with the
ftature of a giant, and the face of a monkey.

Beauty of face is to fuch a degree the expreffion
of the harmonies of the foul, that, in every coun-
try, thofe clafles of citizens who are, from their
condition, obliged to live with others in a ftate
of constraint, are fenfibly the homelieft of the fo-
ciety. The truth of this obfervation may be af-
certained, particularly among the nobleffe of many
of our provinces, who live with each other in the
perpetual jealoufy of rank, and with their neigh-
bours of an inferior order, in a (late of unremitting
hoftility, for the maintenance of their prerogatives.
Moft of thofe Nobles prefent a complexion bi-
lious and parched. They are meagre, fulky, and
perceptibly uglier than the other inhabitants of
the fame diftrid, though they breathe the fame

air.

28 STUDIES OF NATURE.

air, live on the fame aliments, and, in general,
enjoy a fuperior degree of fortune. Accordingly,
they are far from being gentlemen both in name
and in fact Nay, there is a Nation bordering
upon ours, the fubjects of which are as much ce-
lebrated, all over Europe, for their pride as for
their homelinefs. All thofe men are rendered
hard-favoured from the fame caufes that moil of
our children degenerate in look -, who, however
amiable in early life, become ugly ongoing to col-
lege, from the miferies and irkfomenefs of their
inftitutions. I fay nothing of their natural cha-
racter, which undergoes the fame revolution with
their phyfionomy ; this laft being always a con-
fequence of the other.

The fame thing does not hold good refpe&ing
the noblefle of fome other of our provincial dif-
tricts, and the nobility of other parts of Europe.
Thefe, living, as they do, in good underftanding
among themfelves, and with their compatriots,
are, in general, the handfomeft men of their Na-
tion, becaufe their focial and benevolent fpirit is
not in a ftate of inceflant conftraint and anxiety.

To the fame moral caufes may be referred the
beauty of the features of the Greek and Roman
phyfionomies, where we generally meet with models
fo exquiiite, in their ftatues and medallions. They

were

STUDY X.

29

were beautiful, becaufe they were happy ; they
lived in cordial union with their equals, and in
the enjoyment of popular favour with the citizens
at large. Befides, there were among them no me-
lancholy, moping, monkifh inftitutions, fimilar
to thofe of our colleges, to disfigure the whole
youth of a Nation at once. The defcendants of
thofe fame Nations are, at this day, far from ex-
hibiting a refemblance to their anceftors, though
the climate of their country is not in the fmalleft
degree changed.

It is, farther, to moral caufes that we muft refer
the Angularly dignified phyfionomies of the great
Lords of the Court of Louis XIV. as is viflble in
their portraits. In general, perfons of quality be-
ing, by their rank, elevated above the reft of the
Nation, do not live continually at daggers draw-
ing with each other, and with the other fubjects
of the State, as is the cafe of mod of our fmall
country-gentlemen. Befides, they are ufually edu-
cated under the paternal roof, that is, under the
bleflèd influence of domeftic enjoyment, and far
remote from foreign jealoufy and ftrife. But thofe
of the age of Louis XIV. had this diftinguifhed
advantage over their pofterity, that they were
taught to value themfelves on beneficence, and po-
pular affability, and on bellowing their patronage
upon talents and virtue, wherever they found

them.

30 STUDIES OF NATURE.

them. There is not, perhaps, a great Family of
that period, but what has the honour to boaft
of having brought forward, and raifed into diftinc-
tion, fome one man of obfcure birth, or of the
inferior nobility, who afterwards rendered himfelf
illuftrious, by means of fuch fupport, in arts, in
literature, in the church, or in the army.

Thefe grandees acted thus, in imitation of the
Sovereign, or, perhaps, from a remainder of the
fpirit of the magnificence of the feudal govern-
ment, which then expired. Be this as it may,
they were handfome, becaufe they were contented
and happy ; and this noble emotion of foul to-
ward beneficence, has imprefled on their phyfio-
nomy a majeftic character, which will ever diftin-
guiQi them from the men of preceding ages, and
flill more from that which has fucceeded.

Obfervations of this kind are not an object of
curiofity merely ; they are of much more import-
ance than is generally apprehended ; for it follows,
as a necefTary confequence, that, in order to form
in a Nation beautiful children, and, of courfe,
handfome men, in both the phyfical and moral
fenfe of the word, it is not necefTary, according to
the doctrine of certain medical men, to fubject the
human fpecies to regular purgations, and under
particular afpects of the Moon. Children reftricted

to

STUDY X. 3I

to a rigid regimen of this fort, as are moft of thofe
of our Phyficians and Apothecaries, all prefent
wan pafteboard figures ; and when grown up, pale
complexions, and bilious temperaments, like their
fathers.

In order to render children beautiful, you mud
render them phyfically, but above all, morally
happy. You muft prevent every poffible occafion
of vexation to them, not by kindling in their
breads dangerous and headftrong pafhons, as in
the cafe of fpoiled children, but, on the contrary,
by teaching them to curb fuch as they have from
Nature, and which fociety is ever exciting into a
date of fermentation ; and efpecially, by carefully
guarding againfl the communication of every thing
unnatural, fuch as ufelefs and iiklbme tafks, emu-
lations, rivalihips, and the like But we (hall re-
fume this important fubjecl:, at greater length,
hereafter.

The uglinefs of a child is to be imputed, in
almbfl: every cafe, to his nurfe, or to his preceptor.
I have fometimes obferved, among fo many claries
of fociety, more or lefs disfigured by our inftitu-
tions, fome families fingularly beautiful. On en-
quiring into the caufe of this, I have found that
thofe families, though of the commonalty, were
happier, in a moral refpect, than thofe of other

citizens ;

32- STUDIES OF NATURE.

citizens ; that the mothers had fuckled their own
children j that the young people had learned their
occupations under the paternal roof and infpec-
tion ; that they had been treated with much ten-
dernefs and indulgence ; that their parents were
fondly attached to each other ; and that they all
lived together, notwithstanding the hardfhips of
their low condition, in a ftate of liberty and cor-
diality, which rendered them good, happy, and
Satisfied.

I have thence deduced this other confequence :
That we frequently make a falfe eftimate of the
happinefs of human life. On feeing here a Gar-
dener, with the port of a Roman Emperor ; and
there a great Lord, with the mafk of a flave, I
imagined, at firft, that Nature had committed a
miftake. But experience demonftrates, that the
great Lord in queftion is, from the hour of his
birth to that of his death, placed in a feries of
pofitions, which permit him not to gratify his own
inclination three times a year. For he is under
the necefïity, from his infancy upward, to do the
will, firft of his preceptors and matters; in more
advanced life, that of his prince, ofminifters of
ftate, of his rivals, nay, frequently, that of his ene-
mies. Thus, he finds fetters innumerable in his
very dignities. Our Gardener, on the other hand,
paries his whole life without being expqfed to the

flighteft

STUDY X,

33

flighted contradiction. Like the Centurion, in the
Gofpel, he fays to his ferrant, Come, and he
cometh ; and to another, Do this, and he doeth
it. This demonitrates, that Providence has af-
figned to our very paffions a part widely different
from that which fociety prefents to them ; for, in
cafes innumerable, the mod unrelenting ilavery is
impofed, together with an accumulation of ho-
nours ; and, in the meanefb of human conditions,
we frequently find the polTeflion of the moft un-
bounded empire.

Befides, perfons who have been disfigured, by
the corruptive imprelTion of vicious education and
habits, have it in their power to reform their
looks; and I fay this, principally, for the fake of
our females, who, in order to gain this point, ap-
ply white and red, and patch up faces, like thofe
of dolls, utterly deftitute of character. After all,
they are in the right ; for it is much better to con-
ceal character altogether, than to exhibit that of
the cruel paffions which are often preying upon
them j efpecially to the eyes of fo many of the
other fex, who ftudy character, merely to take the
advantage of it. There are infallible means in their
power of acquiring a beauty altogether irrefiltible.
It is to be internally good, gentle, companionate,
fenfible, beneficent, and devout. Thefe affections
of a virtuous foul will imprefs on their features

vol. in. d characters

34 STUDIES OF NATURE.

chara&ers altogether celeftial, which will appear
beautiful, even to the fartheft extremity of old age,

Nay, I will venture fo far as to affirm, that the
hardier the traits may be in homely perfons, who
have fufFered degradation from a faulty education,
the more fublime and impreffive will be the con-
trails produced in them by thofe which they ac-
quire from habits of virtue ; for, when we find
goodnefs under an unpromifing exterior, we are as
agreeably furprized as at finding violets and prim-
rofes under a fhrubbery of briars and thorns. Such
was the fenfation infpired, on a firft introduction
to the crabbed-looking M. de Turenne ; and fuch',
in our days, is that which we feel at the firft af-
pect of a certain northern Prince, as juftly cele-
brated for his goodnefs, as the King, his brother,
has rendered himfelf by his victories. I have no
doubt, that the repelling outfide of thefe two great
men, may have greatly contributed to give a pe-
culiar prominency to the excellence of their heart.
Such, too, was the beauty of Socrates, who, with the
features of a profligate, delighted every eye, while
he difcourfed of virtue.

But to no purpofe will a man attempt to deco-
rate his countenance with the indications of good
qualities, to which his heart is a (hanger. This
falfe beauty produces an effect flill more difgufting

than

STUDY X. 35

than the moft decided uglinefs; for when, at-
tracted by an apparent goodnefs, we actually find
difhonefty and perfidy, we are feized with horror,
as when we find a ferpent lurking in a bed of
flowers. Such is the deteftable character generally
afcribed to courtiers.

Moral beauty, then, is that after which we are
bound to afpire, that it's divine irradiations may
be difTufed over our features, and over our actions.
To no purpofe will a Prince himfelf make Iks
boaft of high birth, riches, credit, wit; the People,
inorder to know him, muft look him in the face.
The People form their judgment of him entirely
from the phyfionomy : it is, in every country, the
firft, and, frequently, the lajt letter of recommen-
dation.

OF CONCERTS.

Concert is an order formed of feveral harmo-
nies of various kinds. It differs from fimple order
in this, that the laft is, frequently, nothing but a
feries of harmonies of the fame fpecies.

• Every particular Work of Nature prefents, in
different kinds, harmonies, confonances, contrafts;
and forms a real concert. This we fhall more

d 2 amply

%6 STUDIES OF NATURE.

amply unfold in the Study which treats of plants.
Jt may henceforward be confidered as a well-
founded remark, on the fubjed of thofe harmo-
nies, and of thofe contrails, that vegetables, whofe
flowers have the lead luftre, are frequented by
animals of the mod brilliant colours ; and, on
the contrary, that the vegetables which are mod
highly coloured, ferve as an afylum to the dufkieft
animals. This is particularly evident in countries
fituated between the Tropics -, where the trees and
herbage, which have few, if any, apparent flowers,
lodge and fupport birds, infects, nay monkies, of
the mod lively colours. It is in the plains of In-
dia that the peacock difplays his gaudy plumage,
on lTirubbery defpoiled of verdure by the burning
heat of the Sun. In the fame climates it is, that
the parrot race, confifting of fo many different
fpecies, enamelled with a thoufand various colours,
perch on the gray boughs of the palm-tree, and
that clouds of little paroquets, green as the eme-
rald, alight on fields embrowned by the length-
ened heats of Summer.

In our temperate regions, on the contrary, moft
of our birds are dull-coloured, becaufe moft of our
vegetables have flowers and fruits with fhining co-
lours. It is very remarkable, that fuch of our
birds and infects as have lively colours ufually
choofe, for their habitation, vegetables that have

no

STUDY X.

37

no apparent flowers. Thus, the heath-cock glitters
on the gray verdure of the pine, whofe apples ferve
him for food. The goldfinch builds his nefl in the
rough fullers-thiftle. The mod beautiful of our
caterpillars, which is marbled with fcarlet, is to
be found on a fpecies of the tithymal, that ufu-
ally grows in the fands, and amidft die quarries of
the forefl of Fontainbleau. On the contrary, our
birds of dufky hue inhabit fhrubbery with gay-
coloured flowers. The black- headed bullfinch
builds his nefl in the white-thorn, and that lovely
bird exhibits a farther mofl agreeable conformance
and contrafi with the prickly fhrub where he re-
fides, by his blood -ftained bread, and the fweet-
nefs of his fong. The nightingale, with brown
plumage, delights to neftle in the rofe-bufh, ac-
cording to the traditions of the oriental Poets,
who have founded many a charming fable on the
loves of that melancholy bird for the rofe.

I could here exhibit a multitude of other har-
monies, of a fimilar nature, refpecling the animals
both of our own, and of foreign countries. I
have collected thefe to a very confiderable num-
ber ; but1, I acknowledge, they are too incomplete
to admit of my forming of them the entire concert
of one plant. I (hall, however, treat the fubject
more at large, under the article of vegetables. It

d 3 will

3$ STUDIES OF NATURE.

will be fufficient, at prefent, to produce a fingle
example, which inconteftably proves the exiftence
of thofe harmonic Laws of Nature : it is this, that
they fubfift even in places not expofed to the view
of the Sun. We always find, in the cells of the
mole, fragments of the bulbous root of the col-
chica, clofe by the neft of her young. Now, let
any one examine all the plants which ufually grow
in our meadows, and he will find none which forms
more harmonies and contrails with the black co-
lour of the mole, than the white, impurpled, and
lilach-coioured flowers of the colchica. This plant,
likewife, furni flies powerful means of defence to
the feeble mole againft her natural enemy, the
dog, who is continually hunting after her in the
meadows ; for he is poifoned if he eats it. For
this reafon, the colchica has obtained the trivial
name of dog-bane. The mole, then, finds a fup-
ply of food for her necefiities, and a protection
againft her enemies, in the colchica, as the bull-
finch does in the white thorn. Such harmonies
are not only very agreeable objects of fpeculation,
but may be turned to very good practical account;
for, from what has juft been fuggefted, it will fol-
low, that if you with to allure the bullfinch to
your fhrubbery, you have only to plant the white
thorn ; and if you would clear your grounds of
the mole, exterminate the bulbs of the colchica.

If

STUDY X. 39

ïf to each plant are added it's elementary har-
monies, fuch as thofe of the feafon when it ap-
pears ; of the foil and fituation in which it vege-
tates j the effects of the dews, and of the reflexes
of the light on it's foliage ; the movements which
it undergoes from the action of the winds ; it's
contrails and confonances with other plants, and
with the quadrupeds, the birds, and the infects,
which are peculiar to it ; and you will perceive a
delightful concert formed all around, the harmo-
nies of which are {till unknown to us. It is only,
however, by purfuing this track, that we fhall be
enabled to obtain a glimpfe of the immenfe and
magnificent edifice of Nature. I would earneftly
intreat Naturalifts, perfons fond of gardening,
Painters, nay, Poets likewife, thus to profecute
their ftudies, and to make frequent draughts from
this perennial fpring of tafte and of delight. They
will behold new worlds anting into view, and,
without removing from their own Horizon,
they will make difcoveries infinitely more curious
than thofe which are contained in our books and
cabinets, where the produdions of the Univerfe
are frittered away, and disjoined, in the petty
drawers of our mechanical fyftems,

I know not, at prefent, what name I ought to
give to the conformities which thofe particular
concerts have with Man. Certain it undoubtedly

d 4. isS:

40 STUDIES OF NATURE.

is, that there is no Work of Nature but what
flrengthens it's particular concert, or, if you will,
it's natural character, by the habitation of Man ;
and which does not communicate, in it's turn, to
the habitation of Man, fome expreflion of gran-
deur, of gaiety, of terror, or of majéfty. There
is no verdant mead but what is rendered more
cheerful by a dance of fhepherdelTes and their
fvvains ; and no temped but what acquires addi-
tional horror from the fhipwreck of a veflel. Na-
ture raifes the phyfical character of her Works to
a fublime moral character, by collecting them
around mankind. This is not the place to defcant
at large on the new order of fentiments hereby
fuggefted. I fatisfy myfelf, at prefent, with ob-
ferving, that (lie not only employs particular con-
certs to exprefs, in detail, the characters of her
Works ; but when (lie means to exprefs thefe
fame characters on the great fcale, fhe combines a
multitude of harmonies and of contrails of the
fame kind, in order to form of them one great ge-
neral concert, which has only a fingle expreflion,
let the field of reprefentation be ever (b extenfive.

Thus, for example, in order to exprefs the ma-
leficent character of a venemous plant, (he com-
bines in it claming oppofitions of the forms and
colours which are the indications of that male-
ficence ; fuch as retreating and briftly forms, livid

colours,

STUDY X. 41

colours, dark greens, with white and black fpots,
virulent fmells....But when (he means to characte-
rize a whole diftrid that is unwholcfome, die col-
lects a multitude of fimilar duTonances. The air
is loaded with thick fogs, the turbid waters ex-
hale only naufeous fmells, no vegetable thrives on
the putrid foil but fuch as are difgufting, the dra-
cunculus, for inftance, the flower of which exhi-
bits the form, the colour, and the fmell of an ulcer.
If any tree arifes in the cloudy atmofphere, it is
the yew only, whofe red and fmoky trunk has the
appearance of having pafled through the fire, and
whofe gloomy foliage ferves as an afylum only to
owls. If any other animal is to be found feeking
a retreat under it's lurid (hade, it is the blood- co-
loured centipede, or the toad crawling along the
humid and rotten ground. By thefe, or fimilar figns,
Nature fcares Man away from noxious filiations.

If (he intends to give him, at fea, the fignal of
an impending tempeft; as fhe has oppofed, in fe-
rocious animals, the fiery glare of the eyes to the
thicknefs of the eye-brows ; the flripes and fpots
with which they are marked to the yellow colour
of their fkin, and the flillnefs of their move-
ments to the thundering noife of their voices;
fhe collects, in like manner, in the iky, and on the
deep, a multitude of clafliing oppofitions, which,
in concert, announce approaching devaftation.

Dark

R

42 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Dark clouds fweep through the air iti the horrible
forms of dragons. Here and there the pale fire of
lightning burfts from the gloom, the noife of the
thunder, with which their dark womb is impreg-
nated, refounds like the roaring of the celeflial
lion. The Orb of Day, who can icarcely render
himfelf vifible through their rainy and multiplied
veils, emits long radiations of a wan and lîckly
light. The leaden furface of the Ocean finks and
fwells into broad white foaming furges. A hollow
murmuring noife feems to iflue from thofe threat-
ening billows. The black (hallows whiten at a
diftance, with horrid founds, from time to time,
interrupted by ominous lilence. The Sea, which
alternately covers and reveals them, difplays to the
light of day their cavernous foundations. The
Norwegian lorn perches on one of their craggy
points, uttering lamentable cries, like thofe of a
drowning man. The fea-ofpray rifes aloft in the
air, and not daring to commit herfelf to the im-
petuofity of the winds, flruggles, with a plaintive
fcreaming voice, againft the temped, which bends
back her flubborn wings. The black procellaria
flutters about, grazing the foam of the waves, and
feeks, in the cavity of their moving valleys, a (bel-
ter from the fury of the winds. ïf this fmall and
feeble bird happens to perceive a fhip in the midft
of the Sea, he flees for refuge along her fide, and,
as a reward for the protection which he folicits,

announces

STUDY X. 43

announces the temped to the mariner before it
overtakes him.

Nature uniformly proportions the figns of de-
flruclion to the magnitude of the danger. Thus,
for example, the figns of tempeft off the Cape of
Good-Hope far exceed thofe on our coafts. The
celebrated Fernet, who has exhibited fo many ter-
rifying reprefentations of the Sea, is far from having
depicted all the horrors of the watery element.
Every ftorm has it's peculiar character, in every
particular latitude. Far different are the dorms off
the Cape of Good-Hope, from thofe off Cape
Horn i thofe of the Baltic from thofe of the Me-
diterranean , thofe on the banks of Newfoundland
from thofe on the coaft of Africa. They farther
differ, according to the feafon of the year, and
even according to the hour of the day. Thofe of
Summer are very unlike thofe of Winter; and
widely different is the fpectacle of an enraged fea,
mining at noon-day under the rays of the Sun,
and that of the fame fea illuminated, at the mid-
night hour, by a fingle flam of lightning. But
you perceive, in all, the clafhing oppofitions of
which I have made mention.

I have remarked one thing, in the tempefts off
the Cape of Good-Hope, which ftrikingly fup-
ports all that I have hitherto advanced, refpe&ing

the

44 STUDIES OF NATURE»

the principles of.difcord and harmony; and which
may, perhaps, fugged profound and ufeful reflec-
tion to fome one of greater ability than I can pre-
tend to. It is this, That Nature frequently ac-
companies the figns of the diforder which agitates
the Ocean, with agreeable expreffions of harmony,
that ferve only to redouble the horror of the fcene.

Thus, for example, in two different ftorms to
which 1 was expofed in thofe feas, I did not fee
the face of Heaven obfcured by dark clouds, nor
thefe clouds furrowed by alternate flames of light-
ning, nor a fea muddy and lead-coloured, as in
the tempefts of our climates. The fky, on the
contrary, prefented a fine blue, and the fea a beau-
tiful azure ; there were no other clouds hovering
in the air, but fmall aggregations of a ruddy va-
por, dark toward the centre, and illuminated,
about the extremities, with the yellow luftre of
burniflied brafs. They took their departure from
a fingle point in the Horizon, and travelled acrofs
the Heavens with the rapidity of a bird flying.
When the thunder {hivered in pieces our main-
maft, in the middle of the night, it did not roll ;
and emitted only a crack refembling that of a can-
non, ihot off clofe by us. Two other thunder-
claps, which had preceded this one, were exactly
fimilar. This was in the month of June, which
is mid-winter at the Cape of Good-Hope.

1 was

STUDY X. 45

I was caught in another ftorm, when doubling
the Cape, on my return, in the month of January,
which is mid-fummer in that part of the world.
The ground of the Heavens was blue, as in the
firft, and not above five or fix clouds were percep-
tible above the Horizon ; but each of them, white,
black, cavernous, and of an enormous magnitude,
refembled a portion of the Alps fufpended in the
air. This laft was much lefs violent than the for-
mer, with it's fmall ruddy vapours. In both, the
fea was of the fame beautiful azure colour with
the fky ; and, on the curling crefts of the vail bil-
lows, ru thing like fo many cafcades, were formed
bright coloured rainbows.

Thefe tempefts, in the full blaze of light, are
inexpreflibly tremendous. The foul ftands aghafl
at fight of the indications of tranquillity converted
into figns of ftorm ; the unclouded azure in the
Heavens, and the rainbow playing upon the waves.
The principles of harmony appeared to be com-
pletely inverted. Nature feemed to have put on a
character of perfidioufnefs, and to conceal fury
under the maik of benevolence.

The mallows of thofe Latitudes exhibit fimilar
contrails. John-Hugo de Linfchotten^ who faw thofe
of the Jewefs, at no great diftance, in the Mofam-
bique channel, and upon which he was in extreme

danger

46 STUDIES OF NATURE.

,danger of making fhipwreck, informs us^hat they
have a moft hideous afpedt, being black, white,
and green. Thus Nature increafes the characters
of terror, by intermingling with them certain
agreeable expreffions-.

There is a farther obfervation, of effential im-
portance, to be made in this place ; namely, that
in thofe awful fcenes of danger and affright, the
terrible is clofe upon you, and the agreeable is re-
moved to an immenfe diftance ; tumult is in the
feas, and ferenity in the fky. A prodigious ex-
tenfion is thus given to the fentiment of diforder;
for there is no apparent boundary fet to tempefts
of this fort. All depends on the firft impulsion
which we undergo. The fentiment of infinity
that is within us, and which is ever making new
efforts to propagate itfelf farther and farther, feeks
to make it's efcape from the phyfical evil where-
with it is furrounded ; but repelled, in fome fort,
by the ferenity of the treacherous Horizon, falls
back upon itfelf, and undergoes a feverer pang,
under the preffure of prefent painful affections,
becaufe their fource has the appearance of being
invariable.

Such is the Giant of Storms, Rationed by Na-
ture at the entrance of the Seas of India, and fo
well delineated by the pencil oiCamoe'ns. Nature,

in

STUDY X. 47

in our climates, produces quite contrary effects,
for, during Winter, fhe redoubles our repofe
within doors, by covering the face of Heaven with
dark and rainy clouds. All depends, as I have
juft faid, on the firft impulfion which the foul
receives. Lucretius is, undoubtedly, right in fay-
ing, that our pleafure and fecurity, on fhore, are
greatly increafed by the fight of a ftorm at fea.

A Painter, accordingly, who wifhed to flrengthen,
in a picture, the effect of a beautiful landfcape,
and the felicity of it's inhabitants, would only have
to reprefent, in the back- ground, a vefTel at the
mercy of the winds, and of the raging deep : the
happinefs of the fhepherds would, in this cafe, be
powerfully heightened by contrail with the diftrefs
of the mariners. But if it were his intention, on
the contrary, to augment the horrors of a tempeft,
it would be neceffary for him to place, in oppo-
fition to the diftrefs of the mariners, the felicity
of the fhepherds ; and, for this effect, the veiTel
muft be introduced between the fpectator and the
landfcape. The firft fentiment depends on the
firft impulfion ; and the ground contrafting with
the fcene, is fo far from being a deviation from
Nature, that the leading object is impreffed with
additional energy, by being thrown back upon it-
felf. Thus, it is poffible, with the fame objecls

placed

4$ STUDIES OF NATURE.

placed differently, to produce directly oppofite
effects.

If Nature, by introducing certain agreeable har-
monies into fcenes of difcord, redoubles their con-
fufion, fuch as the green colour of the rocks of
the Jewefs, or the azure, in the tempefts off the
Cape, (he frequently throws in a difcordance, in
concerts the moil delightful, for the purpofe of
heightening the pleafurable effect. Thus, a noify
water-fall precipitating itfelf into a tranquil val-
ley; or a rugged and duiky rock afcending in
the midft of a verdant plain, enhances the beauty
of a landfcape. Thus a mole on a beautiful face
gives it additional vivacity. Skilful Artifts have
fometimes happily imitated thofe harmonic con-
trails. Callot, when he intended to aggravate the
horror of his infernal fcenery, introduced, amidft
his demons, the head of a fine woman on the car-
cafe of an animal. On the contrary, the moft re-
nowned Grecian Painters, in order to render Fems
more interefling, reprefented her with a flight
fquint in her eyes.

Nature employs offenfive contrafts only for the
purpofe of chafing Man away from fome perilous
fituation. In all the reft of her Works, (lie em-
ploys only harmonic mediums. I muft not involve

myfelf

STUDY X. 49

myfelf in the examination of their different con-
certs ; it is a fubject whofe riches are inexhauftible.
All that could be expected from my fcanty fund
was the indication of a few of their principles. I
fhall endeavour, however, to trace a flight fketch
of the manner in which (lie harmonizes the com-
mon fields of our harvefts, thefe, being the pro-
duction of human agriculture, feem abandoned to
the monotony that characterizes mod of the
Works of Man.

Firft of all, it is remarkable, that we here find
that charming (hade of green, produced by the al-
liance of the two primordial oppofite colours,
which are the yellow and the blue. This harmo-
nic colour decompounds itfelf, in it's turn, by an-
other metamorphofis, toward the time of the har-
vefl, into the three primordial colours, namely,
the yellow of the ripening corn, the red of the
wild poppy, and the azure of the blue-bottle.
Thefe two plants are found intermingled with the
(landing corn, all over Europe, let the farmer
take what pains he may in fifting the grain, and
weeding his field. They form, by their harmony,
a very rich purple tint, which riles admirably on
the yellow ground of the corn-field.

If you ftudy thefe two plants feparately, you

will find between them a variety of particular

vol. in. £ contrafts;

$0 STUDIES OF NATURE.

contrafts ; for the blue-bottle has narrow and {len-
der leaves ; but thofe of the poppy are broad,
with deep incifions. The blue-bottle has the co-
rolla of it's flowers radiating, and of a delicate
azure ; but thofe of the poppy are large, and of a
deep red. The blue-bottle throws out divergent
ftalks.; but thofe of the poppy are ftraight. We
find, befides, among the corn, the cockle, or corn-
rofe, which rifes to the height of the expanded
ear, with handfome purple flowers, in form of a
trumpet ; and the convolvulus, with a flefli-co-
loured flower, crawling up along the reeds, and
furrounding them with verdure, like a thyrfus.
There is a great variety of other vegetables ufually
to be found growing among corn, and forming
contrafts the mod agreeable, mod of them exhale
the fweeteft perfumes; and, when agitated by the
Summer's breeze, you would be difpofed, from
their undulation», to imagine the whole a fea of
verdure enamelled with flowers. Add to all the
reft a gentle ruftling of the ears againft each other,
moft agreeably foothing, which, by it's foft mur-
muring found, invites to fleep.

Thefe lovely forefts of vegetable beauty are not des-
titute of inhabitants. You fee buftlmg about under
their Iliade, the green-coated fcarab, ftreaked with
gold, and the monoceros, of the colour of burnt
coffee. This laft infe3: takes delight in a hillock

of

STUDY X. 51

of horfe-dung, and isfurnifhed with a plough fh are
on his head, with which he removes the ground
like a labourer. There are, befides, a variety of
charming contrafts in the bees and the butterflies,
which are attracted by the flowers of the corn-
field, and in the manners of the birds which inha-
bit them. The far-travelled fwallow is continually
fkimming along their furface, undulating like the
waters of a lake; whereas the ftationary lark
towers above them, in a perpendicular direction,
within fight of her neft. The domefticated par-
tridge, and tranfitory quail, there find a fituatior*
equally favourable to both, for rearing their
young. The hare frequently burrows in their
neighbourhood, and quietly nibbles the wild-
thiflle.

Thefe animals have, with Man, relations of uti-
lity, from their fruitfulnefs and their furs. It is
remarkable, that they are to be found over all the
corn-diftricts of Europe, and that their fpecies are
varied, according to all the variety of human ha-
bitation ; for there are different fpecies of quails,
partridges, larks, fwallows, and hares, adapted to
the plains, to the mountains, to the heaths, to
the meadows, to the forefts, and to the rocks.

As to the corn-plant itfelf, it has relations in-
numerable with the wants of Man, and of his do-

e 2 me flic

$2 STUDIES OF NATURE.

meflic animals. It is neither too high nor too low
for his flature. It is eaiily handled and reaped.
It furnifhes grain to his poultry, bran to his pigs,
forage and litter to his black cattle and his horfes.
Every plant that grows in his corn-field poflefles
virtues particularly adapted to the maladies inci-
cident to the condition of the labouring-man.
The poppy is a cure for the pleurify ; it procures
ileep ; it flops hemorrhages and fpitting of blood.
The blue- bottle is a diuretic ; it is vulnerary, cor-
dial, and cooling ; it is an antidote to the flings
of venemous infects, and a remedy for inflamma-
tion of the eyes. Thus the hufbandman finds all
needful pharmacy, in the field which he cultivates.

The culture of this flaffof life difclofes to him
many other agreeable concerts with his fleeting
exiflence. The direction of it's fhadow informs
him of the hour of the day ; from it's progreffive
growth he learns the rapid flight of the feafons :
he reckons the flux of his own fugitive years, by
the fucceffions of the guiltlefs harvefls which he
has reaped. He is haunted with no apprehenfion,
like the inhabitants of great cities, of conjugal in-
fidelity, or of a too numerous poflerity. His la-
bours are always furpafled by the benefits of Na-
ture. When the Sun gets to the fign of Virgo,
he fummons his kindred, he invites his neigh-
bours, and marches at their head, by the dawning

o£

STUDY X. 53

of the day, with fickle in hand, to the ripened
field. His heart exults with joy as he binds up
the fwelling flieaves, while his children dance
around them, crowned with garlands of blue-bottles
and wild poppies. Their harmlefs play recalls to
his memory the amufements of his own early days,
and of his virtuous anceftors, whom he hopes, at
length to rejoin in a better and happier World.
The fight of his copious harveft demonftrates to
him that there is a GOD ; and every return of
that joyous feafon, bringing to his recollection the
delicious eras of his pad exiftence, infpire him
with gratitude to the Great Being who has united
the tranfient fociety of men, by an eternal chain
of bleflings.

Ye flowery meadows, ye majeftic, murmuring
forefts, ye moify fountains, ye defert rocks, fre-
quented by the dove alone, ye enchanting foli-
tudes, which charm by your ineffable concerts ;
happy is the man who (hall be permitted to unveil
your hidden beauties \ but ftill happier far is he
who fhall have it in his power calmly to enjoy
them in the inheritance of his forefathers !

e 3 OF

54 STUDIES OF NATURE.

OF SOME OTHER LAWS OF NATURE, HITHERTO
IMPERFECTLY KNOWN.

, There are, befides thofe which have been men-
tioned, fome phyfical Laws, not hitherto pro-
foundly investigated, though we have had a glim-
mering of them, and made them the frequent fub-
ject of conversation. Such is the Law of attrac-
tion. It has been acknowledged in the planets,
and in fome metals, as in iron and the load-ftone,
in gold and mercury. I believe attraction to be
common to all metals, and even to all foflils ; but
that it acts, in each of them, in particular circum-
ftances, which have not hitherto been obferved,
and afcertained. Each of the metals, perhaps,
may have a diipofition to turn toward different
points of the Earth, as magnetic iron points to-
ward the North, and toward places where there
are mines of iron. It would probably be necef-
fary, in order to afçertain this by experiment, that
each metal ihould be armed with it's proper at-
traction ; this takes place, as I think, when it is
united to it's contrary.

How do we know, whether a needle of gold,
rubbed with mercury, might not have attractive
poles, as a needle of fleel has, when rubbed with

the

STUDY X.

55

the magnet ? Thus prepared, or in fome other
way adapted to it's nature, it might pofïibly indi-
cate the places which contain mines of that rich
metal. Perhaps it might determine the general
points of direction to the Eaft or to the Well,
which might ferve as an indication of the Longir
tudes, more fteadily than the variations of the
magnetic needle.

If there be a point at the Pole, on which the
Globe feems to revolve, there may, polTibly, be
one under the Equator, from which it's rotatory
motion has commenced, and which may have de-
termined it's motion of rotation. It is very re-
markable, for example, that all feas are filled with
univalve fhell-fifh, of an infinity of very different
fpecies, which all have their furrounding fpirals,
in an increafing progreffion, and in one and the
fame direction, that is, from left to right, like the
motion of the Globe, when the mouth of the fhell
is turned northward, with the bafe to the ground.
There is only a very fmall number of fpecies which
may be conlidered as exceptions, and which have,
for this very reafon, been denominated unique
(lingular, or extraordinary). The fpirals of thefe
circulate from right to left,

A direction fo general, and exceptions fo parti-
cular: in univalve fhell-filh, undoubtedly have

e 4 their

56 STUDIES OF NATURE.

their caufes in Nature, and their epochas, in the
unknown ages when their germs were created. It
is impoffible that they mould proceed from the
actual influence of the Sun, who ads on them in
a thoufand different afpects, Can they have been
thus directed in a conformity to fome general Cur-
rent of the Ocean, or to fome unknown attraction
of the Earth, toward the North or the South, to-
ward the Eaft or the Weft ? Thefe relations will
appear flrange, and perhaps frivolous, to our men
of Science ; but every thing in Nature is a feries
of concatenation. A flight obfervation here, in
many cafes, leads to important difcovery. A fmall
plate of iron turning toward the North, guides a
whole Navy through the deferts of the Ocean ;
and a reed of an unknown fpecies, thrown on the
coaft of the Azores, fuggefted to Chrîftophcr Co-
lumbus the exiflence of a weftern World.

Whatever may be in this, certain it is, that
there exifts a great number of thofe particular
points of attraction, fcattered over the Earth, fuch
as the matrices which renovate the mines of me-
tals, by attracting to themfelves the metallic parts
difperfed in the elements. It is by means of at-
tractive matrices, that thofe mines are inexhauf-
tible, as has been remarked in many places,
among others, in the Ifle of Elba, fituated in the
Mediterranean. This little ifland is entirely a

mine

STUDY X. Cfî

mine of iron, from which had been already ex-
tracted, in the time of Pliny, an immenfe quantity
of that metal, without it's being perceptible, as
he tells us, that it was in the fmalleft degree di-
minifhed. Metals have, befides, other attractions ;
and if I might prefume to deliver my opinion by
the way, I confider thefe themfelves as the princi-
pal matrices of all foflil bodies, and as the ever
active means employed by Nature for repairing-
the mountains and the rocks, which the action of
the other elements, but, efpecially, the injudicious
labours of men, have an inceflant tendency to
impair.

I (hall here remark, on the fubject of mines of
gold, that they are placed, as well as thofe of all
metals, not only on the mofl elevated part of Con-
tinents, but in icy mountains.

The celebrated gold mines of Peru, and of
Chili, are, it is well known, in the Cordeliers.
The gold mines of Mexico are fituated in the vi-
cinity of Mount St. Martha, which is covered
with fnow all the year round. The rivers of Eu-
rope, which wafh down particles of gold along
their mores, iffue from icy mountains. The Po,
in Italy, has it's fource in thofe of Piedmont. But
without quitting France, we reckon ten greater or
fmaller rivers, which roll along gold-duft, inter-
mingled

5& STUDIES OF NATURE.

mingled with their fands, and which have all of
them their origin in mountains of ice. Such is
the Rhine, from Strafburg to Philipfburg ; the
Rhone, in the Pais de Gex ; the Doux, in
Franche- Comté, which three all take their rife in
the icy mountains of Switzerland. The Cefe and
the Gardon defcend from thofe cf the Cevennes.
The Ariege, in the Pa'is de Foix ; the Garonne,
in the vicinity of Tholoufe ; the Salat, in the
County de Conferans ; and the rivulets of Ferriet
and Benagues, all take their rife in the icy moun-
of the Pyrennées.

This obfervation may be extended, I believe,
to all the gold mines in the World, even to thofe
of Africa, fuch of whofe rivers as warn down the
greateft quantities of gold-duft, the Senegal, for
inftance, defcend from the mountains of the
Moon.

To this it may be objected, that gold was for-
merly found in Europe, in places where there
there were no icy mountains ; nay, that fome has
£>een picked up on the furface of the ground, as
in Brafil -, and not many years ago, that there was
found an ingot, or mafs, of feveral pounds weight,
on the bank of a river in the didiift of Cinaloa,
in New-Mexico. But, if I might venture to ha-
zard a conje&ure, reflecting the origin of this

gold,

STUDY X. 59

gold, fcattered about on the furface of the earth,
in the ancient Continent of Europe, and efpecially
in that of the New-World ; I believe it to have
proceeded from the total effufions of the ices of
the mountains, which took place at the time of
the Deluge ; and that, as the fpoils of the Ocean
covered the weftern parts of Europe, that thofe of
vegetable earths were fpread over the eaftem
part of Afia, thofe of minerals, from the moun-
tains, were forced along other countries, where
their fragments were found, in the earlier ages, in
grains, and even in larger maiies.

This much is certain, that when Chriftopher Co-
lumbus difcovered the Lucayo and Antilles iflands,
he found among thofe iflanders abundance of gold
of a bafe alloy, the produce of the traffick which
they carried on with the inhabitants of the Conti-
nent; but they had no mines within their own
territory, notwithstanding the prejudice then en-
tertained, and under which many labour to this
day, that the Sun formed this precious metal in
the earth of the Torrid Zone. For my own part,
I find, as I have juft obferved, gold much more
common in the vicinity of icy mountains, what-
ever their Latitude may be ,• and I conjecture,
from analogy, that there mud be very rich mines
of it in the North. It is extremely probable,
that the waters of the Deluge hurled along con-

fiderable

60 STUDIES OF NATURE.

fiderable portions of that metal to the northern
countries.

We read, I think, in the Book of Job, the Ara-
bian, this remarkable expreflion ; " Gold cometh
" from the North." * Certain it is, that the firft
commerce of India with Europe was carried on
by the North, as has been clearly demonftrated by
the Baron de Straknberg, a Swedifli exile, after the
battle of Pultowa, in Siberia, of which he has
given a very intelligent and accurate defcription.
He fays, that it is ftill poflible to purfue, by evi-
dent traces, the track of the ancient Indians along
the river of Petzora, which empties itfelf into
the White Sea. On it's banks, in various places,
are found many of their tombs, which contain,
fome of them, manufcripts on filk {luffs, in the
language of Thibet -, and there are perceptible, on
the rocks along it's (hores, characters which they

* This is not entirely of a piece with our Author's ufual acT
curacy. It is written, indeed, in the Book of Job, chap, xxxvii.
ver. 9. " Cold cometh out of the North ;" and ver. 22. «' Fair
" 'weather cometh out of the North :" but no where in Scrip*-
tore, fo far as I know, is this affirmed of Gold. St. Pierre feems
to have quoted from general and indiftinct recollection ; happy,
no doubt, to have, as he thought, a text from the Bible to fup-
port his conjecture. But, notwithfhnding this defect, his rea-
foning is plauGble, and the human teftimony which he adduces
refpectable. H. H.

have

STUDY X. 6l

have traced upon them, in a red which cannot be
effaced. From this river they forced their way
through the lakes, by means of leathern boats, to
the Baltic ; or coafted along the northern and
weftern (bores of Europe.

This track was known to the Indians, even
from the time of the ancient Romans ; for Cor~
tielius Nepos relates, that a King of the Suevi made
a prefent to Metellas Celer of two Indians, who had
been thrown, by flrefs of weather, with their lea-
thern canoe, on the coafts adjacent to the mouth
of the Elbe. It is not eafy to conceive what thofe
Indians, the inhabitants of a warm country, were
going in queft of, fo far to the North. What ufe
could they have made, in India, of the furs of Si-
beria ? It would appear they went thither infearch
of gold, which might then be frequently difco-
verable to the North, at the furface of the earth.

Whatever may be in this, it is prefumable that,
as mines of gold are placed in the moft elevated
regions of the Continent, their marrices collect,
in the Atmofphere, the volatilized particles of
gold, which afcend thither with the foffil and
aquatic emanations, conveyed by the winds from
every quarter. But they exercife over men, at-
tractions flill much more powerful,

It

6z STUDIES OF NATURE.

It would appear as if Nature, by burying the
focufes of this rich metal under the mows, had in-
tended to fence it with ramparts ftill more inac-
fcceffible than the flinty bofom of the rock, left the
undifmayed ardor of human avarice mould, at
length, deftroy them entirely. It has become the
mod powerful bond of fociety, and the perpetual
object of all the labours of a life fo rapidly hurry-
ing to a clofe. Alas ! were Nature, at this day, to
inflict condign punifhment on this infatiable third
in the Nations of Europe, for a metal fo ufelefs, as
a real neceflary of human life, me has only to
change the territory of fome one of them into gold.
Every other Nation would inftantly flock thither,
and, in a little time, exterminate it's wretched
inhabitants. The Peruvians and Mexicans have
had the dreadful experience of this.

There are metals not fo highly prized, but much
more ufeful, the elementary attractions of which
might, perhaps, procure us very important accom-
modations.

The peaks of the mountains, and their length-
ened crefls, are filled, as we have feen, with iron
or copper, intermingled with a vitreous body, of
granite, or of natural cryftal, which attracts the
rains and the ftormy clouds, like fo many real

electric

STUDY X. éj

electric needles. There is not a Teaman but what
has feen, a thoufand times, thofe peaks, and thofe
crefts, covered with a cloudy cap, gathered round
and round, and concealing them entirely frorn>
view, without once fufpecting the caufe of this ap-
pearance. Our Philoiophers, on the other hand,
deducing their conclurions merely from the in-
flection of charts, have taken thofe rocky protu-
berances for the wrecks of a primitive earth, with-
out giving themfdves any trouble about their
effects.

They ought to have obferved, that thofe me-
tallic pyramids and crefls, as well as moft mines
of iron and copper, are always to be found in ele-
vated fituations, and at the fource of Jfrl rivers, of
which they are the primitive caufes, by means of
their attractions. Their general inattention to
this fubject is thus only to be accounted for; fea-
men obferve, and do not reafon ; and the learned
reafon, but do not obferve. Undoubtedly, had
the experience of the one been united to the fasa-
city of the other, prodigies of difcovery might
have been expected.

I am perfuaded that, in imitation of Nature, it
might be poffible for us to acquire the art of
forming, by means of electric ftones, artificial
fountains, which fliould attract the rainy clouds in

parched

64 STUDIES OF NATURE.

parched and dry fituations, as chains and rods of
iron attract thunder-clouds. It is true, that
Princes mud be at the expenfe of fuch coflly and
^ufeful experiments ; but it is the way for them to
immortalize their memory. The Pharoahs, who
built the pyramids of Egypt, would not have
drawn upon themfelves the curfes of theiF fubjects,
as Pliny allures us they did, for their enormous
and ufelefs labours, had they reared, amidffc the
fands of Upper Egypt, an electrical pyramid,
which might there have formed an artificial foun-
tain. The Arab who (hould refort thither, at
this day. to quench his thirft, would ftill pro-
nounce benedictions on names which, if we may
believe the great Natural Hiftorian, had already
funk into oblivion, and ceafed to be mentioned,
in his time.

For my own part, I think that feveral metals
might be proper for producing fimilar effects. An
officer of high rank, in the fervice of the King of
Pruffia, informed me that, having remarked va-
pors to be attracted by lead, he had employed it's
attraction for drying the atmofphere of a powder-
magazine. This magazine was conftructed under
ground, in the throat of a baftion, but had been
rendered of no ufe whatever, from it's humidity.
He ordered to line with a coat of lead the con-
cave ceiling of the arch, which was before planked

over,

STUDY X. 65

over, where the gunpowder was dcpofited in bar-
rels : the vapors of the vault collected in great
drops, on the leaden roof, run off in ftreamlets
along the (ides, and left the gunpowder barrels
perfectly dry.

It is to be prefumed that every metal, and every
foffil, has it's peculiar repulfion as well as it's at-
traction ; for thefe two Laws always go hand in
hand. Contraries feek out each other.

There are, farther, a multitude of other harmo-
nic Laws, as yet undifcovered ; fuch are the pro-
portions of magnitudes, and of the durations of
exiftence, in beings vegetative and fenfible, which
differ exceedingly, though their nutriment and
climates may be the fame. Man, while yet a
youth, fees the dog, his companion and contem-
porary, die of old age ; and alfo the fheep, which
he fondled when a lamb. Though the former
lived at his own table, and the other on the herb-
age of his meadow, neither the fidelity of the
one, nor the temperance of the other, was able to
prolong their days ; whereas animals which live
only on carrion and garbage, live for ages, as the
crow. It is impoffible to guide ourfelves in pro-
fecuting fuch refearches, any other way than by
following the fpirit of Conformity, which is the
vol. in. F bafis

66 STUDIES OF NATURE.

bads of our own reafon, as it is that of the reafon
of Nature.

• By confulting this, we {hall find, that if fuch
and fuch a carnivorous animal is long-lived, as
the crow for inftance, it is becaufe his fervices and
his experience are long neceflary for purifying the
earth, in places whofe impurities are inceflfantly
renewing, and which are frequently at great dif-
tances from each other. If, on the contrary, an
innocent animal lives but a little while, it is be-
caufe his flefh and his fkin are neceflary to Man.
If the domeftic dog, by his death, frequently dif-
fufes forrow over the children of the family, whofe
intimate friend and fellow-boarder he was, Nature,
undoubtedly, intended to give them, in the lofs of
an animal fo worthy of the affections and the re-
gret of the heart of Man, the firft experience of
the privations with which human life is to be ex-
ercifed.

The duration of an animal's life is fometimes
proportioned to the duration of the vegetable on
which it feeds. A multitude of caterpillars are
born, and die with the leaves by which their tran-
iitory exiftence is fupported. There are infects
whole being is limited to five hours ; fuch is the
ephemera. This fpecies of fly, about half as large

& s

STUDY X. 67

as the tip of the little finger, is produced from a
flu viatic grub, which is found particularly at the
mouths of rivers, clofe by the water's edge, in the
mud, into which it digs in queft of fubfiftence.
This grub lives three years, and at the termination
of that period, about Midfummer-day, it is trans-
formed, almoft inftantaneouily, into a fly, which
comes into the world at fix o'clock in the evening,
and dies about eleven at night. No longer fpace
of time is neceflary for copulation, and for de-
positing the eggs on the mud which the water
has deferted.

It is very remarkable, that this infect copulates,
and lays her eggs, precifely at the time of the year
when the tides are at the loweft, when the rivers
difcover, at the place of their difcharge, the
greateft part of their channel dry. Wings are then
furnifhed, to enable her to go and dépolît her
eggs in places which the waters forfake, and to
extend, in the capacity of a fly, the domain of her
pofterity, at the time when, as a worm, her terri-
tory is mod contracted. I have likewife remarked,
in the microfcopic drawing and defections given
of this infed by the ingenious Thevenot, in the lafb
parts of his collection, that in her fly ftate, (lie
has neither interior nor exterior organs of nutri-
tion. They would have been entirely ufelefs to a
life of fuch tranfient duration.

f 2 Nature

68 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Nature has made nothing in vain. It is not
credible that (he fhould have created momentary
lives, and beings infinitely minute, to fill up ima.
ginary chains of existence. The Philofophers who
afcribe to her thefe pretended plans of univerfality,
which are deftitute of every fhadow of proof, and
which make her defcend into the infinitely fmall,
for purpofes equally frivolous, would reprefent
her as acting fomewhat like a mother, who gives,
as toys to amufe her children, tiny coaches, and
minute articles of houfehold furniture, of no ufe
in the world, but which are imitations of domeftic
utenfils.

The averfions and the inftincts of animals ema-
nate from Laws of a fuperior order, which we
mail never be able to penetrate into in this world ;
but, fuppofing thofe intimate conformities to elude
our refearches, they mult be referred, like every
other, to the general conformity of beings, and
efpecially to that of Man. There is nothing fo
luminous in the fludy of Nature, as to refer every
thing that exiils to the goodnefs of GOD, and to
the demands of humanity. This method of view-
ing objects not only difcovers to us a multitude
of unknown laws, but it fets bounds to thofe
which we do know, and which we believe to be
univerfal.

If

STUDY X. 69

If Nature, for example, were governed by
the Laws of attraction only, according to the
fuppofition of thofe who have made it the bafis
of fo many fyftems, every thing in it would
be in a ftate of reft. Bodies, tending toward
one common centre, would there accumulate, and
arrange themfelves round it, in the ratio of their
gravity. The fubftances which compofe the
Globe, would be fo much heavier as they ap-
proached nearer to ,the centre, and thofe which
are at the furface, would all be reduced to a level.
The bafon of the Seas would be choked with the
wrecks of the ^and ; and this magnificent archi-
tecture, formed of harmonies fo various, would
foon become an aquatic Globe entirely. All bo-
dies hurled downward by one common precipi-
tation, would be condemned to an everlafting im-
mobility.

On the other hand, if the Law of projection,
which is employed for explaining the motions of
the heavenly bodies, on the fuppofition that they
have a tendency to fly off in the tangent of the
curve which they defcribe ; if, I fay, this Law
predominated, all bodies, not actually adherent
to the Earth, would be hurled from it, like ftones
from a fling : our Globe itfelf, fubjected to this
Law; would fly off from the Sun never to return. It

F 3 would

7°

STUDIES OF NATURE.

would fometimes traverfe, in it's unbounded ca-
reer, the fpaces of immenfity, where no flar would
be perceptible during the courfe of many ages ;
fometimes, fwinging through regions where chance
might have collected the matrices of Creation, it
might pafs along am id ft the elementary parts of
Suns, aggregated by the central Laws of attrac-
tion, or fcattered about in fparks and in rays, by
thofe of projection.

But, on the luppofition that thefe two contrary
forces were combined happily enough in favour
of the Globe, to fix it, with it's vortex, in a corner
of the firmament, where thefe forces fïiould act
without deftroying themfelves, it would prefent
it's Equator to the Sun with as much regularity
as it defcribes it's annual courfe round him. From
thofe two confiant motions never could be pro-
duced that other motion fo varied, by which it
daily inclines one of it's Poles toward the Sun,
till it's axis has formed, on the plane of it's an-
nual circle, an angle of twenty-three degrees and
an half; then that other retrograde motion, by
which it prefents to him, with equal regularity,
the opponte Pole. Far from prefenting to him
alternately it's Poles, in order that his fertilizing
heat may, by "turns, melt their ices, it would re-
tain them buried in eternal night and Winter,

with

STUDY X. 71

with a part of the temperate Zone?, whereas the
reft of it's circumference would be burnt up by
the too confiant fires of the Tropics.

But if we fuppofe, together with thofe confiant
Laws of attraction and projection, a third variable
Law, which gives to the Earth the movement
that produces the feafons, and a fourth, which
gives it the diurnal motion of rotation round it-
felf ; and that no one of thefe Laws, fo oppofite,
fliould ever furpafs the others, and, at laft, deter-
mine it to obey but one fingle impulsion ; it would
be impoffible to affirm, that they had determined
the forms and movements of the bodies which are
on it's furface. Firft, the force of projection, | or
centrifugal, would not have left upon it any one
detached body. On the other hand, the force of
attraction, or gravity, would not have permitted
the mountains to rife, and (till lefs the metals,
which are the heavieft part of them, to be placed
at their fummits, where they are ufualJy found.

If we fuppofe that thofe Laws are the ultimatum
of chance, and that they are fo combined, as to
form, among themfelves, but one fingle Law ; for
the fame reafon that they make the Earth move
round the Sun, and the Moon round the Earth,
they ought to act in the fame manner on the par-
ticular bodies which are at the furface of the

f 4 Globe.

72, STUDIES OF KATURE.

Globe. We ought to fee the rocks detached,
the fruits feparated from the trees, the animals
which are not provided with claws turning round
it in the air, as we fee the particles which com-
pofe Saturn's ring turn round that Planet.

It is the gravity, they repeat, which acts only
at the furface of the Globe, that hinders bodies
to detach themfelves from it. But if it there ab-
forbs the other powers, Wherefore, as we have al-
ready afked, did it permit the mountains to rife ?
How comes it that the centrifugal force mould
have been able to exalt, to a prodigious height,
the long ridge of the Cordeliers, while it has left
immoveable the volatile fcurf of fnow which co-
vers them ? For what reafon, if the action of gra-
vity is (rill univerfal, has it no influence on the
foft bodies of animals, when, (hut up in the womb
of the mother, or in the egg, they are in a flate of
fluidity ? All the numerous progeny of the Earth,
animals and vegetables, ought to be rounded into
balls, like their mother. The weightier!: parts of
their bodies, at lead, ought to be fituated under-
moft, efpecially in thofe which poflefs felf-mo-
tion ; on the contrary, they are frequently upper-
moft, and fupported by limbs much lighter than
the reft of the animal, as in the cafe of the horfe
and the ox. Sometimes they are between the head
and the feet, as in the oftrich ; or at the extre-
mity

STUDY X. 73

mity of the body, in the head, as in the human
fpecies. Others, fuch as the tortoife, are flattened;
others, fuch as reptiles, are drawn out in form of
fpindles ; all of them, in a word, have forms in-
finitely varied.

Vegetables themfelves, which feem entirely fub-
jected to the action of the elements, have configu-
rations diverfified without end. But, How comes
it that animals have in themfelves the principles of
fo many motions, fo entirely different ? Where-
fore has not gravity nailed them down to the fur-
face of the Earth ? They ought to crawl along it at
moft. How comes it to pafs, that the Laws which
regulate the courfe of the Stars ; thofe Laws whofe
influence has, in modern times, been made to ex-
tend even to the operations of the human foul,
ihould permit the birds to rife into the air, and
fly as they pleafe to the Weft, to the North, to
the South, notwithftanding the united powers of
çhe attraction, and of the projection of the Globe?

It is conformity, adaptation to ufe, which has
regulated thofe Laws, and which has generalized,
or fufpended their effects,, in fubordination to the
neceffities of fenfible beings. Though Nature
employs an infinity of means, (he permits Man to
know only the end which (he has in view. Her
Works are fubjectêd to rapid diffolutions; but

(he

74

STUDIES OF NATURE,

ihe always fuffers him to perceive the immortal
confiftency of her plans. It is on this (he wifhes
to fix his heart and mind. She aims not at ren-
dering Man ingenious and proud; her object is
to render him good and happy. She univerfally
mitigates the evils which are neceffary ; and uni-
verially multiplies ble flings in many cafes fuper-
iluous. In her harmonies, formed of contraries,
fhe has oppofed the empire of death to that of
life y but life endures for a whole age, and death
only an inftant. She allows Man long to enjoy
the expanfions of beings, fo delightful to behold;
but conceals from him, with a precaution truly
maternal, their tranfient ftates of diflolution.

If an animal dies ; if plants are decompounded
in a morafs, putrid emanations, and reptiles of a
difgufting form, chace us away from them. An
infinite number of fecondary beings are created
for the purpofe of haftening forward the decom-
pofitions. If cavernous mountains and rocks pre-
fent appearances of ruin ; owls, birds of prey, the
ferocious animals, which have made them their re-
treat, keep us at a diftance from them. Nature
drives far from us the fpedacles and the minifters
of deftruction, and allures us to her harmonies.
She multiplies them, in fubferviency to our necef-
iities, far beyond the Laws which fhe feems to
have prefcribed to herfelf, and beyond the mea-

fure

STUDY X.

75

fure which we had reafon to expect. It is thu?
that the dry and barren rocks repeat, by their
echos, the murmuring found of the waters and of
the forefts ; and that the plane furfaçes of the wa-
ters, which have neither forefts nor hiils, reprefent
their colours and forms by reflecting them.

From a profufion of this unbounded benevo-
lence of Nature it is, that die action of the Sun
is multiplied wherever it was moft neceflary ; and
is mitigated in all the places where it would have
been hurtful. Firft, the Sun is five or fix days
longer in our northern Hemifphere, becaufe that
Hemifphere contains the greateft part of the Con-
tinents, and is the moft: inhabited. His difk ap-
pears in it before he rifes, and after he is fet;
which, added to it's twilights, confiderably in-
creafes the natural length of our days. The colder
that it is, the farther does the refraction of his rays
extend. This is the reafon that it is greater in
the morning than in the evening, in Winter than
in Summer, and at the beginning of Spring than
at the beginning of Autumn.

When the Orb of Day has left us, during the
night feafon, the Moon appears, to reflect his light
upon us, with varieties in her phafes which have
relations, hitherto unknown, to a great number of
fpecies of animals, and efpecially of fifties, which

travel

jS STUDIES OF NATURE.

travel only in the night-time, at the epochas which
the indicates to them. The farther that the Sun with-
draws from one Pole, the more are his rays refracted
there. But when he has entirely abandoned it,
then it is that his light is fupplied in a moft won-
derful manner. Firft, the Moon, by a movement
altogether incomprehensible, goes to replace him
there, and appears perpetually above the Horizon,
without fetting, as was obferved in the year 1596,
at Nova Zembla, by the unfortunate Dutchmen
who wintered there, in the 76th degree of North
Latitude.

It is in thofe dreadful climates, that Nature
multiplies her refources, in order to beftovv on fen-
fible beings the benefits of ligHt and heat. The
Heavens are there illuminated with the cmrora-
borealis, which darts up to the very zenith rays of
moving light, gold-coloured., white, and red.
The Poles fparkle with ftars more luminous than
thofe which appear in the reft of the firmament.
The fnows which cover the ground (belter part
of the plants, and, by their luftre, difpel the dark-
nefs of night. The trees are clothed with thick
moffes, which catch fire from the fmalleft fpark ;
the very ground is covered with them, efpecially
in the woods, to fo great a depth, that I have,
oftener than once, funk, in the Summer time, up
to the knees, in thofe of Ruflia: Finally, the ani-
mals,

STUDY X, 77

trials, which inhabit thofe regions, are robed in
fur to the very tip of their claws.

When the feafon returns for reftoring heat to
thofe climates, the Sun re-appears there a con-
siderable time before his natural term. Thus, the
Dutch mariners, whom I have juft mentioned,
faw him, to their aftonifhment, above the Horizon
of Nova Zembla, on the twenty-fourth of January,
that is, fifteen days fooner than they expected him.
This return, fo much earlier than their hopes had
fafliioned it, filled them with joy, and difcon-
certed the calculations of their intelligent pilot,
the unfortunate Barents,

It is then that the Star 'of Day there redoubles
his heat and his light, by means of the parhelions,
which, like fo many mirrors formed in the clouds,
reflect his difk upon the Earth. He calls from
Africa the winds of the South, which, pafling over
Zara, whofe fands are then violently heated by the
vicinity of the Sun to their Zenith, load them-
felves with igneous particles, and proceed to at-
tack, like battering rams of fire, that tremendous
cupola of ice which covers the extremity of our
Hemifphere. It's enormous vaultage, diffolved
by the heat of thofe winds, and loofened by their
violent agitations, detaches itfelf in fragments as
lofty as mountains ; and, floating at the difcretion

of

y8 STUDIES OF NATURE.

of the Currents, which fweep them along toward
the Line, they advance fometimes as far as to the
45th degree, cooling the Seas of the South, by
their vaft efFufions. Thus the ices of the Pole
communicate coolnefs to the heated feas of Africa,
juft as the burning fands of Africa tranfmit warm
winds to diffolve the ices of the Pole.

But as cold is, in it's turn, a very great bleiling
in the Torrid Zone, Nature employs a thoufand
methods to extend the influence of it in that Zone,
and to mitigate in it the heat and the light of the
Sun. Firft, Ihe deftroys there the refractions of the
Atmofphere. There is fcarcely any twilight between
the Tropics, to precede the rifing of the Sun, and
flill lefs after his fetting. When he is in the Ze-
nith, he veils himfelf with rainy clouds, which
cool the ground, both by their made and by
their mowers. Befides, thofe clouds being fre-
quently impregnated with thunder, the explofion
of their fires dilates the fuperior ftratum of the
Atmofphere, which is icy at the height of two
thoufand five hundred fathom, under the Line,
as is evident from the fnows which perpetually co-
ver, at that height, the fummits of fome of the
Cordelier mountains. They caufe to flow down,
by their explorions and concuffions, columns of
that air, congealed in the fuperior regions of the
Atmofphere, into the inferior, which are fuddenly

cooled

STUDY X. 79

cooled by it, as we feel it to be in our own cli-
mates, in Summer, immediately after a thunder
ftorm.

The effufions of the polar ices, in like manner,
cool the feas of the South ; and the polar winds
frequently blow on the hotteft parts of their
mores. Nature has, farther, placed in the very
heart of the Torrid Zone, and in it's vicinity,
chains of icy mountains, which accelerate, and re-
double the effects of the polar winds, efpecially
along the feas, where fermentation was moll to be
dreaded, from the alluvions of the bodies of ani-
mals, and of vegetables, which the waters are
there continually depofiting. Thus, the chain of
Mount Taurus, eternally covered with fnow, com-
mences in Africa, on the burning (hores of Zara,
and, coafting the Mediterranean, pâlies on into
Afia, where it extends long arms, this way and
that, which embrace the gulfs of the Indian Ocean.
In America, in the fame manner, the extenfive
chains of the Cordeliers of Peru and Chili, with
the elevated ridges in which it croffes Brafil, cools
the lengthened and burning fhores of the South-
Sea, and of the gulf of Mexico.

Thefe elementary difpofitions are only part of
the refources of Nature, for mitigating the heat
in warm countries. She there lhades the ground

with

SO STUDIES OF NATURE.

with creeping vegetables and trees, in form of a
parafol, fome of which, fuch as the cocoa-tree of
the Sechelles-iflands, and the talipot of Ceylon,
have Reaves from twelve to fifteen feet long, and
from feven to eight feet broad. She clothes the
animals of thofe regions with hairlefs fcins, and
colours them, in general, as well as the verdure,
with dark and dufky tints, in order to diminifli
the reflexes of the heat and of the light. This
laft confideration leads me here to fuggeft a few
reflections on the effects of colours ; the little
which I fhall advance on this fubject, will be fuffi-
cient to produce conviction, that their generations
are not the effect of chance ; that it is from rea-
fons profoundly wife we find one half of them
proceed, in compounding themfelves, toward the
light; and in their decompofition, toward dark-
nefs ; and that all the harmonies of this World
are produced by contraries.

Naturalifts confider colours as accidents. But,
if we attend to the general ufes for which Nature
employs them, we fhall be perfuaded that there is
not, even on rocks, a fingle made impreffed with-
out a meaning and a purpofe. Let us obferve, in
the firft place, the principal effects of the two ex-
treme colours, white and black, with relation to
the light. Experience demonflrates that, of all
colours, white is that which belt reflects the rays

of

STUDY X. 8 I

yt the Sun, becaufe it fends them back without
any tint, as pure as it receives them ; and that
black, on the contrary, is the lead adapted to their
reflection, becaufe it abforbs them. This is the
reafon why gardeners whiten the walls againft
which their efpaliers are planted, in order to acce-
lerate the maturity of their fruits, by the reverbe-
ration of the Sun's rays; and why opticians blacken
the walls of the camera-obfcura^ that their reflexes
may not difturb the luminous picture on the
tablet.

Nature, of confequence, frequently employs to
the North the white colour, in order to increafe
the light and heat of the Sun. Moll of the lands
there are whitifh, or of a clear gray. The rocks
and fands of northern regions are filled with mica
and fpecular particles. Farther, the whitenefs of
the fnows, which cover them in Winter, and the
vitreous and cryftalline particles of their ices, are
exceedingly adapted to mitigate the action of the
cold, by reflecting the light and heat in the moft
advantageous manner. The trunks of the birch-
trees, of which the greateft part of their forefts
confift, are covered with a bark as white as paper.
Nay, in fome places, the earth is clothed with a
vegetation completely white.

VOL. III. g " In

$Z STUDIES OF NATURE.

" In the eaftern part," fays an intelligent Swede»
" of the lofty mountains which feparate Sweden
" from Norway, expofed to the utmoft rigor of the
" cold, there is a very thick foreft, and fingular in
" this refpeët, that the pine which grows there is
" rendered black, by a fpecies of filamentous li-
" chen, which hangs upon it in great abundance ;
u whereas the ground is covered every where
" around with a white lichen, which, in luftre,
*c rivals the mow."*

Nature there beftows the fame colour on mod
animals, fuch as the white-bear, the wolf, the par-
tridge, the hare, the ermine ; others perceptibly
-whiten to a certain degree in Winter, fuch as foxes
and fquirrels, which are reddifh in Summer, and
light gray in Winter. Nay, if we confider the
filiform figure of their hair, it's varnifh and tran-
fparency, we ihall be fenfible that it is contrived
in the moft proper manner for reflecting and re-
fracting the rays of light. We ought not to ima-
gine this whitenefs as a degeneration, or enfeebling
of the animal, as Naturalifts have done with re-
fpect to the human hair, which whitens in old-

* Extract from the Natural Hiftory of the rein-deer, by
Charles- Frederick Hoffberg, tranflated by M. le Chevalier de
Keralio.

age,

STUDY X. S$

gge, as they tell us, from a failure of radical moif-
ture ; for nothing can be of a clofer contexture than
moft of thofe furs, nor any thing more vigorous
than the animals which are arrayed in them. The
white-bear is one of the ftrongeft and moft formi-
dable of animals in the world ; it frequently re»
quires feveral mufket-fliot to bring him down.

Nature, on the contrary, has tinged with red,
with blue, with dufky, and black tints, the foil,
the vegetables, the animals, nay, even the men,
who inhabit the Torrid Zone, for the purpofe of
there abforbing the fires of the burning Atmo-
fphere with which they ate furrounded. The
lands, and the fands of the greateft part of Africa,
lituated between the Tropics, are of a reddidi
brown, and the rocks are of a black hue. The
îflands of France and of Bourbon, which are on
the border of that Zone, are, in general, of the
fame dark complexion. I have feen there chickens
and perroquets, not only whofe plumage, but the
fkin itfelf, was dyed black. I have likewife feen,
in thofe iflands, fifties entirely black, and efpeGJally
among the fpecies which live near the furface of
the water, over the (hallows, fuch as the old-wo-
man and the thornback.

As animals whiten, in Winter, toward the
North, in proportion as the Sun withdraws from

g 2 them^

84 STUDIES OF NATURE.

them, thofe of the South aflume dark and dufky
tints, in proportion as die Sun approaches to them.
When he is in the Zenith, the fparrows of the
tropical countries have bread-plates, and the plu-
mage of the head, completely red. There are
birds in thofe regions which change their colour
three times every year, having, if I may ufe the
expreffion, one drefs for Spring, another for Sum-
mer, and a third for Winter, according as the Sun
is in the Line, in the Tropic of Cancer, or in that
of Capricorn *.

* The white colour, accordingly, increafes the effect of the
rays of the Sun, and the black weakens it. The inhabitants of
Malta whiten the infide of their apartments, in order, as they
allege, to render the fcorpions perceptible, which are very com-
mon in that ifland. In doing this, if I am not miftaken, they
commit two errors ; the firft, in mifapprehending the colour :
for the fcorpions, which there are gray, would appear ftill better
on a dark ground ; the fécond, and one of much greater im-
portance, is their increafing to fuch a degree the reverberation
of the light, that the eye-fight is fenfibly affected by it. To this
caufe I principally afcribe the diforder of the eye fo frequently
complained of by thofe iflanders. Our trades-people wear white
hats, in Summer, when in the country, and complain of head-
achs. All thefe evils arife from neglecting to ftudy Nature. In
the Ifle of France they employ, for wainfcotting, the wood of
the country, which in time becomes entirely black; but this tint
is too gloomy. It feems as if Nature had forefeen, in this re-
fpect, the fervices which Man was to derive from the interior of
trees : their timber is brown in moft of thofe of hot countries,
and white in thofe. of the northern regions, fuch as the fir and
the birch.

This

STUDY X. 8$

This, too, is very remarkable, and of confe-
quential importance to the ufe which Nature
makes of thefe colours, to the North, and to the
South; namely, that in all countries, the whiteft
part of the body of an animal is the belly, becaufe
more heat is wanted there for promoting digeftion,
and carrying on the other animal functions : and,
on the contrary, the head is nniverfally moft
ftrongly coloured, efpecially in thofe of hot coun-
tries, becaufe, in the animal economy, that part
(lands moft in need of being kept cool.

It cannot be maintained, that the bellies of ani-
mals preferve their whitenefs, becaufe that part of
the body is fheltered from the Sun ; and that their
heads affume ftrong colouring, from being more
expofed to his influence. It might appear, from
reafons of analogy, that the natural efFeft of light
ought to be, to inveft with it's luftre all the ob-
jects which it touches ; and that, conformably to
this, the foil, the vegetables, and the animals of
the Torrid Zone ought to be white ; and that
darknefs, on the contrary, acting for feveral months
together on the Poles, ought to clothe every ob-
ject, within thofe regions, in robes of mourning.
But Nature fubjects not herfelf to mechanical
Laws. Whatever may be the phyfical effect: of
the prefence of the Sun, or of his abfence, (he has
contrived, toward the North, toimpofe very black

g 3 fpots

86 STUDIES OF NATURE.

i'pots on the whiteft bodies, and, to the South,
white fpots on the darkeft bodies. She has black-
ened the tip of the tail of the Siberian ermine, in
order that thefe little animals, which are white all
over, as they march along the fnow, where they
fcarcely leave any traces of their footfteps, may
be enabled to diftinguiih each other, when pro-
ceeding in a train, in the luminous reflexes of the
long nights of the North.

Perhaps, too, this blacknefs, oppofed to the
white, may be one of thofe decided characteriftics
with which fhe has marked beafts of prey ; fuch
as the extremity of the black fnout^ and the black
paws of the white- bear. The ermine is a fpecies
of weafel. There are, likewife, in the North,
foxes completely black ; but they are indemni-
fied, for the influence of the white colour, by the
warmeft and thickeft of furs ; it is the mod valu-
able of all thofe of the North. Befides, this fpe-
cies of foxes is very rare, even in thofe countries.
Nature has, perhaps, clothed them in black, be-
caufe they live in fubterraneous places, in the
midft of warm fands, or in the vicinity of certain
volcanos, or for fome other reafon, to me un-
known, but correfponding to their natural calls.
It is thus fhe has clothed in white the paillencu,
or bird of the Tropics, becaufe this bird, which
flies at a prodigious elevation above the Sea, paries

part

STUDY X. 87

part of it's life in the vicinity of a frozen Atmo-
fphere. Thefe exceptions by no means deftroy
the general adaptation of thofe two colours ; on
the contrary, they confirm it, feeing it is employed
by Nature for diminifhing, or increafing, the heat
of the animal, in conformity to the temperature
of the place where it lives.

I now leave it to Naturalifts to explain how it
comes to pafs, that cold mould caufe to vegetate
the hair of animals in the North ; and why the heat
mould fhorten, or caufe to fall off, the hair of ani-
mals, to the South ; in contradiction to all the Laws
of fyftematic, nay, of experimental Phyfics ; for
we are allured, from our perfonal experience, that
Winter retards the growth of the human hair and
beard, and that Summer accelerates it.

I believe I have a glimpfe of a Law very diffe-
rent from the Law of analogies, which we fo com-
monly affign to Nature, becaufe it allies itfelf to
our weaknefs, by affording us a pretence to explain
every thing, with the affiitance of a final! number
of principles. This Law, infinitely varied in it's
means, is that of compenjations *. It is a confe-

quence

* In renewing on thefe compenfations, which are very nu
merous, and, among others, on thofe of the light of the
which embrowns bodies in order to weaken the réflexe

G 4

S3 STUDIES OF NATURE.

quence from the univerfal Law, or the mutual
adaptation of things, and a fequel of the union of
contraries, whereof the harmonies of the Univerfe
are compofed. Thus it frequently happens, that
effects, Co far from being the refults of caufes, are
oppofite to them. For example, it has pleafed
Nature to clothe in white fevcral birds, the inha-
bitants of warm regions, fuch as the heron of the

it has fuggefted itfelf to my thoughts, that fire muft, in like
manner, produce matter the beft adapted to diminifh it's own
activity. And of this I have, in fact, made frequent proof, by
throwing a little afhes on the flame blazing on my hearth. By
this means I have been able to quench it fuddenly almofi without
ftnoke, I recollect, to this purpofe, having, fome time ago,
feen, in one of our fea-ports, a great caldron full of pitch catch
fire, which they were heating for careening a (hip. Inexperienced
perlons immediately attempted to extinguifh the flame by throw-
ing water upon it; but the boiling and inflamed matter fpread
but the more violently, in torrents of fire, over the brim of the
caldron ; I did not think a fingle ladle-full would be left within
the veffel, when an old feaman run up, and inftantly brought
it down by throwing upon it a few fhovels-full of afhes. I be-
lieve, therefore, that by uniting this application with that of
water, great affiftance might be derived in cafe of conflagrations;
for the afhes would not only deaden the flame, without exciting
that dreadful fmoke which arifes from it, as foon as the engines
begin to play, but when once thoroughly moiftened, they would
retard the evaporation of the water, which is alrnoft inflanta-
jieous, when the fire has made a confiderable progrefs. It would
afford me inexpreffible fatisfacYion, fhould this obfervation merit
the attention of thofe who have ability to give it, from their
experience, fagacity, and influence, all the utility of which it is
fufceptible.

Antilles,

STUDY X. 89

Antilles, and the perroquet of the Moluccas, cal-
led cacatoès ; but fhe has bellowed, at the fame
time, on their plumage, a difpofition which
weakens the reflection of it.

Farther, it is very remarkable, that me has fur-
nifhed the heads of thofe birds with tufts and
plumes of feathers, which overfhadow them, be-
caufe, as was formerly obferved, the head is that
part of the body, which, in the animal economy,
ftands moft in need of being kept cool. Such is
our crefied hen, which comes originally from Nu-
midia. Nay, I do not believe, that there are to
be found in any but fouthern countries, birds
with tufted heads. If there are fome toward the
North, as the lapwing, they make their appear-
ance there only in Summer. Moft of thofe of the
North, on the contrary, have the belly and the feet
clothed with tippets formed of down fimilar to the
fined of wool.

This, likewife, is farther worthy of remark, re-
fpecting the white birds and quadrupeds of the
South, which live in a hot Atmofphere, namely,
if I am not miftaken, that the fkin of them all is
black, which is fufEcient to counterbalance the
reflection of the colour of their exterior drefs.
Robert Knox, in fpeaking of certain white quadru-
peds of the Ifland of Ceylon, fays, that their fkin

is

£0 STUDIES OF NATURE.

is entirely black. I rayfelf recollect to have ken,
at Port l'Orient, a cacatois, whofe ftomach had
been dripped of the feathers, and difplayed a fkin
as black as that of a Negro. When this white
bird, with his black beak, and black and naked
breaft, erected his plume, and clapped his wings,
he had the complete air of an Indian King, with
his crown, and mantle of feathers.

This Law of compenfations employs, therefore,
means endlefsly varied, which contradict moft of
the Laws which we have laid in Phyfics ; but this
Law muft itfelf be fubjected to that of general
accommodation or conformity ; without which,
were we to attempt to render it univerfal, it would
involve us, in it's turn, in the common error. It
has given rife, in Geometry, to feveral axioms ex-
tremely doubtful, though of great celebrity, fuch
as the following; the action is equal to the re-atlion,
and this other, which is a confequence from it,
the angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence,
I (hall not flop to demonflrate in how many cafes
thefe axioms are erroneous ; how many actions in
Nature are without re-actions ; how many actions
have unequal re-actions ; how many angles of re-
flection are deranged by the very planes of inci-
dence. It is fufficient for me, at prefent, to re-
peat what I have already, oftener than once, ad-
vanced, namely, tiiat the weaknefs of the human

mind,

STUDY X.

91

mind, and the vanity of our education, are incef-
fantly prompting us to generalize. This mode of
proceeding is the fource of all our errors, and,
perhaps, of all our vices. Nature bellows on
every being that which is adapted to it, in the
moft perfect conformity, according to the Lati-
tude for which it is deftined ; and when the tem-
perature of that Latitude is affected by change of
feafon, fhe is pleafed to vary, likewife, the adap-
tations. Some of thofe adaptations are, accord-
ingly, immutable, and others variable.

Nature frequently eTnploys contrary means for
producing the fame effect. She makes glafs with
fire ; fhe makes it, too, with water, the cryftal for
inftance : farther, (lie produces it from animal-
organization, fuch as certain tranfparent fhell-fi(h.
She forms the diamond by a procefs to us utterly
unknown. Conclude now, becaufe a body has
been vitrified, it muft certainly be by the effect of
fire, and rear on this perception the fyftem of the
Univerfe ! The utmofl that we are capable of do-
ing is to catch fome harmonic Inftants in the ex-
iftence of beings. That which is vitrifiable be-
comes calcareous, and what is calcareous changes
into glafs, by the action of the fame fire. Deduce
then, from thefe (impie modifications of the foffil
kingdom, invariable characters for determining
the general clafles of it !

On

92 STUDIES OF NATURE.

On the other hand, Nature frequently employe
alfo, the fame means, for producing effects di-
rectly contrary. For example, we have feen that,
in order to increafe the heat over the lands of the
North, and to mitigate it over thofe of the South,
fhe made ufe of oppofite colours; fhe produces in
both the fame effects, by covering the face of the
one and of the other with rocks. Thefe rocks are
effentially neceffary to vegetation. I have fre-
quently remarked, in thofe of Finland, ftripes of
verdure fkirting their bafes to the South ; and in
thofe of the Iile of France, 1 have feen fuch ver-
dant ftripes on the fide averted from the Sun.

The fame obfervations may be made in our own
climate. Tn Summer, when every thing is parched,
we frequently find green herbage under walls
which have a northerly afpect ; it difappears in
Winter; but then we find it replaced in front of
eminences which face fouthward.

We have already remarked, that the icy Zones,
and the Torrid Zone, contain the greateft quan-
tity of waters, the evaporation of which equally
tempers the violence of the heat and of the cold,
with this difference, that the greateft lakes are to-
ward the Poles, and the greateft rivers toward the
Line. There are, it is admitted, fome lakes in the
interior of Africa and of America ; but they are

placed

STUDY X.

93

placed in elevated atmofpheres, in the centre of
mountains, where they are not liable to corruption
from the action of the heat ; but the plains and
low grounds are wafhed by the greateft currents
of living water that are in the World, fuch as the
Zara, the Senegal, the Nile, the Mechaffippi, the
Oroonoko, the Amazon, and others.

Nature propofes to herfelf, univerfally, only the
accommodation of beings poffefTed of fenfibility.
This remark is all-important in the ftudy of her
Works ; othervvife, from the fimilitude of the
means which (he employs: or the exceptions from
them, we might be tempted to doubt of the con-
fiftency of her Laws, inftead of afcribing the ma-
jeftic obfcurity which pervades them, to the mul-
tiplicity of her refources, and to the profundity of
our own ignorance.

! This Law of adaptation and conformity has been
the fource of all our difcoveries. It was this
which wafted Chrijlopher Columbus to America ; be-
caufe as Herrera tells us *, he thought, contrary
to the opinion of the Ancients, that the whole five
Zones mull be inhabited, as GOD had not formed
the Earth to be a defert. It is this Law which re-
gulates our ideas refpe&ing. objeds absolutely be-

* Hznercfi Hiftory of the Weft-Indies. Book i. chap. 2.

yond

/,

94 STUDIES OF NATURE.

yond the reach of our examination. By means of
it, though we are ignorant whether there may be
men in the Planets, we are affured there muft be
eyes, becaufe there is light. It is this which has
awakened a fenfe of Juftice in the heart of every
man, and informs him that there is another order
of things after this life is at an end. This Law, in
a word, is the moil irrefiftible proof of the exift-
nce of GOD ; for amidft fuch a multitude of adap-
tations fo ingenious, that our parlions themfelves,
reftlefs as they are, never could have deviled any-
thing fimilar ; and fo numerous, that every day is
prefenting to us fome that have all the merit of
novelty, the firft of all, which is the Deity, muft
undoubtedly exift, as He is the general confor-
mity of all particular conformities.

It is this, above all, whofe existence we endea-
vour, even involuntarily, every where to trace,
and to affure ourfelves of it in every poffible man-
ner. And this explains to us the reafon why the
moft fplendid and comprehenfive collerions in
Natural Hiftory, Galleries of the choiceft mafter-
pieces in Painting, Gardens filled with the rarelt
and moft curious plants, Libraries ftored with the
moft valuable and beft written books ; in a word,
every thing that prefents to us the moft marvellous
relations of Nature, after having raifed us to an
extafy of admiration, conclude by fuperinducing

languor

STUDY X. 95

languor and fatigue. We frequently prefer to all
thefe a ruftic mountain, a rugged rock, fome wild
folitude, which might prefent to us relations newer,
and ftill more direct.

How often, on coming out of the King's mag-
nificent Cabinet of Natural Hiftory, do we (top
mechanically to look at a gardener digging a hole
in the field with his fpade, or at a carpenter hew-
ing a piece of timber with his hatchet ? It looks as
if we expected to fee fome new harmony ftart out
of the bofom of the Earth, or burft from the fide
of a lump of oak. We fet no value on thofe which
we have juft been enjoying, unlefs they lead us
forward to others, which as yet we do not know.
But were the complete Hiftory given us of the
ilars of the Firmament, and of the invifible Planets
which encircle them, we mould perceive in them
a multitude of ineffable plans of intelligence and
goodnefs, after which the heart would continue
fondly to figh : it's lafl and only end is the Di-
vinity himfelf.

STUDY

STUDY XI» 97

STUDY ELEVENTH.

APPLICATIONS OF SOME GENERAL LAWS OF NA-
TURE TO PLANTS.

EFORE I proceed to fpeak of plants, I mud
be indulged in making a few reflections on
the language of Botany.

We are ftill fo young in the ftudy of Nature,
that our languages are deficient in terms to exprefs
her mod common harmonies. This is fo true,
that however exad the defcriptions of plants may
be, and compiled by Bouanifts of whatever abi-
lity, it is impoffible to diftinguim them in the
fields, unlefs you have previouily feen them in
Nature, or, at lead, in a herbary. Perfons who
think they have made the greated proficiency in
Botany, need only attempt to draw on paper a
plant which they have never feen, after the defcrip-
tion of the mod accurate Matter, to be convinced
how widely the copy deviates from the original.

vol. nr. h Men

98 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Men of genius have, neverthelefs, taken inex-
preflible pains to aflign characteriftic names to the
different parts of plants. They have even bor-
rowed mod of thofe names from the Greek, a lan-
guage of fingular energy of expreffion. From this
has refulted another inconveniency ; it is, that
thofe names, being for the moft part compounds,
cannot be rendered into modern language ; and
for this reafon it is that a great part of the Works
of Linnaus are abfolutely incapable of translation.
Thefe learned and myflerious expreflions, no
doubt, diffufe a venerable air over the ftudy of
Botany; but Nature has no need of fuch refources
of human art to attract our reflect. The fubli-
mity of her Laws can eafily difpenfe with the em-
phafis and obfcurity of our expreflions. The more
light a man carries in his own bofom, the more
wonderful he efteems it to be.

After all, mod of thofe foreign names, em-
ployed particularly by the herd of Botanifts, do
not fo much as exprefs the moft common charac-
ters of vegetables. They frequently make ufe,
for example, of fuch vague expreflions as thefe,
fnavè rubente, fuavê olente, of an agreeable red,
lweet-fmelling, in order to characterize flowers ;
without exprefling the (hade of red, or the fpecies
of perfume. They are Hill more embarrafled,
when they wim to convey the dufky colours of

STUDY XI.

99

the ftem, of the root, or of the fruit : atro-rubeniey
fay they, fufco-nigrefcente9 of a dark red, of a dufky
brown. As to the forms of vegetables, the cafe
• is ftill worfe, though they have fabricated terms
compounded of four or five Greek words to de-
fcribe them.

J. J. Roujfeau communicated to me, one day, a
fet of characters fomewhat refembling the alge-
braic, which he had invented for the purpofe of
briefly expreffing the colours and forms of vege-
tables. Some of them reprefented the forms of
the flowers ; others, thofe of the leaves ; others,
thofe of the fruits. Some refembled a heart, fome
were triangular, fome of the lozenge fhape. He
did not employ above nine or ten of thofe figns,
to compofe the expreffion of one plant. Some he
placed above others, with cyphers which indicated
the genera and the fpecies of the plant, fo that you
would have taken them for the terms of an alge-
braic formula. However ingenious and expedi-
tious this method might be, he informed me that
he had given it up, becaufe it prefented to him
fkeletons only.

This fentiment came wiih peculiar grace from a
man whofe tafte was equal to his genius, and may
fuggeft fome reflections to thofe who are for giving

h 2 abridgments

Ï0O STUDIES OF NATURE.

abridgments of every thing, efpecially of the
Works of Nature. The idea of John-James, how-
ever, well deferves to be followed up, fhould it
only ferve to produce, one day, an alphabet pro1-'
per to exprefs the language of Nature. All that
feems requisite is the introduction of accents, to
convey the fhades of colours, and all the modifi-
cations of favours, perfumes, and forms. After
all, thofe characters could not be delineated with
perfect precifion, unlefs the qualities of each vege-
table are firft exactly determined by words : other-
wife the language of Botanifts, which is now ac-
cufed of fpeaking only to the ear, would make it-
felf intelligible only to the eye.

This is what I have to propofe refpecting an
object fo highly interefting, and which will per-
fectly coalefce with the general principles which
we (hall afterwards lay down. The little which I
may advance on the fubject will ferve to fupply
expreffion, not only in Botany, and in the fludy
of the other natural Sciences, but in all the Arts,
where we find ourfelves puzzled every inftant, for
want of terms to convey the fhades and forms of
objects.

Though we have only the term white, whereby
to exprefs the colour which bears that name, Na-
ture

■STUDY Xî. ICI

t-ure p-refents to us a great variety of forts of it.
Painting, with refpect to this article, is as barren
as language.

I have been told of a famous Painter of Italy,
who, upon a certain occafion, found himfelf very
much embarrafled how to reprefent, in one of his
pieces, three figures drefled in white. The point
in queftion was, to give effect to thofe figures, to
be thus uniformly dreffed, and to draw out diffe-
rent fhades of the moft fimple, and the leaft com-
pounded, of all colours. He was going to aban-
don his object as a thing impoffible, when, hap-
pening to pafs through a corn -market, he per-
ceived the effect which he was in queft of. It was
a group formed by three millers, one of whom was
under a tree, the fécond in the half tint of the
fhade of that tree, and the third expofed to the
rays of the Sun : fo that though the drapery of all
the three was white, they were completely de-
tached from each other. He introduced a tree,
therefore, amidft the three perfonages of his pic-
ture, and, by illuminating one of them with the
rays of the Sun, and throwing over the other two
different tints of fhade, he was enabled to exhibit
a drapery of three feveral calls of white.

This, however, was rather to elude the diffi-
culty, than to refolve it. And this is, in fact, what

h 7 Painters

102 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Painters do in fimilar cafes. They diverfify their
whites by (hades, half-tints, and reflexes; but
thefe whiles are not pure ; they are always dif-
turbed with yellow, blue, green, or gray. Nature
employs feveral fpecies of white, without dimi-
nifhing the purity of it, by dotting, rumpling,
radiating, varnifhing it, and in various other ways
....Thus, the whites of the lily, of the daify, of
the lily-of-the-valley, of the narciflus, of the ane-
mone-nemorofa, of the hyacinth, are all different
from each other. The white of the daify has fome-
ihing of that of a ihepherdefles cornet ; that of
the hyacinth has a refemblance of ivory ; and that
of the lily, half tranfparent and cryftalline, re-
fembîes the pafte of porcelain. I believe, there-
fore, that all the whites, produced by Nature, or
by Art, might be referred to thofe of the petals of
our flowers. We fhould thus have, in vegetables,
a, fcale of {hades of the pureft white.

We might, in like manner, procure all the pure
and imaginable fhades of yellow, of red, and of
blue, from the flowers of the jonquil, of the faf-
fron, of the butter-flower of the meadow, of the
role, of the poppy, of the blue bottle of the corn-
field, of the larkfpur, and fo on. We might find,
in the fame manner, among our common flowers,
all the compound (hades, fuch as thofe of the im-
purpled violet and foxglove, which are formed of

the

STUDY XI. 103

the various harmonies of red and blue. The Angle
compound colour, made up of blue and yellow,
which conflitutes the green of our herbage, is fo
varied in every plain, that each plant, I may ven-
ture to affirm, has it's peculiar fliade of that co-
lour. I can have no doubt that Nature has dis-
played, in equal variety, the other colours of her
palette, in the bofom of flowers, or on the furface
of fruits.

In performing this, (lie fometimes employs very
different tints, without confounding them ; but
(lie lays them on one above another, fo that they
form the doves-neck : fuch is the beautiful (hag
which garnifhes the corolla of the anemone; in
other cafes, flie glazes their furface, as certain
molTes with a green ground, which are glazed
over with purple ; fhe velvets others, fuch as the
panfy ; fhe powders over fome fruits with a deli-
cately fine flour, fuch as the purple plumb, diftin-
guiflied by the addition of de Monjieur; or invefts
them with a light down to foften their vermilion,
as the peach ; or fmooths their fkin, and gives the
brighteft luflre to their colours, as to the red of
the apple of Calleville.

What embarrafTes Naturalifts the mod, in de-
nominating colours, is to find diflinctive epithets
|br fuch as are dufky ; or rather, this gives them

h 4 no

JO<4 STUDIES OF NATURE.

no manner of concern : for they evade the diffi-
culty by the vague and indecifive expreffions, of
blackifh, gray, afh-coloured, brown, which they
convey, it is true, in Greek and Latin words. But
thofe words frequently anfwer no purpofe, except
to confound their images, by giving no reprefen-
tation whatever; for what, in good earneft, is
meant by thefe, and fuch like, epithets, atro-pur-
purante, fufco-nigrefcente, which they employ fo fre-
quently ?

It is poffible to make thoufands of tints widely
different from each other, to which fuch general
expreffions might be applied. As thofe dark
fhades, in truth, are much compounded, it is ex-
ceedingly difficult to characterize them by the
phrafeology of our common vocabularies. But
this might be eafily and effectually accomplished,
by referring them to the different colours of our
domeflic vegetables. I have remarked in the barks
of our trees and fhrubbery, in the capfules and
(hells of their fruits, as well as in the dead leaves,
an incredible variety of thofe fad and gloomy
fhades, from yellow down to black, with all the
intermixtures and accidents of the other colours.
Thus, inftead of faying in Latin, a yellow inclining
to black, or an afh-coloured tint, in order to de-
termine forne particular fhade of colour in a pro-
duction of Art, or of Nature, we might fay a yel-
low

STUDY XI. ÏO5

low of the colour of a dried walnut, or a gray like
the bark of a beech-tree.

Thofe expreflions would be fo much the more
exact, that Nature invariably employs fuch tints
in vegetables, as determining characters and indi-
cations of maturity, of vigor, or of decay; and
that our peafantry can diftinguifh the different
fpecies of wood in the forefts by infpecYion of
their bark fimply. Thus, not Botany alone, but
all the Arts, might find, in vegetables, an inex-
hauftible dictionary of unvarying colours, which
would not be embarrafled with barbarous and techni-
cal compound words, but which would continually
prefent new images. Our books of Science would
thence derive much pleafing vivacity, from being
embellifhed by comparifons and expreffions bor-
rowed from the loveliefl kingdom of Nature.

The great Poets of Antiquity carefully availed
ïhemfelves of this, by referring mod of the events
of human life to fome appearance of the vegetable
kingdom. Thus Homer compares the fleeting ge-
nerations of feeble mortals to the leaves which drop
from the trees of the foreft, at the end of Autumn;
the frelhnefs of beauty to that of the rofe ; and the
palenefs which overfpreads the countenance of a
young man wounded to death in battle, as well
4s the attitude of his drooping head, to the colour

and

I06 STUDIES OF NATURE,

and the fading of a lily, whofe root has been ton*
up by the plough. But we fatisfy ourfelves with
repeating the exprefiions of men of genius, with-
out daring to tread in their footfteps. This, how-
ever, is not the word, for moft Naturalifts con-
fider the colours themfelves of vegetables as acci-
dents fimply. We fhall prefently fee under what
a grievous miftake they labour, and how widely
they have deviated from the fublime plans of Na-
ture, by perfifting in a profecution of their mecha-
nical and fyftematic methods.

It is poflible, in like manner, to trace an ap-
proximation of favours and fmells of every fpecies,
and of every country, to thofe of the plants of our
gardens and of our fields. The ranunculus of the
meadow has the acridity of the Java-pepper. The
root of the caryophyllata, or holy-thiftle, and the
flower of the pink, frnell like the clove of Am-
boyna. As to compound favours and fmells, they
may be referred to fuch as are fimple, the elements
of which Nature has fcattered overall climates,
and which (lie has united in the clafs of vegetables.
I know a fpecies of morel, ufed as food by the
Indians, which, when boiled, has the tafte of beef.
They call it bret.e. There is a fpecies of the
cranes-bill, the leaf of which refembles, in fmell,
a roafted leg of mutton. The mufcari, a fpecies
of fmall hyacinth, which grows among Ihrubbery

stVTh' early

STUDY XI. I©*

early in the Spring, fmells very ftrongly of the
plumb. It's fmall monopetalous flowers, of a de-
licate blue colour, and with lips or incifions, have
likewife the form of that fruit.

By approximations fuch as thefe, the Englilli
Navigator Dampier, and Father du Tertre, have
given us, as far as I can judge, the moft accurate
notions of the fruits and flowers which grow be-
tween the Tropics, by referring them to the fruits
and flowers of our own climates. Dampier, for
example, in order to defcribe the banana, compares
it, when dripped of it's thick five-panneled fkin,
to a large faufage ; it's fubftance and colour to
frefli butter in Winter ; it's tafte, a mixture of
apple and of the pear known by the name of the
good-chriflian, which melts in the mouth like mar-
malade. When this traveller defcribes fome good
fruit of the Indies, he fets your mouth a-watering.
He pofTefles a naturally found underflanding, fu-
perior, at once, to the methodical trammels of the
learned, and to the prejudices of the vulgar. He
maintains, for inftance, and with truth on his fide,
in oppofition to the opinion of molt navigators,
that the plantain, or banana, is the king of fruits,
without excepting even the cocoa. He informs
us, that this is likewife the opinion of the Spa-
niards, and that multitudes of families live, be-
tween the Tropics, on this pleafant, wholefome,

and

Jo8 STUDIES OF NATURE.

and nouriihing fruit, which lafls all the year round,
and (lands in no need of any of the arts of
cookery.

Father du Tertre is not lefs happy, nor lefs ac-
curate, in his botanical defcriptions. Thefe two
travellers give you, at a llngle ftroke, by means of
trivial fimilitudes, a precife idea of a foreign ve-
getable, which you would feareb for to no purpofe
in the Greek names of our firfl-rate Botanifts.
This mode of defcribing Nature, by ordinary
images and fenfations, is held in contempt by the
learned ; but I confider it as the only one capable
of exhibiting pictures, that have a refemblance,
and as the true character of genius. With fuch
affiflance, you will be enabled to paint every na-
tural object, and may difpenfe with methods and
fyftems ; without it you will only coin phrafes,

Let us now fuggeft a few thoughts refpecting
the form of natural objects. It is here that the
language of Botany, and even thofe of the other
Arts, are peculiarly barren. Geometry, whofe par-
ticular object this is, has invented fcarcely more
than a dozen of regular curves, which are known
to only a fmall number of the learned ; and Nature
employs an infinite multitude of them in the forms
of flowers alone. Some of the ufes of thefe we fhall
prefently indicate. Not that I mean to make of a

ftudy

STUDY XI.

I09

ftudy prolific of delight, a fublime Science, wor-
thy only of the genius of a Newton. As Nature
has introduced, in my opinion, not only the co-
lours, the favours, and the perfumes, but likewife
every model of form into the leaves, the flowers,
and the fruits of all climates, whether in trees, in
herbage, or in mofles ; the vegetable forms of
other parts of the World, might be referred to
thofe of our own country which are moft familiar
to us. Such approximations would be much more
intelligible than Greek compound words, and
would manifeft new relations in $e different dalles
of the fame kingdom.

They would be no lefs neceflary for exprefiîng
the aggregations of the flowers on their fterns, of
the ftems round the root, and the groups of young
plants around the parent-plant, it may be affirm-
ed, that the names of moft of thefe vegetable ag-
gregations and difpofitions are yet to be invented ;
the greateft Matters not having been fortunate in
characterizing them, or, to fpeak without referve,
not having made it any part of their ftudy. For
example, when T'onmefort * fpeaks, in his Voyage
to the Levant, of a heliotrope of the Ifle of Naxos,
which he characterizes thus, heliotropum humifufum,
flore minimo, femine magno, the creeping heliotrope,

* Towmefort'% Voyage to the Levant, vol. i.

with

HO STUDIES OF NATURE.

with a very fmall flower and a large feed 5 he fays
that it has it's flowers difpofed in form of an ear
of corn, going off in a fcorpion's tail. There are
two miftakes in this defcription ; for the flowers
of this heliotrope, limilar, from their aggregation,
to the flowers of the heliotrope of our climates,
and to that of Peru, are not difpofed in form of
an ear of corn, for they are arranged on a hori-
zontal ftem, and only on one flde „ and they bend
downward, like the tail of a fnail, and not upward,
like the tail of a feorpipn.

The fame inaccuracy, in refpect of image, is
to be found in the defcription which he gives us
of the ftachis Cretica ialifolia, the broad- leaved
ftachis of Crete : it's flowers, fays he, are dif-
pofed in rings. No one can imagine he intends
to convey this meaning, that they are difpofed
like the divifions of the king of the chefs-board.
Under this form, however, they are reprefented in
the drawing of Aubriei, his defigner. I do not
know any botanic expreffion which conveys this
character of fpherical aggregations in feparate
ftories of alternate fwel lings and finkings, and
terminating in a pyramid. Barbeu du Bmirg, who
poffeflfes much imagination with little exactnefs,
calls this form verticillate, for what reafon I know
not. If it is from the Latin word vertex, head or
fummitjbecaufe thefe flowers, thus aggregated, form

lèverai

STUDY XI. II I

fevefal fummits, this denomination would be more
applicable to feveral other plants; and, befides,
does not exprefs the fwellings, the finkings, and
the progreffive diminution of the flowers of the
ftachis.

I'ournefort derives it from the Latin word verti-
dlhis; that is, fays he, a fmall weight perforated
circularly to receive the end of a fpindle, in order
to make it whirl with greater facility. This is
going a great way, in queft of a very imperfect
fimilitude, to an utenfil by no means generally
known. In faying this, however, I would not be
confidered as failing in the refpecl; which is due to
fuch a man as Toitmefort, who firft cleared for us
the botanic path, and was, befides, a perfon of
profound erudition. But from this careleflhefs of
the great Mailers, we may form a judgment of the
vague, inaccurate, and incoherent expreflions
which fill the vocabulary of Botany, and diffufe
obfcurity over it's defcriptions.

After all, I mall be afked, How would you cha-
racterize the aggregation of the flowers of the two
plants which have juft been mentioned ? By refer-
ring them to aggregations fimilar to thofe of the
plants of our climates. In this there can be no
difficulty : thus, for example, we might refer the
affemblage of the flowers of the Grecian helio-
trope,

HZ STUDIES OF NATURE.

trope, to that of the French, or Peruvian helio-
trope : and that of the flowers of the Cretan fta-
chis, to that of the flowers of the horehound, or
of the pennyroyal. To this might afterwards be
added the differences in colour, fmell, favour, which
diverfify the fpecies of it. There is no occafion
to compound foreign terms to defcribe forms
which are familiar to us. Nay, I defy any one to
convey by Greek and Latin words, and with the
moft learned turn of periphrafis, the fimple colour
of a bark of a tree. But if you tell me it re-
fembles that of an oak ; I have the fhade of it at
once.

Thefe approximations of plants have this far-
ther utility, that they prefent us with the combined
whole of an unknown object, without which we
can form no determinate idea of it. This is one
of the defects of Botany, it exhibits the characters
of vegetables only in fucceflion ; it does not col-
lect them, it decompounds them. It refers them»
indeed, to a claffical order, but not to an indivi-
dual order. This, however, is the only one which
the weaknefs of the human mind permits us to
catch. We love order, becaufe we are feeble, and
becaufe the leaft confufion difturbs us ; now, there
is no order which we can adopt more eafily than
that which approaches to an order which is fami-
liar to us, and which Nature is every where pre-

fenting.

STUDY XI. 113

fenting. Try to defcribe a man feature by feature,
limb by limb; be ever fo exact, yet you never
will be able to give me his portrait : but if you
refer him to fome known perfonage ; if you tell me,
for example, that he is of the make and mien of a
Don Quixote; or with a nofe like that of St. Charles
Baromeo, and fo on, and you paint me his picture
in four words. It is to the whole of an object that
the ignorant, an epithet which includes the greater!
part of Mankind, attach themfelves in the fuit
inftance, in order to acquire the knowledge of it.

It would, therefore, be of elTentia] importance
to have, in Botany, an alphabet of colours, favours,
fmells, forms, and aggregations, derived from our
moft common plants. Thofe elementary charac-
ters would enable us to exprefs ourfelves exactly
in all the parts of Natural Hiftory, and to prefent
to ourfelves relations equally new and curious.

In hope that perfons of fuperior intelligence may
hereafter be induced to take up the fubject, I pro-
ceed to the difcuffion of it with what ability I
have, notwithstanding the embarrafTment of lan-
guage.

When we fee a multitude of plants, of different
forms, vegetate on the fame foil, there is a difpo-
fition to believe, that thofe of the fame climate

vol. \u. 1 grow

114 STUDIES OF NATURE.

grow indifferently every where. But thofe only
which are produced in places particularly afïigned
to them by Nature, attain there all the perfection
of which they are fufceptible. The fame thing
holds good with refpect to animals. Goats arc
iometimes reared in marfhy places, and ducks on
the mountains ; but the goat never will acquire,
in Holland, the beauty of that which Nature
clothes with filk on the rocks of Angora; nor will
the duck of Angora ever attain the ilature and the
colours of thofe which are to be found in the ca-
nals of Holland.

If we throw a fimple glance on plants, we (hall
perceive that they have relations to the elements
which promote their growth ; that they have re-
lations to each other, from the groups which they
contribute to form ; that they have relations to the
animals which derive nourifhment from them ;
and, finally, to Man, who is the centre of all
the Works of Creation. To thefe relations I give
the name of harmonies, and I divide them into
elementary, into vegetable, into animal, and into
human.

By propofmg this divifion, I fhall reduce to
fomething like order the difquilition on which I
am going to enter. It cannot be fuppofed that I
mould examine them in detail : thofe of a fingle

lpecies

STUDY XI. II^

■fpecies would furnifh fpeculatipns, which the ap-
plication of a whole life could not exhauft ; but
I fhall unfold enough of their general harmonies
to produce conviction, that an infinite Intelligence
reigns in this amiable part of Creation, as in the
reft of the Univerfe.

We fhall thus make application of the Laws
which we have previously eftablifhed, and (hall
take a glimpfe of a multitude of others, equally
worthy of refearch, and equally calculated to ex-
cite admiration. Reader, be not aftonifhed at
either their number, or their extent. Let this
great truth be deeply imprefled on thy heart :
GOD has made nothing in vain ! A fcholar, with
his fyftems and methods, finds himfelf flopped
fhort in Nature every ftep he takes ; while fur-
nifhed with this as a key, the ignorant ruftic is
able to unlock every door of knowledge.

ELEMENTARY HARMONIES OF PLANTS.

Plants have as many principal parts as there are
elements with which they keep up a relation. By
their flowers, they ftand related to the Sun, which
fecundates their feeds, and carries them on to ma-
turity; by their leaves, they are related to the
waters, which bedew them ; by their Items, to the

1 2 winds

Il6 STUDIES OF NATURE.

winds which agitate them ; by their roots, with the
ground which fuftains them ; and by their grains*
with their fituations adapted to their growth and
increafe. Not that thefe principal parts have no
indirect, relations befides to the other elements, but
it will be fufficient for our purpofe to dwell on
fuch as are immediate.

Elementary Harmonies of Plants with the Sun, by the
Flowers.

Though Botanifts may have made great and la-
borious refearches refpedting plants, they have
paid no attention to any of thofe relations. Fet-
tered by their fyftems, they have attached them-
felves to the confideration of them, particularly on
the fide of the flowers : and have arranged them
in the fame clafs, wherever they found thefe ex»
ternal refemblances, without fo much as enquiring
what might be the particular ufe of the florifica-
tion. They have, indeed, diftinguilhed in it the
ftamina, the antherœ, and the fligmata, for the
fecundation of the fruit, but, excepting this, and
fome others, which refpect the interior organiza-
tion, they have neglected, or mifunderttood, the
relations which the whole plant has with the reft
of Nature.

This

STUDY XI. ÏI7

This partial divifion has led them into the
ftrangeft confufion ; for, by confidering the flowers
as the principal characters of vegetation, and by
comprehending in the fame clafs thofe which were
fimilar, they have united plants entirely foreign to
each other, and have feparated, on the contrary,
many which are evidently of the fame genus.
Such is, in the firft cafe, the fullers-thiftle, called
dipfacus, which they clafs with the fcabious, be-
caufe of the refemblance of fome parts of it's
flower; though it prefents in it's branches, it's
leaves, it's fmell, it's feed, it's prickles, and the
reft of it's qualities, a real thiftle : and fuch is,
in the fécond, the great cheftnut of India, which
they exclude from the clafs of cheflnut-trees, be-
caufe if has different flowers. To clafs plants
from the flowers, that is, from the, parts of their
fecundation, is the fame thing with claffing ani-
mals from thofe of generation.

However, though they have referred the charac-
ter of a plant to it's flower, they mifunderftand
the ufe of it's moil: fliining part, which is that of
the corolla. They call that the corolla, which is,
in common language, denominated the leaves of
a flower. It is a Latin word, flgnifying a little
crown, from the difpofition of the leaves, in many
fpecies, in the form of coronets, and they have
given the name of petals to the divifions of that

1 % crown.

1 1 8 STUDIES OF NATURE.

crown. Some, in truth, have acknowledged it to
be properly adapted for covering the parts of fe-
cundation before the expanfion of the flower; but
it's calix is much better adapted to this purpofe,
from it's thieknefs, from it's beards, and fome-
times from the prickles with which it is inverted.
Befides, when the corolla leaves the ftamina ex-
pofed, and when it continues fully blown for
whole weeks, it muft of neceflity be anfwering
fome other purpofe ; for Nature does nothing in
vain.

The corolla feems intended to reverberate the
rays of the Sun on the parts of fecundation ; and
we fhall be put beyond the reach of doubt as to
this, if we conlider the colour and the form of it
in moft flowers. It has been remarked in the pre-
ceding Study, that of all colours, white is the mod
proper for reflecting the heat : now, it is, in gene-
ral, that which Nature beftows on the flowers
that blow at cold feafons and in cold places, as
we fee is the cafe in the fnow-drop, the lily of the
valley, the hyacinths, the narciflus, and the ane-
mone-nemerofa, which come into flower early in
the Spring. We muft likewife aflign to this co-
lour fucli as have flight fhades of the rofe and of
the azure, as many hyacinths; as well as thofe
which have yellow and fhining tints, as the flowers
of the dandelion, the butter-flower of the meadow,

and

STUDY XI. - II9

and the wall gilly-flower. But fuch as blow at warm
feafons, and in warm fituations, as the cockle, the
wild poppy, and the blue-bottle, which grow in
Summer amongft the corn, are drefied in ftrong
colours, fuch as purple, deep red, and blue; for
thefe abforb the heat without greatly reflecting it.

I do not know, however, that there are any
flowers entirely black ; for in that cafe, it's petals,
deftitute of all power of reflection, would be en-
tirely ufelefs. In general, of whatever colour a
flower may be, the under part of it's corolla,
which reflects the rays of the Sun, is of a mueh
paler tint than the reft. This is fo very remark-
able, that Botanifts, who generally confider the
colours of flowers as accidents merely, diftinguifh
it by the name of v.nguiculns (a little nail). The
unguicle is that with relation to the flower which
the belly is with relation to animals : it's fhade is
always clearer than that of the reft of the petal.

The forms of flowers are no lefs adapted than
their colours to reflect the heat. Their corolla?,
divided into petals, are only an aflemblage of mir-
rors directed toward one focus. Of thefe they
have fometimes four, which are plain, as the flower
of the cole-wort in the cruciform ; or a complete
circle, as the daify in the clafs of radiated; or

1 4 fpherical

I20 STUDIES OF NATURE.

fpherical portions, as the rofe ; or entire fpheres,
as the bells of the lily of the valley ; or cones mu-
tilated, as the foxglove, the corolla of which is
formed like a fewtng thimble.

Nature has placed, at the focufes of thefe, plain,
fpherical, elliptical, parabolic, and other mirrors,
the parts of the fecundation of plants, as lhe has
placed thofe of generation in animals^ in the
warmeft parts of their bodies. Thefe curves, which
Geometricians have not yet examined, merit their
mod profound refearches. Is it not aftonifhing,
that they fhould have bellowed fuch learned pains
to find out curves altogether imaginary, and fre-
quently ufelefs ; and that they mould have ne-
glected to ftudy thofe which Nature employs fo
regularly, and in fuch variety, in an infinite num-
ber of objects ? Be this as it may, Botanifts have
given themfelves flill lefs trouble about the mat-
ter. They comprehend thofe of flowers under a
fmall number of claiTes, without paying the flighteft
attention to their ufe, nay. without fo much as ap-
prehending that they could have any. They con-
fine themfelves entirely to the divifion of their pe-
tals, which frequently change nothing of the con-
figuration of their curves; and they frequently
clafs under the fame name thofe which are the
mofl oppofue. Thus, under thé general defigna-

tion

STUDY XI. 121

tion of the niouopetalons, (thofe that have a fingle
petal) they include the fpheroïd of the lily of the
valley, and the trumpet of the convolvulus.

On this fubject, a very remarkable circumftance
claims our notice ; namely, that, frequently, fuch
as is the curve formed by the border, or upper
extremity of the petal, fuch too is the plan of the
whole petal itfelf ; fo that Nature prefents to us
the cut or fhape of each flower in the contour of
it's petals, and gives us, at once, it's plan and it's
elevation. Thus rofes, and the whole tribe bearing
this denomination, have the border of their petals
in fections of a circle, like the curve of the flowers
themfelves ; the pink and blue-bottle, which have
their felvage notched, prefent the plans of their
flowers plaited up like fans, and form a multitude
of focufes.

For want of the real flower, thefe curious rer.
marks may be verified from the drawings of Paint-
ers who have been the mod exact in copying
plants, but who are indeed very few in number.
Such is, among thofe few, Aubriet, who has drawn
the plants of Tcumeforl's voyage to the Levant *,
with the tafte of a Painter, and the precifion of a
Botanift. You may there fee the confirmation of

* Toumeforfs Voyage to the Levant, vol. i.

what

122 STUDIES OF NATURE.

vvh.it I have juffc been advancing. For example,
the fcorzonera Gi'aca faxatilis à? maritima foliis varié
laciniatis, (the Greek fnxatile and marine fcorzo-
nera, with leaves varioufly fcoUoped) which is
there reprefented, has it's petals, or half-flowers,
fquared at the extremity, and plane in their fur-
face. The flower of the ftachis Cretica lafifolia,
(the broad-leaved ftachis of Crete) which is a mo-
nopetalous tubular plant, has the upper part of it's
corolla undulated, as well as it's tube. The cam,-
■panula Grata faxatilis jacobeœ foliis , (the Greek bell-
flower of the rocks, with ragwort leaves) prefents
thefe confonances in a manner ftill more (biking.
This campanula, which Tour nef or t confidcrs as the
moft beautiful he had ever feen, and which he
fowed in the Royal Garden at Paris, where it ftio
| ceeded very well, is of the pentagonal form. Each
of it's faces is formed of two portions of a circle»
the focufes of which, undoubtedly, meet on the
fame anthera ; and the border of this campanula
is notched into five parts, each of which is like-
wife cut into the form of a Gothic arch, as each
fubdivifion of the flower is. Thus, in order to
know, at once, the curve of a flower, it is fufficient
to examine the brim of it's petal.

It is of much utility to attend to this obferva-
tion, for otherwife it would be extremely difficult
to determine the focufes of the petals. Befides,

flowers

STUDY XI. 123

flowers lofe their internal curves in hcrbaries. I
believe thefe confonancies to be general ; I pre-
fume not, however, to aflert, that they admit of
no exceptions. Nature may deviate from this or-
der, in fome fpecies, for reafons which I know not.
It cannot be too frequently repeated ; She has no
general and unvarying Law, except the accom-
modation of beings endowed with fenfibility. The
relations jufl now fuggefted, between the curve of
the brim and that of the petal, feem, beiide, to be
founded on this univerfal Law, as they prefent
conformities of fuch agreeable approximation.

The petals appear to fuch a degree deftined to
warm the parts of fecundation, that Nature has
placed a circle of them around mod compound
flowers, which are themfelves aggregations of fmall
tubes, infinite in number, that form fo many
particular flowers, or, if you will, flowrets. This
is obvioufly remarkable in the petals which fur-
round the difks of dailies and fun-flowers. They
are likewifc to be met with around mod of the
umbelliferous plants : though each flowret which
compofes them, has it's particular petals, there is a
circle of others ftill greater, which encompaiTes
their aflemblage, as you may fee in the flowers of
the daucus.

Nature

124 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Nature has (till other means of multfplying the
reflexes of heat in flowers. Sometimes (he places
them on (terns of no great elevation, in order to
collect warmth from the reflections of the Earth ;
ibmetimes ihe glazes over their corollas with a
fhining varnifh, as the yellow meadow-ranunculus,
known by the trivial name of butter-flower. Some-'
times (he withdraws the corolla, and makes the
parts of fecundation to (hoot from the partition of
an ear, of a cone, or of the branch of a tree. The
forms of the fpike, and of the cone, appear to be
the belt adapted for reverberating on them the ac-
tion of the Sun, and to enfure their fructification ;
for they always prefent fome one fide or another
fheltered from the cold. Nay, it is very remark-
able, that the aggregation of flowers, in a conical
and fpike form, is very common to herbs and to
trees of the North, and rarely to be found in thofe
of the South. Mod of the gramineous plants
which I have (een in fouthern Countries, do not
carry their grains in a fpike, or clofely compacted
ear, but in flowing tufts, and divided into a mul-
titude of particular (terns, as the millet and rice.
The maize, or Turkey-corn, I admit, bears it's
grains in a large ear ; but that ear is for a con-
liderable time (hut up in a bag ; and on burlting
from it, pufhes away over it's head a long covering
of hair, which feems entirely deftined to the pur-

pofe

STUDY XI. 125

pofe of flickering it's flowers from the heat of the
Sun.

Finally, what confirms me in the belief, that
the flowers of plants are adapted to the action of
heat, conformably to the nature of every climate,
is this, that many of our European plants vegetate
extremely well in the Antilles-Iflands, but never
come to feed there. Father du Tertre obferved,
that in thofe iilands *, the cabbage, the fainfoin,
the lucern, the favory, the fweet bafil, the nettle,
the plaintain, the wormwood, the fage, the liver-
Wort, the amaranth, and all our fpecies of grami-
neous plants, throve there wonderfully well, but
never produced grains. Thefe obfervations de-
monftrate, that it is neither the air, nor the foil,
which is inimical to them ; but the Sun, which
acts with too much vivacity on their flowers,
for mod of thefe plants have theirs aggregated
into an ear, which greatly increafes the repercuf-
fion of the folar rays.

I believe, at the fame time, that fuch plants
might be naturalized in the Weft-India Iilands,
as well as many others of our temperate climates,
by felecliing from the varieties of their fpecies,
thofe whofe flowers have the fmalleft fields, and

* Natural Hiftory of the Antilles, by Father du Tertre.

whofe

•Î2Ô STUDIES Of NATURE.

whofe colours are the deepeft, or thofe whofe pan-
nicies are divergent»

Not that Nature has no other refources except
fuch as thefe, to make plants of the fame genus
attain perfection in different feafons and climates.
She can render their flowers capable of reflecting
the heat, in different degrees of Latitude, without
any very fenfible alteration of the form. Some-
times fhe mounts them on elevated ftems, to re-
move them from the influence of the reflection of
the ground. It is thus (lie has placed, between
the Tropics, mod of the apparent flowers upon
trees. I have feen but few there in the meadows,
but a great many in the forefts. In thofe coun-
tries, you muft look aloft, in order to have a fight
of flowers; in our native climes, we muft caft
our eyes on the ground, for this purpofe ; for
with us flowers grow on herbage and fhrubbery.
Sometimes (he expands them under the fhade of
leaves ; fuch are thofe of the palm-tree, of the
banana, and of the jacquier, which grow clofe to
the trunk of the tree. Such, likewife, are, in our
temperate climates, thofe large white bell-formed
flowers, known by the name of Lady's-fmock,
which delight in the Iliade of the willow.

There are others, fuch as molt part of the con-

volvolufes, which expand only in the night ; others

. • grow

STUDY XI. I27

grow clofe to the ground, and expofed, as the
panfy, but their drapery is dufky and velvcted.
There are fome which receive the action of the
Sun when at a confiderable height, as the tulip ;
but Nature has taken her precautions fo exactly,
as to bring out this {lately flower only in the
Spring, to paint it's petals with ftrong colours,
and to daub the bottom of it's cup with black *.

* This flower, from it's colour, is, in Perfia, the emblem of
perfect lovers. Chardin tells us, that, when a young Perfian
prefects a tulip to his miftrefs, it is his intention to convey to
her this idea, that, like this flower, he has a countenance all on
fire, and a heart reduced to a coal. There is no one Work of
Nature, but what awakens in man fome moral affection. The
habits of fociety infenfibly efface, at length, the fentiment of it ;
but we always find it in vigor among Nations who ftili live near
to Nature.

Many alphabets have been imagined in China, in the earlier
ages, after the wings of birds, fifhes, (hells, and flowers : of thefe,
very curious characters may be feen in the China illuftrated of
Father Kercber. It is from the influence of thofe natural man-
ners, that the Orientals employ fo many fimilitudes and compa-
rifons in their languages. Though our metaphyfical eloquence
makes no great ufe of them, they frequently produce, never-
thelefs, a very linking effect. J. J. RouJJcau has taken notice
of that which the Ambaflador of the Scythians propofed to Da-
rius. Without fpeaking a word, he prefented him with a bird,
a frog, a moufe, and five arrows ■[•. Herodotus relates, that the

f- Darius, at firft, undei flood this as a comple'e furrender of Scy-
thian indépendance into his hands 5 but the event inftrucled him, that
this high-i'phited people intended to convey a bold defiance: " Unleis
*' you can fly as a bird, dig as a mouie, i'wim as a frog, our arrows
« lhall reach you." H. H.

fame

128 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Others are difpofed in girandoles, and receive the
effect of the folar rays only under one point of the
compafs. Such is the girandole of the lilach,
which, pointing with various afpects, to the Eaft,
to the South, to the Weft, and to the North, pre-
fents, on the fame clufter, flowers in bud, half
open, fully blown, fading, and all the delightful
fhades of the florification.

There are flowers, fuch as the compound, which
being in a horizontal pofition, and completely ex-
pofed, behold the Sun, like the Horizon itfelf,
from his rifing to his fetting ; of this defcription is
the flower of the dandelion, But it poflefles very
peculiar means of fheltering itfelf from the heat :
it clofes entirely whenever the heat becomes ex-
ceffive. It has been obferved to open, in Sum-
mer, at half an hour after five in the morning,
and to collect it's petals toward the centre, about
nine o'clock. The flower of the garden-lettuce,

fame Darius fent word to the Greeks of Ionia, who were laying
wafte the country, that if they did not give over their depreda-
tions, he would treat them like pines. The Greeks, who by this
time had become infected with wit, and had proportionally be-
gun to lofe fight of Nature, did not comprehend the meaning of
this. Upon enquiry, they at length difcovered that Darius
meant they fhould underftand it to be his refolution utterly to
exterminate them ; for the pine-tree, once cut down, fhoots
out again no more.

which

STUDY XI.

I29

which is, on the contrary, in a vertical plane,
opens at feven o'clock, and fhuts at ten.

From a feries of fimilar obfervations it was, that
the celebrated Linnaus had formed a botanical
time-piece ; for he had found plants which opened
their flowers at every hour of the day, and of the
night. There is cultivated in the King's Garden,
at Paris, a fpecies of ferpentine aloes, without
prickles, whofe large and beautiful flower exhales
a ftrong odour of the vanilla, during the time of
it's expanfion, which is very fliort. It does not
blow till toward the month of July, and about
five o'clock in the evening: You then perceive it
gradually open it's petals, expand them, fade,
and die. By ten o'clock of the fame night, it is
totally withered, to the great aftonifhment of the
fpectators, who flock in crowds to the fight ; for
what is uncommon is alone admired. The flower
of our common thorn, I do not mean that of the
white-thorn, is ftill more extraordinary; for it
flowers fo rapidly, that there is fcarce time to ob-
ferve it's expanfion.

Thefe obfervations, taken in their connection,
clearly demonftrate the relations of the corolke
to the heat of the Sun. To all thofe which have
gone before, I fliall fubjoin one more, by way of
conclufion, which evidently proves the ufe for

vol.'iii. k which

1^0 STUDIES OF NATTTRE.

which they are intended ; it is this, The duration
of their exiftence is regulated by the quantity of
heat which it is their deftination to collect. The
hotter it is, the fhorter is their duration. They
almoft all drop off as foon as the plant is fecun-
dated.

But if Nature withdraws the greater! number of
flowers from the too violent action of the Sun, fhe
deftines others to appear in all the luftre of his
rays, without fuftainingthe leaft injury from them.
On the firft fhe beftows dufky reflectors, or fuch
as can clofe themfelves as occafion requires ; (he
provides others with parafols. Such is the crown-
imperial, whofe flowers, like a bell inverted, grow
under the (hade of a tuft of leaves. The chryfan-
themum-peruvianum, or to employ a better- known
term, the turnfol, which turns continually toward
the Sun, covers itfelf, like Peru, the country from
which it comes, with dewy clouds, which cool and
refrefli it's flowers, during the moil violent heat
of the day. The white flower of the lychnis,
which blows in our fields, in Summer, and pre-
fents, at a diftance, the refemblance of a Maltefe-
crofs, has a fpecies of contraction, or narrow col-
lar, placed at it's centre, fo that it's large fhining
petals turned back outwardly, do not act upon it's
flamina. The white narciffus has, in like manner,
a fmall tunnel. But Nature ftands in no need to

create

STUDY XI.

l3l

create new parts, in order to communicate new
characters to her Works. She deduces them, at
once, from exiftence and from non-exiftence ; and
renders them pofitive, or negative, at her pleafure.
She has given curves to molt flowers, for the pur-
pofe of collecting the heat at their centre : (he
employs the fame curves, when fhe thinks proper,
in order to diffipate the heat : fhe places the fo-
cufes of them fo as to act outwardly. It is thus
that the petals of the lily are difpofed, which are
fo many lections of the parabola. Notwithftanding
the large fize and the whitenefs of it's cup, the
more it expands, the more it difperfes the fervent
heat of the Sun ; and while, in the middle of Sum-
mer, at noon-day, all other flowers, parched by
his burning rays, droop and bend their heads to
the ground, the lily rears his head like a king, and
contemplates, face to face, the dazzling orb,
which is travelling majeflically through the Hea-
vens.

I proceed to difplay, in a few words, the pofi-
tive, or negative, relations of flowers, with refpect
to the Sun, to the five elementary forms which I
have laid down, in the preceding Study, as the
principles of the harmony of bodies. This is not
fo much a plan which 1 take upon me to prefcribe
to Botanifts, as an invitation to engage in a ca-

k 2 jeer

î$2 STUDIES OF NATURE.

reer fo rich in obfervations, and to correcl: my er-
rors by communicating fome portion of their
knowledge.

There are, therefore, reverberating flowers per-
pendicular, conical y fpherical, elliptical, parabolic,
or plane. To thefe curves may be referred mod
of the curves of flowers. There are, likewife,
fome flowers in form of a parafol, but the others
are much more numerous ; for the negative ef-
fects, in every harmony, are in much greater num-
ber than the pofitive effects. For example, there
is but one fingle way of coming into life, and
there are thoufands of going out of it. We (hall
oppofe, however, to every pofitive relation of
flowers to the Sun, a principal negative relation,
that we may be enabled to compare their effects in
every Latitude.

Perpendicular reverberating flowers are thofe
which grow adhering by the back, to a cone, to
long catkins, or to an ear: fuch are thofe of the
cçdar, of the larch, of the fir, of the birch, of the
juniper ; of mod of the northern gramineous
plants, of the vegetables of cold and lofty moun-
tains, as the cyprefs and the pine ; or of thofe
which flower in our climates about the end of
- Winter, as the hazel and the willow. A part of

the

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E&RASOI. FlOWlRS.

STUDY XI. 133

the flowers in this pofition is fheltered from the
North wind, and receives the reflection of the Sun
from the South fide.

It is remarkable that all vegetables which bear
cones, catkins, or fpikes, prefent them at the ex-
tremity of their items, expofed to all the action of
the Sun. It is not fo with thofe which grow within
the Tropics ; molt of which, fuch as the palm-
tree, bear divergent flowers, attached to pendent
clufters, and (haded by their branches. The greatefl
part of the gramineous plants of warm countries,
have likewife divergent ears ; fuch are the millets
of Africa. The folid ear of the American maize
is crowned with a hairy tuft which fhelters it's
flowers from the Sun. On the annexed plate are
reprefented an ear of European corn, and an ear
of the rice of fouthern Alia, to furnifh the means
of comparifon.

Conical reverberating flowers reflect on the parts
of florification a complete cone of light. It's ac-
tion is very powerful ; and it is, accordingly, very
remarkable, that Nature has given this configura-
tion of petal only to flowers which grow under
the (hade of trees, as to the convolvulus, which
fcrambles up around their trunk ; and that fhe has
affigned to this flower a very tranfient duration,
for it fcarcely lafts half a day ; and when it's fe-

K £ cundation

134 STUDIES OF NATURE.

cundation is completed, the border contracts in-
wardly, and gathers together like a purfe. Na-
ture has, however, given it a place in fouthern la-
titudes, but fhe has there tinged it with violet and
blue, in order to weaken the effect. Befides, this
flower fcarcely ever opens in hot countries, except
in the night. From this nocturnal character, I
prefume, it is, that we are chiefly enabled to di-
flinguim the convolvulus of the South, from that
of our own climates, which blows in the day-time.
In the plate we have reprefented the day-convol-
vulus, or that which is native with us, expanded ;
and that of the night, or of hot countries, clofed ;
the one having a pofitive character with the light,
and the other a negative character.

The flowers which partake the mofl of this co-
nical form are thofe which grow early in the
Spring, as the flower of the arum, which is formed
like a cornet ; or thofe which thrive on lofty
mountains, as the bears-ear of the Alps. When
Nature employs it in Summer, it is almofl always
with negative characters, as in the flowers of the
fox-glove, which are inclined, and dyed a deep
red, or blue colour*

Spheric ai, reverberating flowers, are thofe whofe
petals are formed into fegments of a circle. One
might amufe himfelf very agreeably, in obferving

that

STUDY XI. ' I35

that thcfe fpherically formed petals have, at their
focufes, the antheras of the flower fupported on
fibrets, longer or ftiorter, as the effect intended
may require. It deferves farther to be remarked,
that each petal is adapted to it's particular anthera,
fometimes to two, or even to three : fo that the
number of petals in a flower divides, almoft al-
ways, exactly that of the anthera?. As to the pe-
tals, they fcarcely ever exceed the number of five,
in rofe-formed flowers, as if Nature had defigned
to exprefs, in that, the number of the five terms
of elementary progreflion, of which this beautiful
form is the harmonic exprefîîon.

Spherical reverberating flowers are very com-
mon in our temperate climates. They do not
throw back the whole reflection of their difks on
the anther«e, like the convolvulus, but only the
fifth part, becaufe each of their petals has it's par-
ticular focus. The rofe-formed flower is fpread
over mod fruit-trees, as the apple, the pear, the
peach, the plumb, the apricot, and the like ; and
over a great part of our fhrubbery and herbage,
fuch as the black and white-thorn, the bramble,
the anemone, and many others, moll of which
produce for Man a nutritious fruit, and which
flower in the month of May. To this form may
be like wife referred fuch as are fphero'idal ; the lily
of the valley, for example.

k 4 This

I36 STUDIES OF NATURE.

This form, which is the harmonic exprefiion of
the five elementary forms, was admirably adapted
to a temperature like ours, which is itfelf the pro-
portional medium between that of the Icy and of
the Torrid Zone. As fpherical reflectors collect
a great quantity of rays at their focufes, their ac-
tion is very powerful, but, at the fame time, of
very tranfient duration. It is well known that no-
thing fades more quickly than a rofe.

Rofe-formed flowers are very rare between
the Tropics, efpecially thofe whofe petals are
white. They thrive only under the (hade of trees.
I have known many of the inhabitants of the Ifle
of France make fruitlefs efforts to raife ftrawber-
rics there; but one of them, who lived, indeed,
in an elevated part of the Ifland, found means
of procuring them in great plenty, by planting
his beds under trees, in ground but half-cleared.

As a compenfation for this, Nature has multi-
plied, in warm countries, papilionaceous, or legu-
minous flowers. The leguminous flower is entirely
oppofitc to the rofe-formed. It ufually has five
rounded petals, like the other : but inftead of be-
ing difpofed round the centre of the flower, in or-
der to reverberate thither the rays of the Sun, they
are, on the contrary, folded inward, around the
anthers, for the purpofe of (heltering them. You

diftinguifh

• STUDY XI. I37

diftinguim in them, a pavilion, two wings, and a
ridge, ufually divided into two, by which the an-
thera? and the embryon of the fruit are clofely co-
vered over. Between the Tropics, accordingly,
a great number of trees, fhrubs, creepers, and
graflès, have papilionaceous flowers. Every fpe-
cies of our peafe and french- beans, fucceed there
wonderfully well, and thofe countries produce in-
finite varieties of them. Nay, it is remarkable,
that even at home, thofe plants delight in a fandy
and warm foil, and exhibit their flowers in the
middle of Summer. I confider leguminous flow-
ers, therefore, as of the parafai kind. To thofe
fame negative effects of the Sun may, likewife, be
referred the form of flowers with gullets, which
conceal their anthers, fuch as the calfs-ïhout,
which takes pleafure in blowing on the fides of
walls.

Elliptical reverberating flowers are thofe
which prefent oval-formed cups, narrower a-top
than in the middle. It is very perceptible that this
form of cup, the perpendicular petals of which ap-
proach toward each other at the fummit, fhelters,
in part, the bottom of the flower : and that the
curves of thefe fame petals, which have feveral fo-
cufes, do not collect, the rays of the Sun toward
one Angle centre : fuch is the tulip. It is re-
markable, that this oblong-formed flower is more

common

l$Z STUDIES OF NATURE.

common in warm countries than the rofe-formed.
The tulip grows fpontaneoufly in the vicinity of
Conftantinople. To this form may like wife be
referred that of the liliaceous, which are more
common there than elfewhere. However, when
Nature employs them in countries flill farther to
the South, or in the middle of Summer, it is al-
moft always with negative characters ; thus, (he
has inverted the tulip-form flowers of the impe-
rial, which is originally from Perfia, and has (haded
them with a tuft of foliage. Thus, (he bends
back outwardly, in our climates, the petals of the
lily; but the fpecies of white lilies which grow
between the tropics, have, befides, their petals
cut out into thongs.

Flowers with parabolic, or plane, mirrors,
are thofe which reflect the rays of the Sun in paral-
lel directions. The configuration of the firfh gives
much luftre to the corolla of thefe flowers, which
emit from their bofom, if I may be allowed the
expreflion, a bundle of light, for they collect it
toward the bottom of their corolla, and not on the
antherae. It is, perhaps, in order to weaken the
action of it, that Nature has terminated flowers of
this form in a fpecies of cpwl, which Botanifts
call fpur. It is probably in this tube that the fo-
cus of their parabola terminates, which is, perhaps,
fituated there, as in many curves of this kind,

beyond

STUDY XI. I39

beyond it's fummit. Flowers of this fort are fre-
quent between the Tropics ; fuch is the flower of
the poincillade of the Antilles, otherwife called
the peacock-flower, on account of it's beauty ; fuch
is alfo the vajiurtium, or nun of Peru. It is even
pretended that the perennial fpecies is phofphoric
in the night-time.

Flowers with plane mirrors produce the fame
effects ; and Nature has multiplied the models of
them in our Summer flowers, and in thofe which
thrive in warm and fandy foils, as the radiated ;
fuch are the flowers of the dandelion. We like-
wife meet with them in the flowers of the doroni-
cum> of the lettuce, of the fuccory ; in the afters,
in the meadow daify, and others. But fhe has
placed the original model of them under the Line,
in America, in the broad Sun-flower, which we
have borrowed from Brafil.

Thefe being flowers whofe petals have the lead
activity, are likewife thofe which are of the longefl
duration. Their attitudes are varied without end.
Such as are horizontal, like thofe of the dandelion,
clofe, it is faid, toward the middle of the day ;
they are, likewife, fuch as are the moft expofed to
the action of the Sun, for they receive his rays
from his rifing to his fetting.

There

I4O STUDIES OF NATURE.

There are others which, inftead of clofing their
petals, invert them, which produces nearly the
fame effect ; fuch is the flower of the camomile.
Others are perpendicular to the Horizon, as the
flower of Lettuce. The blue colour, with which it
is tinged, contributes, farther, towards weakening
the rays of the Sun, which, in this afped, would
act too vehemently upon it. Others have only
four horizontal petals ; fuch as the cruci-form ;
the fpecies of which are very common in hot
countries. Others bear, around their dilk, flow-
rets which overlhadow it ; fuch is the blue-bottle
of the corn-field, which is reprefented on the plate
in oppofition to the daify. This laft flowers early
in the Spring, and the other in the middle of
Summer.

We have faid fomewhat of the general forms of
flowers, but we (hould never come to a conclu-
sion, were we to enter into a difcuflion of their
various aggregations. I believe, however, that
they may be referred to the plan itfelf of the
flowers. Thus the umbelliferous flowers prefent
themfelves to the Sun under the fame afpecls as the
radiated.

I mufl beg leave to recapitulate only what has
been faid reflecting their reflecting mirrors. The

reverberated

STUDY XI. I4i

reverberated perpendicular, of a cone or ear form,
collects on the antherse of the flowers, an arch of
light of ninety degrees, from the Zenith to the
Horizon. It farther prefents, in the inequality of
it's panels, reflecting furfaces.

The conical reflector collects a cone of light of
fixty degrees. The fpherical reflector unites, in
each of it's five petals, an arch of light of thirty-
fix degrees of the Sun's courfe, fuppofing that Lu-
minary to be in the Equator.

The elliptical reflector collects a fmaller quantity,
from the perpendicular pofition of it's petals ; and
the parabolic reflector, as well as that with plane
mirrors, fends back the rays of the Sun diver-
gently, or in parallels.

The firft form appears to be very common in
the flowers of the icy Zones ; the fécond, in thofe
Which thrive under the (hade ; the third, in tem-
perate latitudes ; the fourth, in warm countries ;
and the fifth, in the Torrid Zone. It would like-
wife appear, that Nature multiplies the divifions
of their petals, in order to diminifh their action.
Cones and ears have no petals. The convolvulus
has but one ; rofe-formed flowers have five ; ellip-
tical flowers, as the tulip and the liliaceous, have

fix;

I42 STUDIES OF NATURE.

fix; flowers with plane reflectors, as the radiated,
have a great number.

Farther, flowers have parts adapted to the other
elements. Some are clothed externally with a hairy
garment, to fhelter them from the cold. Others
are formed to blow on the furface of the water ;
fuch are the yellow rofes of the nymphasa, which
float on lakes, and accommodate themfelves to the
various movements of the waves, without being
wet by them, by means of the long and pliant
items to which they are attached Thofe of the
valifneria are ftili more artfully difpofed. They
grow in the Rhone, and would be there expofed
to frequent inundation by the fudden fwellings of
that river, had not Nature given them ftems
formed lik a cork-fcrew, which draw out at once
to the length of three or four feet.

There are other flowers adapted to the winds
and to the rains, as thofe of peafe, which are fur-
nifhed with little boats to cover and fhelter the
ftamina, and the embryons of their fruits *. Be-

fides,

* I am perfuaded, that the bearing of moft flowers is adapted
to the rains, and for this reafon it is that many of them have
the form of mufflers, or ridges, like little boats inverted, which
fhelter the parts of fecundation. I have remarked that many

fpecies

STUDY XX. 143

fides, they have large pavilions, and reft on tails
bent and elaftic, as a nerve; fo that when the
wind blows over a field of peafe, you may fee all
the flowers turn their back to the wind, like fo
many weather-cocks.

This clafs appears to be very generally diffufed
over places much expofed to the winds. Dam-pier
relates, that hé found the defert fhores of New-
Guinea covered with peafe, whofe bloflbms were
red and blue. In our climates, the fern, which
crowns the fummits of hills always battered with
the wind and the rain, bears it's flower turned to-
ward the Earth, on the back of it's leaves. There
are even certain fpecies of plants, the flowering
of which is regulated by the irregularity of the
winds. Such are thofe, the male and female in-
dividuals of which grow on feparate ftems. Toffed
hither and thither over the earth, frequently at
great diftances from each other, the powder of the
male flowers could fecundate but a very few fe-

fpecies of flowers poflèfs the inftinft, fhall I venture to call it ?
of clofing themfelves when the air is humid, and that the im-
pregnation of fruit-tree bloflbms is injured much more by the
rain than by the froft. This obfervation is of eflential im-
portance to gardeners, who frequently caufe the flowers of their
ftravvberry plants to mifcarry by watering them. As far as I
can judge, it would be better to water plants, in bloflbm, by
little trenches, according to the Indian method, rather than by
afperfion. • •

male

144 STUDIES OF NATURE.

male flowers, unlefs, at the feafon of their florifU
cation, the wind blew from various quarters. Won-
derful to be told ! There are invariable genera-
tions depending on the variablenefs of the wind.
Hence I prefume, that in countries where the
winds always blow from the fame quarter, as be-
tween the Tropics, this fpecies of florification muft
be uncommon ; and if it be found there at all, it
muft be regulated precifely according to the feafon
when thofe regular winds vary.

It is impoflible to entertain a doubt refpecting
thofe admirable relations, however remote they
may appear, when we obferve the attention with
which Nature has preferved flowers from the
fhocks to which they might be expofed, from the
winds themfelves, upon their items. She inwraps
them, for the mod part, in an integument, which
Botanifts call the calix. The more ramous the
plant is, the thicker is the calix of it's flower.
She fometimes fringes it with little cufhions and
beards, as may be feen in the rofe-bud. Thus the
mother puts a pad round the head of her little
child, to fecure it againlt accidents from falling.
Nature has fo clearly marked her intention as to
this, in the cafe of the flowers of ramous plants, that
fhe has deprived of this clothing fuch as grow on
Items that are not branchy, and where they are in
no danger from the agitation of the winds. This

may

STUDY XI. I45

may be remarked with regard to the flowers of
Solomon's feal, of the lily of the valley, of the
hyacinth, of the narchTus, of moft of the liliaceous,
and of plants which bear their flowers ifolated, on
perpendicular Items.

Flowers have, farther, very curious relations
with animals and with Man, from the diverfity of
their configurations, and from their fmells. Thofe
of one fpecies of the orchis reprefent bugs, and
exhales the fame unpleafant odour. Thofe of a
fpecies of the arum refembles putrid flefh, and has
the infection of it to fuch a degree, that the flefli-
fly reforts thither to depofit her eggs. But thofe
relations, hitherto very fuperficially investigated,
do not come in fo properly under this article 5 it
is fufficieBt for me to have here demonftrated, that
they actually have very clearly marked relations
with the elements, and efpecially with the Sun.

When Botanifts (hall have diffufed over this
branch of the fubject all the light of which it is
fufceptible, by examining their focufes, the eleva-
tion to which they rife above the ground, the
Ihelter, or the reflection of the bodies which are in
their vicinity, the variety of their colours, in a
word, all the means by which Nature compenfates
the differences of their feveral expofures, and they
will no longer doubt about thofe elementary har-

vol. in. L monies^

I46 STUDIES 0£ NATURE,

monies ; they will acknowledge that the flower*
far fun" r>refenting an unvarying character in
plants, e&i o ts, on t-ie contrary, a perpetual cha-
racier of eUvçritfy, It is by this,, principally, that
Nature varies the fpecies in the fame genus of
plant, in order to render it fufceptible of fecun-
dation, on different fîtes. This explains the rea-
fon why the flowers of the great cheftnut of India,
but originally from America, are not the lame
with thofe of the European cheftnut ; and that
thofe of the fullers-thiflle, which thrives on the
brink of rivers, are different from thofe of thirties,
which grow in lofty and dry places.

A very extraordinary obfervation fhall ferve ir-
refragably to confirm all that we have juft now ad-
vanced : it is this, that a plant fometimgs totally
changes the form of it's flowers in the generation
which reproduces it. This phenomenon greatly
aftoniihed the celebrated Linnœus, the firfl: time
that it was fubmitted to his coniideration. One
of his pupils brought him, one day, a plant per-
fectly fimilar to the linarium, the flower excepted ;
the colour, the favour, the leaves, the item,, the
root, the calix, the pericarpium, the feed, in a,
word, the fmell, which is a remarkable circum-
ftance, were exactly the fame, only it's flowers
were in form of a tunnel, whereas thole of the li-
narium are gullet-formed. Linna;us imagined, aç

fini,

STUD? XI. I47

firft, that his pupil intended to put his knowledge
to the teft, by adapting a ftrange flower to the
fie m of that plant; but he fatisfied himfelf that it
was a real linarium, the flower of which Nature
had totally changed. It had been found among
other linaria, in an ifland, feven miles diftant from
Upfal, near the fhore of the fea, on a fandy and
gravelly bottom. He himfelf put it to the proof,
that it re-perpetuated itfelf in this new ftate by
it's feeds. He afterwards found fome of it in other
places : and, what is flill more extraordinary,
there Were among thefe laft, fome which carried
on the fame ftalk flowers tunnel -formed, and
flowers gullet- formed.

He gave to this new vegetable the name of pe»
lorum, from the Greek word vfoup, which fignifies
prodigy. He afterwards obferved the fame va-
riations in other fpecies of plants, and among the
reft, in the eriocephalous thiftle, the feeds of which
produce, every year, in the garden of Upfal, the
fantaftic thiftle of the Pyrennées *. This illuf-
trious Botanift accounts for thefe transformations,
as being the effèéb of a mongrel generation, dif-
turbed by the fecundating farina of fome other
flower in the vicinity. It may be fo ; to his opi-

• Upfalian Diflèrtatjon, for December, 1744; page 59, note 6.

l 2 nion,

148 STUDIES OF NATURE,

nion, however, may be oppofed, the flowers of
the pelorum, and of the linarium, which he found
united on the fame individual. Had it been the
fecundation which transformed this plant, it ought
to have given fimilar flowers in the whole indi-
vidual. Befides, he himfelf has obferved, that
there was not the flighted confufion in the other
parts of the pelorum, any more than in it's vir-
tues ; but this muft have been the cafe, as well as
in the flower, had it been produced by a mixture
of fome flrange breed. Finally, the pelorum re-
produced itfelf by feed, which does not take place
in any one mongrel fpecies of animals.

This fterility, in mongrel branches, is an effect
of the fage confiftency of Nature, who cuts off di-
vergent generations, in order to prevent the pri-
mordial fpecies from being confounded, and from,
at length, difappearing altogether. As to the reft,
I pry neither into the caufes, nor the means, which
fhe is pleafed to conceal from me, becaufe they
far tranfcend my comprehenfion. I confine my
enquiries to the ends which fhe kindly unfolds ;
1 confirm myfelf in the belief, from the variety of
flowers in the fame fpecies, and fometimes in the
fame individual, that they ferve, in certain cafes,
as reflectors to vegetables, for the purpofe of col-
lecting, conformably to their pofition, the rays of

the

STUDY XI. 149

the Sun on the parts of fecundation ; and, in other
cafes, as parafols, to put them under covert from
exceflive heat.

Nature deals by them, nearly, as (he does by
animals which are expoied to the fame variations
of Latitude. In Africa, (he (trips the (heep of
the woolly fleece) and gives her fleek fmooth hair,
like that of the horfe : and to the North, on the
contrary, (lie clothes the horfe with the (haggy fur
of the (heep. I have been an eye-witnefs of this
double metamorphofis, at the Cape of Good-
Hope and in Ruffia. I have feen at Peterfburg,
Norman and Neapolitan horfes, whofe hair, natu-
rally fhort, was fo long and fo frizzled, in the
middle of Winter, that you would have believed
them covered with wool like fheep. It is not with-
out reafon, therefore, that the ancient proverb fays:
GOD tempers the wind to the floor n lamb : and when
I behold his paternal hand varying the fur of ani-
mals conformably to the degree of heat and cold,
1 can eafily believe, that it varies, in like manner,
the mirrors of flowers conformably to the Sun.
Flowers, then, maybe divided, with relation to
the Sun, into two clafles : into reverberating
flowers, and flowers in form of a parafol.

If there be any confiant character in plants, we
mud lock for it in the fruit. It is thitherward

l 2 that

l$Q STUDIES OF NATURE.

that Nature has directed all the parts of vegetation,
as to the principal object. That faying of Wis-
dom itfelf, by their fruits ye JJjall know them, is,
at leaft, as applicable to plants as to the human
ipecies.

We lhall examine, therefore, the general cha-
racters of plants, with relation to the places where
their feeds are accuftomed to grow. As the ani-
mal kingdom is divided into three great claffes,
quadrupeds, volatiles, and aquatics, relatively to
the three elements of the Globe ; we fhall, in like
manner, divide the vegetable kingdom into aerial
or mountain-plants ; into aquatics, or thofe of the
mores j and into terreftrial, or thofe of the plains.
But as this lafl participates of the two others, we
fhall not dwell upon it ; for, though I am per-
fuaded that every fpecies, nay, that every variety,
may be referred to fome particular lite of the earth,
and may grow there in it's higheft degree of
beauty, it is fufficient to fay as much of it here as
may be neceffary to the profperity of a fmall gar-
den. When we fhall have traced invariable cha-
racters, in the two extremities of the Vegetable
kingdom, it will be eafy to refer to .the interme-
diate claffes, thofe which are adapted to them.
We fhall begin with the plants of the mountains.

Elementary

STUDY XI.

*5*

Elementary Harmonies of Plants with the Water and
the Air, by Means of their Leaves and their Fruits.

When the Author of Nature defigned to clothe
with vegetables even the higheft and deepen: pin-
nacles of the Earth, He flrft adapted the chains
of mountains to the bafons of the feas which were
to fupply them with vapours ; to the coui fe of
the winds which were to waft them thither,, and
to the different afpects of the Sun by which they
were to be heated. As foon as thefe harmonies
were edablilhed between the elements, the clouds
afcended oqt of the Ocean, and difpeifed thern-
felves over the mod remote parts of the Conti-
nents. There they didilled, under a thoufand dif-
ferent forms, in fogs, in mifts, in dews, in rains,
in fnows. They defcended from the heights of
the Atmofphere in every poffible variety of man-
ner ; fome in a tranquil air, ftich as our Spring
mowers, came down in perpendicular drops, as if
they had been drained through a fieve ; others,
driven by the furious winds, beat horizontally on
the fides of the mountains ; others fell in torrents,
like thofe which, for nine months of the year,
inundate the lfland of Gorgona, placed in the
heart of the Torrid Zone, in the burning Gulf of
Panama. There were fome which accumulated

h 4 themieives.

1^2 STUDIES OF NATURE.

themfelves, in mountains of fnow, on the inacccf-
fible fummits of the Andes, to cool, by their efFu-
fions, the Continent of South-America, and, by
their icy Atmofphere, the vaft expanfe of the Pa-
cific Ocean. In a word, mighty rivers flowed over
regions where the rain never defcends, and the
Nile watered the plains of Egypt.

Then GOD faid : " Let the Earth bring forth
" grafs, the herb yielding feed, and the fruit-tree
" yielding fruit after his kind, whofe feed is in itfelf
" upon the Earth." At the voice of the All-Mighty,
the vegetables appeared with organs perfectly fit-
ted to collect the bleffings of Heaven. The elm
arofe on the mountains which ikirt the Tanaïs,
clothed with leaves in form of a tongue ; the
tufted box flarted from the brow of the Alps ; and
the prickly caper-tree from the rocks of Africa,
with leaves hollowed into fpoons. The pines on
the fandy Norwegian hills attracted the vapours
which were floating in the air, with their Aim fo-
liage, difpofed like a Painter's pencil ; the ver-
bafcum difplayed it's broad leaves on the parched
fand, and the fern prefented, on the hill, it's fan-
like foliage to the rainy and horizontal winds. A
multitude of other plants, from the bofom of the
rocks, from flrata of flint, nay, even from marble
incrustations, drunk in the waters of Heaven by
cornets, by fandals, and by cruets. From the cedar

of

STUDY XI. I53

of Lebanon down to the violet which perfumes
the grove, there was not one but what prefented
it's large goblet, or it's tiny cup, conformably to
it's neceffity, or it's itation.

This adaptation of the leaves of plants, in ele-
vated lituations, for receiving the defcending dif-
tillations of the rain, is varied without end ; but
the character of it is difcernible in moft, not only
in their concave forms, but likewife in a little ca-
nal, fcooped out on the pedicle by which they are
attached to their branches. It has fomething of a
refemblance to that which Nature has traced on
the upper lip of Man, to receive the humours
which defcend from the brain. It is particularly
perceptible on the leaves of artichokes, which,
being of the nature of thiftles, agree with dry
and fandy fituations. Thefe have, befides, col-
lateral awnings to prevent the lofs of any of the
water that falls from Heaven. Plants which
grow in places very hot, and very parched, fome-
times have their Hems or their leaves trans-
formed entirely into a canal. Such are the aloes
of the iiland of Zocotara, in the mouth of the
Red-Sea, or the prickly taper of the Torrid Zone.
The aqueduct of the aloes is horizontal, and that
of the taper perpendicular.

What

JJJ4 STUDIES OF NATURE.

What has prevented Botanifts from remarking
the relations which the leaves of plants have with
the waters- that feed and refrefh them, is their
feeing. them every where nearly of the fame form,
in the valleys, as on the heights ; but though
mountain-plants prefent foliages of every kind of
configuration, you may eafily difcern, from their
aggregation in form of pencils, or fans, from the
gatherings of the leaves, or other equivalent figns,
that they are deftined to receive the rain water,
but chiefly from the aqueduct which I have juft
mentioned. This aqueduct is traced on the pe-
dicle of the fmaUeft leaves of mountain-plants; by
means of it, Nature has rendered the forms them-
felves of aquatic-plants fufceptible of vegetation
in the moft parched fituarions.

The bulrufli, for example, which is only a round
and full draw, that grows by the water-fide, did
not appear fufceptible of collecting any humidity
in the air, though it is very well fuited to lofty
iituations, from it's capillaceous form, which, like
that of gramineous plants prefents nothing to the
wind to lay hold of. In fad:, if you coniider the
different fpecies of rufli which clothe the moun-
tains in many parts of the world, fuch as that cal-
led kho, on the lofty mountains of Peru, the only
vegetable almofl that grows there, and thofe which
thrive with ourielves in dry fands, or on heights,

you

STUDY XI. I55

you would, at the firft glance, believe them fimilar
to the rufli of marfhy places ; but with a little at-
tention, and not without ailonifhment, you will
obferve that they are hollowed into a furrow the
whole of their lengthvvife direction. They are,
like other rulhes, convex on one fide, but they
differ from them effentially, in that they are all
concave on the other ; I was enabled to diftin-
guifh, by this fame character, the fpartha, which
is a rulh of the mountains of Spain, and is now
frequently manufactured at Paris into cordage for
their draw-wells.

Many leaves, even of the plants of the plains,
affume, on their firft fpringing up, this form of
little furrow, or fpoon, as thofe of the violet, and
of moil gramineous plants. You may perceive,
in the Spring, the young tufts of thefe railing
themfelves upright toward Heaven, like paws, to
catch the falling drops, efpecially when it begins
to rain ; but molt plants of the plains lofe their
gutter as they expand. It has been bellowed on
them only during the feafon when it was neceflary
to their growth. It is permanent only in the plants
of the mountains. It is traced, as has been men-
tioned, on the pedicle of the leaves, and conducts
the rain-water into the tree, from the leaf to the
branch : the branch, by the obliquity of it's pofi-
fition, conveys it to the trunk, from whence it

defcends

150 STUDIES OF NATURE.

defcends to the root, by a feries of fucceflive dif-
pofitions. If you pour water gently over the leaves
of a mountain-fhrub, which are the fartheft from
it's ftem, and you will perceive it purfue the pro-
grefs which I have juft indicated, and not a fingle
drop will be loft on the ground.

I have had the curiofity to meafure, in fdme
mountain-plants, the inclination which their
branches form with their ftem ; and I have found,
in at leaft a dozen of different fpecies, as in the
fern, the thuia, and the like, an angle of about
thirty degrees. It is very remarkable, that this
degree of incidence is the fame with that which is
formed, in a flat country, by the courfe of many
rivulets and fmaller rivers, with the great rivers
into which they difcharge themfelves, as may be
afcertained by reference to maps. This degree of
incidence appears to be the moft favourable to the
efflux of many fluids, which direct themfelves to-
ward one fingle line. The fame Wifdom has re-
gulated the level of the branches in trees, and the
courfe of the ftream through the plains.

This inclination undergoes fome varieties in
certain mountain-trees. The cedar of Lebanon,
for example, fends forth the lower parts of it's
branches, in an upward direction, toward Heaven,
and lowers their extremities, by pending them

downward

STUDY XI. Iff

downward to the Earth. They have the attitude
of command which is fuited to the king of vege-
tables, that of an arm raifed up into the air, with
the hand gently inclining. By means of the firft
difpofition, the rain-water is conveyed along the
Hoping branch to the trunk ; and by the fécond,
the fnows, in the regions of which it takes delight
to dwell, Hide away from off it's foliage. It's cones
have, in like manner, two different attitudes ; for
it inclines them, at firft, toward the Earth, to
fhelter them at the feafon of their flowering ; but
when they are fecundated, it erects them toward
Heaven. The truth of thefe obfervations may be
confirmed by referring to a young and beautiful
cedar in the Royal Garden, which, though a
ftranger, has preferved, in the midft of our cli-
mate, the air of a King, and the majeftic port of
Lebanon.

The bark of molt mountain-trees is equally
adapted for conducting the rain-water from the
branches to the roots. That of the pine is in large
perpendicular ribs ; that of the elm is cleft and
chinked longitudinally ; that of the cyprefs is
fpongy, like the coat of flax.

The plants of mountains, and of dry grounds,
have a farther character, which is, in general, pe-
culiar to them : it is that of attracting the water

which

1$% STUDIES OF NATURE.

which floats in the air, in imperceptible vapoui'3.
The parietaria (pellkory) which has derived it's.
name from the Latin word ptftikti\ (wall) becauie it
grows on the fides of walls, has it's leaves almoft
always in a humid (late. This attraction is com-
mon to mo ft trees of the mountains. Travellers
unanimously allure us, that there is, in the moun-
tains of the Wand of Ferro, a tree, which furnifhes
every day, to that iiland, a prodigious quantity of
water. The iflanders call it garde, and the Spa-
niards fanto, from it's lingular utility. They tell
us it is always furrounded with a cloud, which
diftils copioufly along it's leaves, and fills with
water the large refervoirs which are conitructed at
the root of this tree, affording an abundant fupply
for the iiland.

This effect is, perhaps, fomewhat exaggerated,
though related, in nearly the fame terms, by per-
fons of different Nations : but I give full credit to
the general fact. The real cafe I take to be this,
it is the mountain which attracts from afar the va-
pours of the Atmofphere, and that the tree, iitu-
ated in the focus of attraction, collects them
around it.

Having frequently fpoken, in the courfe of this
Work, of the attraction of the fummits of many
mountains, the Reader, perhaps, will not be dif-

pleafed^

STUDY XI. I59

pleafed, if I prefent to him, in this place, an idea
of that branch of the hydraulic architecture of Na-
ture. Among a great number of curious examples,
which I might produce to this purpole, and which
I have collected, as an addition to my materials
on the fubjed of Geography, I beg leave to prefent
one, which 1 have extracted, not from a fyftematic
Phiiofop /•'•>, but from a fimple and unaffectedly
fprightiy traveller of the laft age, who relates
things as he I . :'<n, and without pretending to

deduce confequences of any kind whatever. It is
a defcription of the fummits of the lfland of Bour-
bon, fituatcd in the Indian Ocean, extending to
the - nrft degree of South Latitude. Il is

copied from the writings of Mt de Fillers, who was
then Governor of that ifland, under the Eaft-India'
Company. It is published in the journals of the
firft voyages made by our French Navigators into
Arabia-Felix, about the year 1709, and given to
the World by M. de la Roque, See that Work,
page 201.

1£ Of thofe plains," fays M. de Fillers, which
are upon the mountains (of Bourbon), " the mof£
" remarkable, though no account has hitherto
" been given of it, is that to which they have
<c given the name of the Plain of the Cafres, from
** a tribe of that People, Haves to the inhabitants
(C of the lfland, who went thither to conceal them-

" felves,

I0O STUDIES Of NATURE.

<£ felves, after they had run away from their frïaf-
iC ters. From the fhore of the fea, you rife by a
*e gentle afcent, for feven leagues together, in or-
" der to reach this plain, by the lingle path that
*c leads to it, along the river of Saint Stephen : it is
'.' poflible, however, to ride up on horfeback. The
" foil is good and fmooth to about a league and a
" half, on this fide the plain, planted with large and
" beautiful trees, the foliage of which, as it falls,
*f ferves for food to the tortoifes, which are to be
" found there in great numbers.

" The height of this plain may be eftimated
*' at two leagues above the Horizon ; it accord-
" ingly appears from below to be quite loft in the
*f clouds. It's circumference may be about four
" or five leagues. The cold is there infupport-
*' able, and a continual fog, which wets as much as
" rain, prevents your feeing objects ten paces dif-
" tant j as it falls in the night, you may fee
" through it more clearly than by day : but then
" it freezes dreadfully, and in the morning, before
" fun rife, the plain is frozen ail over.

<f But what ftrikes the eye of the beholder as
" very extraordinary, are certain elevations of
" ground, cut out almoft in form of round co-
" lumns, and of a prodigious height; for they
" cannot be much lower than the turrets of Notrc-

il Dame

study xr. 161

" Dame at Paris. They are put down like pins
" on the fkittle- ground, and the refemblance is
" fo ftrong, that you may eafily miftake on reck-
" oning them : they go by the name of pitons
" (pins). If you wifh to flop by one of thofe
*' eminences to take reft, fuch of your company as
" are not inclined to repofe, but want to go for-
<f ward, muft not withdraw fo much as two hun-
" dred paces, otherwife they will be in great dan-
*c ger of not finding again the point of feparation,
•' thefe pins are fo many in number, all fimilar
" in form, and fo much arranged in the fame
" manner, that the Creoles, who are native there,
" are themfelves liable to miftake.

" For this reafon it is, that, in order to prevent
u the unpleafant confequences of fuch an error,
u when a company of travellers take ftation at
" one of the pins, if any are difpofed to make a
" farther excurfion, they leave a perfon at the
" place of rendezvous, to make a fire, or raife a
" fmoke, which may ferve to direct, and bring
" back the ftrayers ; and if the fog be Jo thick*
" which is frequently the cafe, as to hinder the fire
" or the fmoke from being feen, they provide
<c themfelves with a kind of large (hells, one of
" which is left with him who keeps ftation at the
" pin j another is carried off by the feparating
" party ; and when they with to return, fome one

vol. in. M blows

l62 STUDIES OF NATURE.

l( blows violently into the fhell, as into a trumpet,
" which emits a very fhrill found, and capable of
" being heard at a great diflance ; this is anfwered
M by the other, and being repeated as often as is
*' neceflary, they are eafily recovered from ftray-
" ing, and colle&ed at the point of departure,
*' Without fuch precautions, the traveller might
" be bewildered.

" In this plain are many afpin-trees, and they
te are always green. Other trees are covered
i( with a mofs of more than a fathom in length
" around their trunk and large branches. They
" are withered, without foliage, and fo impreg-
" nated with moifture, that it is impoflible to
" make them take fire. \ï3 with much difficulty,
*' you are able to kindle fome of the fmaller
" boughs, it is only a dark fire without flame,
" which emits a reddifh fmoke, that defiles the
" meat inftead of roafting it. You can hardly
!c find a fpot in this plain on which to kindle a
" fire, unlefs by looking about for fome fmall ele-
" vation round the peaks; for the foil of the plain
" is fo humid, that the water every where fpouts
" out, fo that you are continually in mud, and
** moiftened up to the calf of the leg. Great
" numbers of blue birds are to be feen there nefl-
" ling in the herbage, and among the aquatic
** ferns. Tlus plain was unknown before the de-

i( fertion

STUDY XI. 163

** fertioir of the Cafres. In order to get down,
" you muft return by the fame way that you
" afcended, unlefs you choofe to run the rifk of
" another path, which is very rough, and dange-
" roully fteep.

<{ From the plain of the Cafres may be feen the
** mountain known by the name of Trots Salafes>
" from the three points of that rock, the loftieft
" in the Ifland of Bourbon. All it's rivers iffue
" from thence, and it is fo fteep on every fide, that
<e there is no poffibility of climbing it.

" There is, befides, in this ifland, another plain,
" called the Plain of Silaos, higher than that of
" the Cafres, and of no greater value : it is ex-
" tremely difficult to get up to it."

In the lively defcription of our Traveller, we
muft overlook fome errors in Phyfics, fuch as his
affigning to the Plain of the Cafres an elevation of
two leagues above the Horizon. He had not
learned from the barometer and thermometer, that
there is no fuch elevation on the face of tfye Globe,
and that, at the perpendicular height of one league
only, the freezing point is invariable. But from
the thick fog which furrounds thofe peaks, from
that continual mift which wets as much as rain,
and which falls during the night, it is evidently
m 2 perceptible,

164 STUDIES OF NATURE.

perceptible, that they attract to them the vapours,
which the Sun raifes out of the Sea in the day-
time, and which difappear in the night. Hence
is formed that meet of water which inundates the
Plain of the Cafres, and from which mod of the
brooks and rivulets that water the ifland take their
rife. You may equally diftinguifh a vegetable at-
traction in thofe ever-green afpins, and thofe other
trees, at all times humid, which it is impoffible to
kindle into flame.

The Iiland of Bourbon is almoft round, and
rifes out of the Sea in the Ihape of half an Orange.
On the higheft part of this hemifphere are fituated
the Plains of Silaos and of the Cafres, where Na-
ture has placed thofe labyrinths of peaks continu-
ally involved in fogs, planted like nine pins, and
elevated like fo many turrets.

Did time and room permit, I could make it
evident, that there are a multitude of fimilar peaks
on the chains of lofty mountains, of the Cordeliers,
of Taurus, and others, and at the centre of mofl
iflands, without admitting the poffibility of fup-
pofing, though the opinion be current, that they
are the remains of a primitive Earth railed to that
height ; for what mull have become, as has been
already demanded, of the wreck of that Earth,
the pretended teftimonies of which arife on every

hand

STUDY XI, 165

hand over the furface of the Globe ? I could de-
monstrate that they are placed in aggregations,
and in fituations adapted to the neceffities of the
countries of which they are, in fome fenfe, the re-
fervoirs ; fome in a labyrinth, as thofe of the liland
of Bourbon, when they are on the fummit of a
hemifphere, from whence they are deftined to di-
flribute the waters of Heaven in every direction ;
others in form of a comb, when they are placed on
the extended creft of a chain of mountains, as the
pointed peaks of the chain of Taurus and of the
Cordeliers ; others grouped into pairs, into threes,
according to the configuration of the territory
which they are to water. They are of many forms,
and of different conftructions : fome of them are
incruftations of earth, as thofe of the Plain of the
Cafres, and of fome of the Antilles Iflands, and
which are befides fo fteep, as to be enrirely inac-
ceflible. Thofe incruftations of earth demonftrate,
that they have, at once, foflil and hydraulic at-
tractions.

There are others which prefent long needles of
folid and naked rock ; others are of a conical
form ; others are flattened as a table, fuch as that
of Table-mountain, at the Cape of Good-Hope,
where you may frequently fee the clouds accumu-
late, and fpread like a table-cloth. Some are not
apparent, but entirely involved in the fide of

m 3 mountains,

l66 STUDIES OF NATURE.

mountains, or in the bofom of plains. They are
all diftinguifliahle by the fogs which they attract
around them, and by the fources which emit their
ftreams in the vicinity. Nay, you may reft af-
fured, that there is no fource but in the neigh-
bourhood of fome quarry of hydro-attractive, and,
for the moft part, of metallic flone. I afcribe the
attraction of thofe peaks to the vitreous and metal-
lic bodies of which they are compofed : and I am
perfuaded it might be pofiïble to imitate this ar-
chitecture of Nature, and to form, by means of
the attraction of fuch ftones, fountains of water in
the moft parched fituations. In general, vitreous
bodies, and ftones fufceptible of polim, are very
proper for this purpofe ; for it is obfervable, that
when water is diffufed in great quantities through
the air, as at the time of a general thaw, it is firft
attracted, and attaches itfelf, to the glafs-windows
and the polifhed ftones of our houfes.

I have frequently feen on the fummit of the
mountains, in the Ifle of France, effects fimilar to
thofe of the peaks of the Plain of the Cafres, in
the Ifland of Bourbon. The clouds collect there
inceffantly around their peaks, which are fteep
and pointed, like pyramids. Some of thofe peaks
terminate in a rock of a cubical form, which
crowns them like a chapiter. Such is that one
which they call Piterbooth, after the name of a

Dutch

STUDY XI. 167

Dutch Admiral ; it is one of the loftieft in the
Ifland.

Thofe peaks are formed of folid rock, vitrifi-
able, and mixed with copper : they are real elec-
trical needles, both in form and fubftance. The
clouds perceptibly deviate from their courfe to
collect upon them, and there accumulate, fome-
times to fuch a degree, that the pinnacles become
totally invifible. They thence defcend into the
cavity of the vallies, along the declivities of the
forefts, which likewife attract them, and there dif-
folve into rain, frequently forming rainbows on
the verdure of the trees. This vegetable attrac-
tion, of the forefls of that ifland, is in fuch perfect
harmony with the metallic attraction of the peaks
of it's mountains, that a field fituated in an open
place, in their vicinity, very often fuffers for want
of rain, whereas it rains almoft the whole year
round in the woods, which are not above a gun-
mot diftant. It was by the deftruction of part of
the trees that clothed the heights of the ifland,
that moft of the brooks which watered it have
been dried up : and now nothing remains of them
but the empty channel.

To the fame injudicious management, i afcribe
the fenfible diminution of a confiderable part of
the rivers of Europe, both great and fmall ; as is

m 4 evident

l68 STUDIES OF NATURE.

evident from a funple infpection of their ancient
bed, which is much broader and deeper than the
mafs of water at this day tranfmitted by them to
the Ocean. Nay, I am perfuaded, that to this
caufe we rauft afcribe the dry nefs of the more ele-
vated provinces of Afia, thofe of Perfia, in parti-
cular, the mountains of w hich have, no doubt,
been injudiciously dripped of their trees, by the
firfl tribes who inhabited them. I am decidedly
of opinion, that were we to plant in France moun-
tain-loving trees, on the high grounds, and at the
fources of our rivers, their ancient volume of wa-
ter might be reftored, and many rivulets might be
made to re-affume their current through our plains,
though they have long fince ceafed to flow. It is
neither among the reeds, nor in the depth of the
valley, that the Naiads conceal their exhauftlefs
urns, as Painters reprefent them, but at the fum-
mit of rocks crowned with wood, and towering to
the Heavens.

There is not a fingle vegetable, the leaf of which
is difpofed to receive the rain-water on the moun-
tains, whofe feed is not formed in a manner the
bed adapted to raife itfelf thither. The feeds of
all mountain-plants are volatile. By infpecting
their leaves, it is poflîble to afcertain the character
of their grains, and by infpecting the grains, that
of their leaves, and thence to infer the elementary

character

STUDY XI. ÎÔÇ

character of the plant. By mountain-plants, I here
wifli to be underftood to mean all thofe which
grow in Candy and parched fituations, on hillocks,
in rocks, en fleep ridges by the highway's fide,
in walls, and, in one word, at a diftance from
water.

The feeds of thiflles, of blue-bottles, of dande-
lion, of fuccory, and many others, are furniihed
with pinions, with plumes, with tufts, and various
other means of rifing, which convey them to pro-
digious diftances. Thofe of the grafles, which like-
wife travel very far, are provided with a light
chaffy coat, and with bearded hufks. Others, fuch
as thofe of the yellow gilly-flower, are cut into
thin fcales, and fly by the flighted breath of the
wind, and plant themfelves in the moftinconfider-
able crevice of a wall. The feeds of the largeft
mountain-trees are no lefs volatile. That of the
maple has two membranous pinions, fimilar to the
wings of a fly. That of the elm is cafed in the
midft of an oval thin leaf. Thofe of the cyprefs
are almofl imperceptible. Thofe of the cedar are
terminated by broad and thin plates, which, in
their aggregated ftate, compofe a cone. The
grains are in the centre of the cone ; and when
arrived at maturity, the thin membranes, to which
they adhere, feparate from each other, like the

cards

1JO STUDIES OF NATURE,

card's in a, pack, and each of them flies off with
it's own little kernel. (See the annexed Plate.)

The feeds of mountain-plants, which appear too
heavy for flying, are furni(hed with other refources.
The peafe of the balfamine have pods whofe elaf-
ticity darts them to a considerable diftance. There
is likewife a tree in India, the name of which I do
not now recollect, that, in like manner, discharges
it's feeds with a noife like that of a muiket fired
off. Thofe which have neither tufts, nor pinions,
nor fprings, and which, from their weight, feem
condemned to remain at the foot of the vegetable
which produced them, are, in very many cafes,
thofe which travel the fartheft. They fly off with
the wings of a bird. It is thus that a multitude
of berries and (hell-fruits re-fow themfelves. Their
feeds are inclofed in ftony incrustations, not ca-
pable of being djgefled. They are fwallowed by
the birds, which carry them off, and plant them in
the cornices of towers, in the clefts of rocks, on
the trunks of trees, beyond rivers, nay, beyond
oceans. By fuch means it was that a bird of the
Moluccas re-peopled, with the nutmeg plant, the
defert iflands of that archipelago, in defiance of
all the efforts of the Dutch, who deftroy thofe
trees in every place where they cannot be fubfer-
vient to their own commerce.

This

LIATES WITH AN A'Ql7E»rCT,âR» VOMTILE KRIT1TS Oï" MqTWTAjotYeGKTABIJSS .

ybLMJàgelJQ.

STUDY XI. I7T

This is not the place for bringing forward the
relations which vegetables have to animals. It is
fufficient to obferve, as we go along, that mofl
birds re-fow the vegetable which feeds them. Nay,
we find, without going from home, quadrupeds
which convey to a great diflance the feeds oT the
graffes. Such, among others, as do not chew the
cud, horfes for inftance, whofe dung is hurtful to
the meadows, for an obvious reafon, they intro-
duce into them a variety of foreign herbs, as thé
heath and the fhort furze, the feeds of which they
are unable to digeft. They re-fow, befides, a
great many others, which adhere to their hair,
by the motion of their tail fimply. There are
quadrupeds of fmall fize, fuch as the dormoufe,
the hedge-hog, and the marmot, which convey to
the mod elevated regions of the mountains, acorns,
beech-maft, and cheftnuts.

It is fingularly worthy of remark, that volatile
feeds are produced in much greater number than
thofe of other fpecies ; and in this, we are called
upon to admire the intelligence of that Providence
which forefaw every thing, and arranged all ac-
cordingly. The elevated fituations for which they
are deflined, were expofed to be fpeedily ftripped
of their vegetables, by the declivity of their foil,
and by the rains, which have a continual tendency
to lower them. By means of the volatility ef grains,

they

172 STUDIES OF NATURE.

they are become, of all the places of the Earth,
the moft prolific in plants. In the mountains is de-
poiited the Botanift's treafure.

It cannot be too frequently repeated, The re-
medies provided by Nature always furmount the
obftacles which (he has oppofed ; and her com-
penfations ever exceed her gifts. In truth, if you
except the inconveniencies of declivity, a moun-
tain prefents to plants the greater!: variety of expo-
fures. In a plain they have the fame Sun, the
fame degree of humidity, the fame foil, the fame
wind ; but if you afcend a mountain, fituated in
our Latitude, only twenty-five fathoms of perpen-
dicular height, you change your climate as much
as if you had travelled twenty-five leagues north-
ward ; fo that a mountain of twelve hundred fa-
thoms perpendicular height, would prefent us with
a fcale of vegetation as extenfive as that of twelve
hundred leagues along the Horizon, which is
nearly our diftance from the Pole : both the one
and the other would terminate in a region of per-
petual ice. Every ftep we take upon a moun-
tain, whether afcending or defcending, gives us a
change of Latitude ; and if we encompafs it round
and round, every ftep changes our Longitude.
We fhall fall in with points where the Sun rifes at
eight o'clock in the morning j others, at ten
o'clock ; others, at noon. We fhould find an in-
finite

stud's; xi. 173

finite variety of expofures ; of cold toward the
North, of heat to the South, of rain to the Weft,
of drought to the Eaft; without taking into the
account the different reflections of heat in fands,
rocks, bottoms of vallies, and lakes, which modify
them a thoufand various ways.

We muft proceed farther to obferve ; and who
can do it without profound admiration ? that the
feafon of the maturity of mod volatile feeds takes
place toward the commencement of Autumn ; and
that, from an effect of the univerfal Intelligence,
which conftrains all the parts of Nature to act in
concert, then it is that we have the moft violent
gales of wind, about the end of September or be-
ginning of October, called the equinoctial winds.
Thefe winds blow in all parts of the Continents,
from the bofom of the feas to the mountains which
are in correfpondence with them. Not only do
they convey thither the volatile grains which have
then attained to a ftate of maturity ;• but likewife
blend with thefe thick clouds of dult, which they
carry off from lands dried up by the burning heats
of Summer, and particularly from the fhores of
the Sea, where the inceflant motion of the billows,
which there break, and continually tofs the pebbly
flrand backward "and forward, reduce the hardèft
bodies to an impalpable powder,

Thofe

174 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Thofe emanations of dufl are in many places fo
copious, that I could produce a variety of in-
flances of veflels covered with them, as they were
eroding gulfs, though more than fix leagues diflant
from land. They are fo troublefome in the loftier
provinces of Afia, that all travellers who have vi-
lited Pekin affure us, it is impomble to walk the
ftreets of that city, for a confiderable part of the
year, without having the face veiled. Thus there
are rains of dull which repair the fummits of the
mountains, as there are rains of water which feed
their fources. Both the one and the other iffue
from the Sea, and return to it by the courfe of the
rivers, which are perpetually conveying thither,
their confiant tribute of waters and fands. The
maritime winds unite their efforts toward the au-
tumnal equinox, tranfport from the circumference
of the Continents, to mountains the mofl remote
from them, the feeds and the manure which had
flowed from thence, and fow meadows, groves,
and forefls, on the fides of precipices, and the mofl
inaccemble peaks. Thus the leaves, the flems,
the feeds, the birds, the feafons, the feas, and the
winds, concur, in a mofl wonderful manner, to
keep up the vegetation of the mountains.

I have been mentioning the relations of plants
to mountains ; I am mortified that it is not in

my

STUDY XI. 175

my power here to infert the relations which moun-
tains themfelves have with plants, according to my
original intention. All that I can, at prefent, fay
on the fubject is, that fo far are mountains from
being the productions of a centrifugal force, or of
fire, or of earthquakes, or of water- cou rfes, I know
of, at leaft, ten different fpecies, each of which has
a configuration the mod perfectly adapted for
keeping up, in every particular Latitude, the har-
mony of the elements relatively to vegetation. Each
of them has, moreover, vegetables and quadrupeds
peculiar to itfelf, and which are not elfewhere to
be found : -this proves to a demonstration, that
they are not the work of chance. Finally, among
that inconceivable number of mountains which
cover the greatest part of the five Zones, and
efpecially the Torrid and the Icy Zones, there is
bat one (ingle fpecies, the lead considerable of ali,
which prefents to the water-courfes projecting and
retreating angles in correfpondence. This, how-
ever, is no more their work than the bafon of the
feas is itfelf the work of the Ocean. But this in-
teresting fubject, of an extent too considerable to
admit of it's being here introduced, belongs, be-
sides, to the province of Geography.

Let us now proceed to difplay the harmonies of
aquatic plants.

Thefe

î?6 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Thefe have difpofitions entirely different in their
leaves, the bearing of their branches, and, above
all, in the configuration of their feeds. Nature,
as has already been obferved, in order to vary her
harmonies, only employs» in very many cafes, po-
litive and negative characters. She has beftowed
an aqueduct on the pedicle of the leaves of moun-
tain-plants ; (he withdraws it from thofe which
grow by the fide of the waters, and transforms
them into aquatic plants. Thefe, inftead of
having their leaves hollowed out into gutters, are
clothed with leaves fmooth and fleek, fuch as the
corn-flag, which bears them in form of a poignard's
blade, or fwelling in the middle like a fword-
blade, as thofe of the fpecies of reed called typha,
that common fort, the ftem of which the Jews put
into the hand of Jesus Christ. Thofe of the
nymphœa are plane, and rounded in form of a
heart. Some of thefe fpecies affect other forms,
but their long tails are uniformly deflitute of a
canal. Thofe of the bulrufh are round like a
pipe. There is an endlefs variety of rufhes on
the brink of moraffes, rivulets, and fountains.
You will find them of all fizes, from thofe which
have the finenefs of a hair, up to the fpecies which
grows in the river of Genoa, as large as a cane.
Whatever difference there may be in the jointing
of their ftalks and of their pannicles,they all have,

in

STUDY XI. 177

i/i their plan, a round or elliptical form. You
will find thofe fpecies alone which grow in parch-
ed fituations, to be fluted and hollowed on their
furface. When Nature intends to render aquatic
plants fufceptible of vegetation on the mountains,
fhe beftows aqueducts on their leaves ; but when,
on the contrary, (he means to place mountain-
plants by the water's-fide, (he withdraws it. The
aloes of the rock has it's leaves hollowed into a
fcoop; the aloes of the water has them full. I
am acquainted with a dozen fpecies of mountain-
fern, every one of which has a fmall fluting along
it's branches, and the only fpecies of the marflies,
which I know, wants it. The bearing of it's
branches is likewife very different from that of the
others. The firft rears them toward Heaven, the
lad bears them almoft horizontally*

If the leaves of mountain-plants are conftructed
in the beft manner poflible for collecting, at their
roots, the waters of Heaven, which they have not
always at command ; t.hofe of aquatic plants are
frequently difpofed in fuch a manner, as to re-
move them, becaufe they are deftined to grow in
the bofom of water, or in it's vicinity. The leaves
of trees which love the water's fide, as the birch,
the afpin, and the poplar, are attached to long and
pendent tails. There are others which bear then-
leaves difpofed in form of tiles, as the great cheft-

v-ol. ni. n nut;

1/8 STUDIES OF NATURE.

nut of India and the walnut. Thofe of planta'
which grow in the (hade, around the trunk of
trees, and which derive, by their roots, the hu-
midity collected by the foliage of the tree, as the
french-bean and the convolvulus, have a fimilar
bearing. But thole which grow entirely under the
made of trees, and which have fcarcely any roots,
as mufhrooms, have leaves, that fo far from point-
ing toward Heaven, are turned downward to the
earth. The greateft part are formed on the upper
fide into a thick parafol, to prevent the Sun from
drinking up the moifture of the foil in which they
grow ; and they are divided, on the under fide,
into thin leafy plates, for receiving the vapours
which exhale from the ground, nearly as thofe of
the horizontal wheel of a fire-engine receives the
fleam of the boiling water which makes it to turn
about. They have, befides, feveral other means
of watering themfelves by thefe exhalations. There
are many numerous fpecies, lined with tubes,
others are fluffed with fponges. There are fome
whofe pedicle is hollow inwardly, and which,
bearing a chapiter a-top, there colledl the emana-
tions of their foil, as in an alembic. Thus, there
is not a particle of vapour in the Univerfe that
goes to wade.

What has jufl now been faid of the inverted
forms of mufhrooms, of their leafy plates, of the

tubes

STUDY XI. I79

tubes and fponges with which they are lined, for re-
ceiving the vapours exhaled from the ground, con-
firms what was advanced refpecting the ufe of the
leaves of mountain-plants, hollowed into gutters,
or conftructed into the form of a pencil, or of a fan,
for receiving the waters of Heaven. But aquatic
plants, which had no need of fuch recipients, be-
caufe they thrive in water, have, if I may fo exprefs
myfelf, a repulfive foliage. 1 mall here prefent
an object, of comparifon, calculated to produce
conviction of the truth of thofe principles : for
example, the mountain-box-tree, and the caper-
plant of the rocks, have their leaves hollowed into
a fpoon form, with the concavity turned toward
Heaven ; but the vaccinium of the marines, (cran-
berjy) or vaccinia palujlris, which is likewife furnifh-
ed with concave leaves, bears them inverted, with
the cavity turned toward the earth. Fro.m this ne-
gative character, I was enabled to diftinguim, as a
plant of the marfhes, a very rare plant in the Royal
Garden, which I faw for the firft time. It is the
Lttum palujire, which grows in the marfhes of the
Labrador country. It's leaves, formed like little
coffee-fpoons, are all inverted ; their convex fide
being turned %toward Heaven. The water-lentil
of our marines, as well as the typha of our rivers,
has the middle of it's leaf fwelled.

n 2 Botanids,

ISO STUDIES Of NATURE»

Botanifts, on obferving leaves nearly ilmilar in
plants, on the brink of the water, and on the
heights of mountains, never entertained a fufpi-
cion, that they could anfwer purpofes fo different.
Many of them, no doubt, are perfons of profound
erudition ; but their learning is rendered entirely
ufelefs to them, becaufe their method conftrains
them to proceed in one fingle track, and their fyf-
tem indicates to them only one kind of obferva~
tions. This is the reafon that their mod numerous
collections, frequently, prefent nothing but a mere
vocabulary. The ftudy of Nature is fpirit and
intelligence fimply. Her vegetable order is an
immenfe volume of which plants form the thoughts,
and the leaves of thofe very plants, the letters.
Nay, there is not a very great number of primi-
tive forms in the characters of this alphabet : but
by means of their various afTemblages, fhe forms,
as we do with ours, an infinite number of different
thoughts. As it is with language, in order totally
to alter the meaning of an expreffion, all that fhe
has, in many cafes, to do, is to change an accent.
She places rufhes, reeds, arums with a fleek foli-
age and a full pedicle, on the banks of rivers :
fhe traces an aqueduct in the leaf, and transforma
them into, rufhes, reeds, and arums of the moun-
tains.

We

STUDY XI. l8l

We mud, at the fame time, be carefully on our
guard againft generalizing thefe means ; othervvife
they will quickly betray us into a mifapprehenfion
of her procedure. For example, certain Botanifts,
having fufpected that the leaves of fome plants
might very well be adapted for collecting the rain
water, believed that they had a perception of this
ufe in that of the dipjacus, or fullers-thiftle. It was
very eafy to fall into a miftake here, for the leaves
are oppofite, and meet at their bafes ; fo that after
it has rained, they prefent refervoirs, which con-
tain, one with another, a good half-glafs of water,
and which are difpofed in (lories along it's item.
But they ought to have confidered, firft, that the
dipfacus grows naturally on the brink of waters, and
that Nature does not beftow citterns of water on
aquatic plants. This would be, according to the
proverb, to carry water to the river. Secondly,
they might have obferved, that the tiers formed
by the oppofite leaves of the dipfacus, fo far from
being refervoirs, are, on the contrary, difchargers,
which convey off the rain water from it's roots,
to the diftance of nine or ten inches, on every
fide, by the extremities of it's leaves. They re-
femble, in fome refpe&s, the gutters which pro-
ject from the roofs of our houles, or-thofe which
are formed by the corners of our hats, which ferve
to carry away the rain water from the body, and
not to throw it inward. Befides, the water which

n 2 remains

152 STUDIES OF NATURE.

remains in the cavity of the leaves of the dipfacus
never can get down to the root of the plant, for it
is detained there, as at the bottom of a vafe. It
would not even be proper for moiftening it, for
Pliny infifts that it is brackifh. The birch-wort,
which grows in the trembling and frothy marfhes
of Canada, carries, at it's bafe, two leaves, formed
like the halves of a trumpet fawed afunder length-
wife. They are both concave, but have, at the
extremity that is fartheft from the plant, a kind of
bill, fhaped like a fpout. The water which re-
mains in the receivers of thefe aquatic plants, is,
perhaps, deftined to fupply drink to the fmall
birds, which fometimes find themfelves not a little
embarrafTed how to come at it, in the time of
inundations.

It is neceffary carefully to make a difiinclion
between the elementary, and the relative, charac-
ters of plants. Nature obliges the man who flu-
dies her, not to hold to external appearances, and,
in order to form hisunderflanding, (he makes him
rife from the means which fhe employs, to the
ends which (lie propofes. If certain aquatic plants
feem to prefent, in their foliage, fome of the cha-
racters of mountaineers, there are upon the moun-
tains, fome which feem to prefent characters fimi-
lar to thofe of the waters ; fuch, for example, is
She broom. It bears leaves fo fmall, and fo few

in

STUDY XI. 183

in number, that they appear infufficient for col-
lecting the water neceflary to it's growth, and fo
much the more, that it thrives in foils the mod
parched. Nature bas indemnified it in another
manner. If it's leaves are fmall, it's roots are very
long. They go in quell of coolnefs to a great
diftance. I have feen fome of them extracted from
the earth, which were more than twenty feet in
length, and it was neceflary, after all, to break
them off, it being impoflible to reach the extre-
mities. This prevents not the fcanty leaves from
exhibiting the mountain-character; for they are
concave, they point toward Heaven, and are length-
ened out, like the under bill of a bird.

The greateft part of aquatic vegetables throw the
water off from them, fome by their port ; fuch as
the birch, the branches of which, fo far from rear-
ing themfelves toward Heaven, fall downward, in
form of an arch. The fame thing may be affirmed
of the great cheftnut and of the walnut, unlefs
thefe trees fhould have changed their natural atti-
tude, by growing in thirfty fituations. Their bark
is ufually fleek, as that of the birch, or fcaly, like
that of the cheftnut ; but not hollowed into ca-
nals, as that of the elm, or the mountain pine.
Others have in themfelves a repulfive quality : fuch
are the leaves of the nymphzea, and of feveral fpe-
cies of colewort, on which the drops of water col-

n 4 lect

184 STUDIES OF NATURE.

lea: into globules, like the particles of quick-
filver. Nay, there are fome which it is extremely
difficult to moiften, fuch as the ftems of many
fpecies of capillary plants. The laurel, we are told,
carries it's repulfive quality to fuch a degree, as to
repel the thunder. If this quality, fo highly ex-
tolled by the Ancients, is really pofTeffed by the
laurel, we muft, undoubtedly, afçribe this to it's
nature as a fluviatic plant. The laurel grows in
abundance on the banks of the rivers of Theflaly.
A traveller, whofe name is the Sieur de la Guille-
tière % fays, in a relation written in a very lively
and agreeable manner, that he never faw any
where fuch fine laurels as along the fide of the river
Peneus. Hence, perhaps, was fuggefted the idea
of the metamorpofis of Daphne, the daughter of
that river-deity, transformed by Apollo into a
laurel.

This repulfive property of certain trees, and of
fome aquatic plants, induces me to think that they
might be employed around our habitations, as a
fecurity againft thunder-ftorms, and that in a man-
ner more certain, and much mors agreeable, than
electrical conductors, which diffipate, only by at-
tracting them to the neighbourhood. They might
farther be very advantageouily employed for drying

* See the Voyage to Lacedemon, by the Sieur de la Guilletibe.

mardi

STUDY XI. iSj

marfhy grounds ; as the attractive qualities of many
mountain-vegetables, might be ufed in forming
fountains upon heights, by collecting there the
vapours which float in the air. There is not, per-
haps, an infectious morafs on the Globe, except in
places where men have injudicioufly deflroyed the
plants whofe roots abforbed the humidity of the
Earth, and whofe foliage repelled that of the
Heavens.

I pretend not to affirm, however, that the fo-
liage of aquatic plants has no farther ufes : for
where is the man who has entered into the endlefs
views of Nature ? " To whom hath the root of
*e wifdom been revealed ? or who hath known
"her wife cou nfels ?" Radix Japietiiia cut revelata
eft f et aftutias illitis qui s agnovit ? * In general, the
leaves of aquatic plants appear, from their extreme
mobility, very much adapted to the purpofe of
renewing the air of humid places, and of pro-
ducing, by their movements, that drying of the
ground to which I have juft alluded. Such are
thofe of reeds, of poplars, of alpins, of birches,
and even of willows, which are fometimes in mo-
tion, though there is not the flighted degree of
wind perceptible.

* Ecclefiafticus, chap. i. ver. 6.

It

lB6 STUDIES OF NATURE.

It Is farther remarkable, that mod of thefe ve-
getables emit a very pleafingfmell; among others,
trie poplar and the birch, efpecially in the Spring;
and that a great number of aromatic plants thrive
by the water's-fide, as mint, fvveet marjoram, cipe-
rus, the fweet-fmelling-ruih, the iris, the calamus
aromaticits : and, in the Indies, the fpice-plants,
fuch as the cinnamon-tree, the nutmeg, and the
clove. Their perfumes muft contribute very pow-
erfully to diminifh the mephitic exhalations, which
are natural to marfhy and humid places. They
have3 likewife, many ufes relatively to animals,
fuch as affording a (hade to the fifties which refort
thither, in queft of a fhelter from the fcorching
heat of the Sun.

But one conclufion we may certainly deduce,
in favour of our improvements in culture, from
the obfervations now made ; namely this, that in
the cultivation of plants, the pedicle of whofe
leaves prefents no imprefs of a canal, it is necef-
fary to water them copioufly ; for, in this cafe,
they are naturally aquatic. The nafturtiurn, the
mint, and the fweet-marjoram, confume a prodi-
gious quantity. But when plants are provided
with a canal, they muft be watered more fparingly,
for this demonftrates them to be originally natives
of the mountains. The deeper this canal is, the

lefs

STUDY XI. 1S7

lefs artificial watering do they require. Every-
gardener knows, that if you frequently water the
aloes, or the taper of Peru, you will kill them.

The feeds of aquatic plants have forms not lefs
adapted, than thofe of their leaves, to the places
where they are deftined to grow ; they are all con-
structed in a manner the mod proper for failing
off. Some of them are fafhioned into the figure
of (hells, others into boats, rafts, fkiffs, fingle and
double canoes, fimilar to thofe of the South-Seas.
I can have no doubt, that, by an attentive fludy of
this part alone, a great number of very curious
difcoveries might be made, reflecting the art of
eroding currents of every fort; and I am per-
fuaded that the firft men, who were much better
obfervers than we are, copied their different me-
thods of travelling, by water, after thofe models
of Nature, of which we, with all our pretenfions
to difcovery, are but feeble imitators.

The aquatic, or maritime pine, has it's kernels
inolofed in a kind of little bony (hoes, notched on
the under fide, and covered over, on the upper,
with a piece refembling a Chip's hatch. The wal-
nut, which delights fo much in the banks of ri-
vers, has it's fruit contained in two little boats,
whofe apertures are perfectly fitted to each other.
The hafel, which becomes fo bufhy on the brink

of

l83 STUDIES OF NATURE.

of rivulets; the olive, which is enamoured of the
fea-fhore to fuch a degree, that it degenerates in
proportion as you remove it thence, carry their
feed inclofed in a fpecies of little calks, capable of
holding out the lbngeft voyages. The red berry
of the yew, whofe favourite refidence is the cold
and humid mountain, by the fide of a lake, is
hollowed into a little bell. This berry, on drop-
ping from the tree, is, at firft, carried down, by
it's fall, to the bottom of the water : but it returns
inftantly to the furface, by means of a hole, which
Nature has .contrived, in form of a navel, above
the feed. In this aperture is lodged a bubble of
air, which brings it back to the furface of the wa-r
ter, by a mechanifm more ingenious than that of
the divers-bell, in this, that the vacuum of the
diving-bell is undermoft, and in the berry of the
yew it is uppermoft.

The forms of the feeds of aquatic-plants are ftili
more curious; for, univerfally, Nature redoubles
her ikill and exertions in favour of the little and
the weak. That of the bulruQi refembles a lob-
fter's eggs ; that of fennel is a real canoe in mi-
niature, hollowed in the middle, with both ends
raifed into a prow. There are others grooved
into each other, refembling pieces of wood dif-
pofed for a float, and worm-eaten ; fuch are thofe
of the horned poppy. Thofe which are deflined

to

STUDY XI. 1S9

îo thrive on the brink of waters deftitute of cur-
rent, are wafted by fails -3 fuch is the feed of a fca-
bious plant of our own country, which grows on
the border of morafles. Befides, the difference of
this from the other fpecies of fcabious, whofe feeds
are crowned with pronged hairs, in order to fatten
themfelves on the hairs of the animals which tranf-
plant them, the one, laft-mentioned, is overtopped
by a half-bladder open, and reding on it's fummit
like a gondola. This half-bladder ferves it, ac
once, as a fail by water, and as a vehicle by land.
Thefe mêans of natation, though endlefsly varied,
are common, in all climates, to the grains ot
aquatic plants.

The almond of the river of the Amazons, known
by the name of totoca> is inclofed in two ihells,
exactly fimilar to thofe of an oyfler. Another
fruit on the ftrand of the fame river, which abounds
in almond-trees, has a perfect refemblance, in co^
lour and form, to an earthen pot, with it's little
lid * ; it goes by the name of the monkey's por-
ridge-pot. Others are formed into large bottles,
as the fruit of the great gourd. There are feeds
incrufted in a coat of wax, which - makes them
float, fuch are the berries of the wax-tree, or royal

* See engravings of raoft of thofe feeds, in John dc Laefs
Hiftory of the We ft -Indies^

pimenta

I90 STUDIES OF NATURE.

pimenta of the fhores of Louifiana. The formi*
dable apple of the mancenilla, which grows on the
fea-fhore of the iflands fituated between the Tro-
pics, and the fruit of the manglier, which grows
there actually in the falt-water, are almofr. ligne-
ous. There are others with (hells fimilar to the
fea- urchin, without prickles. Many are coupled,
and perform their voyage like the double canoe,
or balfe, of the South-Sea. Such is the double
cocoa of the Sechelles-Iflands.

If you examine the leaves, the ftems, the atti-
tudes, and the feeds of aquatic plants, you will
always remark in them characters relative to the
places where they are deftined to grow, and in
harmony with each other -, fo that, if the feed has
a nautical form, it's leaves are deprived of an aque-
duct ; juft as in mountain-plants, if the grain is
volatile, the pedicle of the leaf, or the leaf altoge-
ther, prefents a channel.

I (hall affume* as an inftance of the nautical
harmonies of plants, the nafturtium, with which
every one is acquainted. This plant, which bears
flowers fo agreeable, is one of the creffes of the ri-
vulets of Peru. It mufl be obferved, firft, that the
foot-ftalks of it's leaves have no conduit, like
thofe of all aquatic plants; they are inferted in
the middle of the leaf, which they fupport like an

umbrella,

Leave s withoft an Aquebfct, & ".nautical
pits of Vegetables or the

Leaf "hFruit of the Jfartwia.
of me j/wrp.r pfja Vera Cruz.

XJi'enrnm >q

STUDY Xi. ipî

/

umbrella, to ward off from them the water which
falls from Heaven. It's feed, when frefh, has ex-
actly the form of a boat. The upper part is raifed
into a flope, like a bridge to let the water run off;
and you diftinguifh perfectly, in the lower part, a
poop and a prow, a keel and a bottom, (See the
annexed Plate.-) The little furrows of the feed of
the nafturtium are characters common to moft
nautical grains, as well as the triangular forms, and
thofe of the kidnev or keel. Thofe furrows, un-
doubtedly, prevent them from rolling about in all
directions, conftrain them to float along length-
wife, and give them the direction the belt adapted
to the track of the water, and to the paffage of the
narroweit flraits. But they have a character Itill
more general ; it is this, that they fwim in their
date of maturity, which is not the cafe with grains
deftined to grow in the plains, fuch as peafe and
lentils, which fink to the bottom.

Some fpecies of thefe, neverthelefs, fuch as the
french-bean, fink, at firft, to the bottom, and rife
to the furface when penetrated with the water.
Others, on the contrary, float at firft, and fink af-
terward. Such is the Egyptian bean, or the feed
of the colochaha, which grows in the waters of the
Nile. In order to fow it, you are under the necef-
fity of rolling it up in a ball of earth ; and in that
ilate it is thrown, into the water. Without this

precaution,

I92 STUDIES OF NATURE.

precaution, not one would remain on the fliores
where you would with it to grow. The natability
of aquatic feeds is, undoubtedly, proportioned to
the length of the voyages which they have to per-
form, and to the different gravity of the waters in
which they are deftined to fwim. There are fome
which float in fea-water, and fink in frefh, which
is lighter than fea-water by one thirty-fecond part ;
fuch precifion is in the balancing of Nature ! I
believe that the fruit of the great India cheftnut,
which thrives on the mores of the fait creeks of
Virginia are in this fituation. In a word, I am fo
entirely convinced of all the relations which Na-
ture has eftabliihed among her Works, ar to con-
clude, that the time when the feeds of aquatic
plants drop, is regulated, in moft cafes, by that of
the overflowing of the rivers where they grow.

It is a fpeculation well worthy of the attention
of the philofophic mind, to trace thofe vegetable
fleets failing along, night and day, with the cur-
rent of the rivulets, and arriving, undirected by
any pilot, on unknown regions. There are fome
which, by the overflowing of the waters, now and
then lofe themfelves in the plains. I have feen
them, fometimes, accumulated upon each other,
in the bed of torrents, prefenting around the peb-
bles where they had germinated, waves of verdure
of the moft beautiful fca-green. You would have

thought

STUDY XI. I93

thought that Flora, purfued by Tome River-god,
had dropped her bafket in the urn of that deity.
Others, more fortunate, ifTuing from the fources
of fome dream, are caught by the current of the
greater rivers, and conveyed away to embellifh.
their diftant banks with a verdure not their own.

There are fome which crofs the vafl Ocean ;
and, after a long navigation, are driven, by the
very tempers, on the regions which they adorn
and enrich. Such are the double cocoas of the
Sechelles, or Mahé Iflands, which the Sea carries
regularly every year a diftance of four hundred
leagues, and lands them on the coaft of Malabar.
The Indians, who inhabit it, were long under the
perfuafion, that thofe annual prefents of the Ocean
mud have been the produce of a palm-tree that
grew under it's billows. They gave them the
name of marine cocoa-nuts ; and afcribed wonder-
ful virtues to them. They fet as high a value
upon them as upon ambergris; and to fuch a
pitch was this extravagance carried, that many of
thofe fruits have been fold as high as a thoufand
crowns a piece. But the French having, fome
years ago, difcovered the Ifland of Mahé, which
produces them, and which is fituated in the fif-
tieth degree of South- Latitude, imported them in
fuch quantities to India, that they funk at once in
value and in reputation ; for men, in every coun-

vol. in. o try,

194 STUDIES OF NATURE.

try, prize thofe things only which are rare and
myfterious.

In every iiland where the eye of the traveller has
been able to contemplate the primordial difpofitions
of Nature, he has found their fliores covered with
vegetables, all the fruits of which poffefs nautical
characters. James Cartier and Champlain reprefent
the ftrands of the lakes of North-America as
(haded by (lately walnut-trees. Homer, who has fo
attentively ftudied Nature, at times, and in places,
where fhe ftill retained her virgin beauty, has
planted the wild-olive along the fhores of the
iiland on which Ulyjjes, floating upon a raft, is
thrown by the temped. The navigators who have
made the firft difcoveries in the feas of the Eaft-
Indies, frequently found in them (hallows planted
with cocoa trees. The Sea throws fuch quantities
of fennel-feed on the fliores of Madeira, that one
of it's bays has obtained the name of Funchal, or
Fennel- Bay.

It was by the courfe of thofe nautical feeds,
too carelefsly obferved by modern Seamen, that
the Savages formerly difcovered the iflands to
windward of the countries which they inhabited.
They formed conjectures refpecting a tree at a
great diftance, on feeing it's fruit caft upon their
fhores. By fimilar indications, Chrijiopher Columbus
*v acquired

STUDY XI:

I97

acquired the affurance, that another world exifted.
But the regular winds and currents from the Eaft,
in the South- Sea, had carried them long before to
the Nations of Afia ; of which I (hall fay fome-
thing toward the end of this Study.

There are, befides, vegetables of an amphibious
nature. They are difpofed in fuch a manner, that
one part of their foliage raifes itfelf toward Heaven,
and the other forms an arcade, and bends down-
ward to the ground. Nature has given to their
feeds, likewife, the power of at once flying and
fwimming. Such is the willow, the feed of which
is enveloped in a cobweb down, which the winds
tranfport to a great diftance, and which floats
along the furface of the water, without wetting it-
felf, like the downy feathers of the duck. This
down is compofed of fmall capfules, like the bot-
tom of a lamp, and with two beaks, filled with
feeds, which are crowned with a plume : fo that
the wind conveys thofe capfules through the air,
and likewife tranfports them, by failing, along the
face of the water. This configuration was admi-
rably adapted, to be the vehicles of the feeds of
plants which grow by the fide of ftagnant waters
and lakes. The fame thins; holds as to the feeds
of the poplar j but thofe of the alder, which grows
on the banks of rivers, have no plumage, becaufe

o 2 the

Iq6 STUDIES OF NATURE.

the current of the ftream is defigned to convey
them from place to place.

The feeds of the fir, and of the birch, have, at
once, volatile and nautical characters ; for the fir
has it's kernel attached to a membranous wing;
and the birch has it's grain embraced by two
wings, which give it the appearance of a little ïhell.
Thefe trees grow, at once, on the wintry moun-
tains, and on the margin of the lakes of the
North; their feeds had occafion not only to fail
over flagnant waters, but to be tranfported through
the air over the fnovvs, in the midft of which they
take delight. I have no doubt that there may be
fpecies of thefe trees, the feeds of which are alto-
gether nautical. Thofe of the linden-tree are car-
ried in a fpherical body, fimilar to a little bullet.
This bullet is affixed to a long tail, from the ex-
tremity of which defcends obliquely a follicle of
confiderable length, whereby the wind carries it
away to a great diftance, fpinning it round and
round. When it drops into the water, it plunges
about the length of an inch in it, and ferves, in
fome fort, as ballaft to it's tail, and to the little
leaf attached to it, which thus, being brought to a
vertical fituation, perform the functions of a maft
and a fail. But the examination of fo many cu-
rious varieties would carry me too far.

This

STUDY XI. I97

This would be the proper place to fpeak of the
roots of vegetables; but I am little acquainted
with what paries under ground. Befides, in all
Latitudes, on heights, as well as by the water's-
fide, we find the fame fubltances nearly, muds,
fands, pure mould, rock, which mult produce a
much greater refemblance in the roots of plants
than in the other parts of their vegetation. I have
no doubt, however, that Nature has eltablifhed,
on this fubjecl:, relations, the knowledge of which
would be highly ufeful, and that a cultivator,
fomewhat experienced, might be able, by infpect-
ing the root of a vegetable, to determine the fpe-
cies of foil belt adapted to it. Thofe which are
very hairy feem molt proper for fandy grounds.
The cocoa-tree, which grows to a very large fize
on the fhores of the Torrid Zone, thrives in pure
fand, which it interlaces with fuch a prodigious
quantity of hairy fibres, as to form a fol id
mafs around it. It is on this bafis that it effec-
tually refills the mofl violent tern pelts, in the
mid It of a moving foil. What is fingularly re-
markable in the cafe of this plant, it never fuc-
ceeds fo well as in the fand on the fea-fhore, and
generally languilhes in the interior of a country.

The Maldivia Illands, which are, for the mod
part, nothing but fandy fhallows, are the molt re-
nowned regions of all Afia, for the abundance and

o 3 the

I98 STUDIES OF NATURE.

the beauty of their cocoa-trees. There are other
vegetables of the mores, the roots of which are
drawn out like cords. This configuration renders
them exceedingly proper for binding together the
ground, and thereby defending it ngainft the in-
roads of the watery element. Such are, among
ourfelves, the alder, the reed, but, above all, a
fpecies of dogs-grafs, which I have feen very care-
fully cultivated in Holland along the dikes.

. Bulbous plants appear, in like manner, to take
pleafure in foft muds, into which they cannot pe-
netrate very far, from the roundnefs of their bulbs.
But the elm extends it's roots at pleafure on
the declivity of the mountain ; and the oak inferts
his flurdy pivots into it, to lay hold of the fuccef-
five ftrata of which it is compofed. Other plants
preferve, on the high grounds, by their creeping
foliage and their fuperficial roots, the emanations
of dud which the winds there depofit. Such is the
anemone nemorofa. If you find a fingle foot of it
on a hill, in a wood not greatly frequented, you
may reft afïured, that it diftufes itfelf like a net-
work through the whole extent of that wood.

There are trees, the trunks and the roots of
which are admirably contrafted with obftacles
which appear to us accidental, but which provi-
dent Nature forefaw. For example, the cyprefs

of

STUDY XI. 199

of Louifiana grows with it's foot in the water,
chiefly on the banks of the Méchaflipi, whofe vaft
fhores it magnificently {hades. It rifes there to a
height which furpafles that of almoft any of the
trees of Europe *. Nature has given to the trunk
of this (lately tree, a circumference of more than
thirty feet, in order to enable it to refift the ices
from the lakes of the North, which difcharge
themfelves into that river, and the prodigious
rafts of timber which float down it's ftream, and
which have obftructed mod of it's mouths to fuch
a degree, as to interrupt the navigation to veflels
of any considerable burthen. And, to put it be-
yond a doubt, that fhe defigned the thicknefs of
it's trunk for withftanding the fhock of floating
bodies, it is remarkable, that, at the height of fix
feet, {he fuddenly diminifhes the fize of it at leafl
a third, the full magnitude having become fuper-
fluous at that degree of elevation : and for the pur-
pofe of fecuring it in another manner, ft ill more
advantageous, fhe raifes out of the root of the tree
at four or five feet diftance all around, feveral
large flumps from one foot to four feet high.
Thefe are not fhoots ; for their head is fmooth,
and bears neither leaves nor branches : they are
real ice-breakers.

* See Father Charlevoix, his Hiftory of New France, vol. i-v.

O 4 The

200 STUDIES OF NATURE.

The tupelo, another great tree of Carolina,
which grows likewife by the water's fide, but in
creeks, has nearly the fame dimenfions at it's bafe,
excepting the ice-breakers, or pallifades. The
feeds cf thofe trees are fluted, as I have already
obferved to be the cafe with aquatic feeds in ge-
neral ; and that of the cyprefs of Louiiiana differs
confiderably, by it's nautical form, from that of
the cyprefs of the mountains of Europe, which ia
volatile. Thefe obfervations are fo much the more
worthy of credit, that Father Charlevoix, who, in
part, relates them, deduces no confequence what-
ever from the fads, though he was abundantly ca-
pable of interpreting their ufe.

It muft now be apparent of what importance it
is to conned the ftudy of plants with that of the
other Works of Nature. It is poffible to afcer-
tain, by their flowers, the expofure to the Sun which
is beft adapted to them : by their leaves, the quan-
tity of water that is neceflary to them ; by their
roots, the foil which is mod fuitable -, and by
their fruits, the fituations in which they ought to
be placed, together with new relations to the ani-
mals which feed upon them. By fruit I mean,
as Botanifts likewife do, feed of every fpecies.

The fruit is the principal character of the plant.
Of this we may form a judgment, firft, from the

care

STUDY XI. 20I

care which Nature has bellowed on it's formation
and prefervation. It is the ultimate term of her
prod ucl ions. If you examine, in a vegetable, the
different envelopes which inclofe it's leaves, it's
flowers, and it's fruits, you will perceive a moft
wonderful progreffion of pains and precautions.
The fimple leaf-buds are eafily diftinguifhable
from the fimplicity of their cafes. Nay, there are
plants which have none at all, as the {hoots of the
gramineous, which ftart immediately out of the
earth, and ftand in no need of any foreign protec-
tion. But the buds which contain flowers are pro-
vided with (heaths, or lined with down, as thofe of
the apple-tree ; or cafed over with glue externally,
as thofe of the great India cheftnut ; or are in-
clofed in bags, as the flowers of the narchTus ; or
fecured in fome way or another, fo as to be very
diftinguimable, even before their expanfion.

You afterwards perceive, that the care employed
in dreffing out the flower, was entirely defiined to
the fecundation of the fruit ; and that when this
is once formed, Nature redoubles her precautions,
both externally and internally, for it's preferva-
tion. She gives it a placenta, fhe envelops it in
pellicles, in (hells, in pulps, in pods, in capfules,
in hufks, in ikins, and fometimes in a cafe of
thorns. A mother cannot pay more attention to
the cradle of her infant. In procefs of time, in

order

202 STUDIES OF NATURE.

order that her grown child may be enabled to go
abroad, and look for a feulement in the world, (lie
crowns it with a tuft of plumage, or inclofes it in
a lhell : furnifhes it with wings to fly away through
the air, or with a bark to fail off along the face of
the water.

There is fomething ftill more marked, to arreft
our obfervation, in favour of the fruit. It is this,
that Nature frequently varies the leaves, the flow-
ers, the fieras, and the roots of a plant ; but the
fruit remains conftantly the fame, if not as to it's
form, at lead as to it's effential fubflance. I am
perfuaded that, when fhe was pleafed to create a
fruit, it was her intention that it fhould have the
power of re-producing itfelf on the mountains, in
the plains, amidfl rocks, in fands, on the brink
of waters, and under different Latitudes ; and, in
order to adapt it to it's fituation, fhe varied the
watering-pot, the mirror, the prop, the attitude,
the buttrefs, and the fur of the vegetable, corre-
fpondingly to the Sun, to the rains, to the winds,
and to the foil. To this intention, I believe, we
ought to afcribe the prodigious variety of fpecies
in every genus, and the degree of beauty which
each attains, when in the fituation that is natural
to it. Thus, in forming the cheftnut to reach per-
fection on the flony mountains of the South of
Europe, and to fupply the want of corn, which

fcarcely

STUDY XI. 203

fcarcely fucceeds there, (lie placed it on a tree
which in thofe regions attains magnificence from
it's adaptations.

I have eaten of the fruit of the cheftnut-tree of
the Iiland of Corfica. It is as large as fmall hen's
eggs, and makes excellent food. You may read,
in a modern traveller, the defcription of a cheft-
nut-tree, which grew in Sicily, on one of the
ridges of Mount iEtna. It's foliage is of fuch ex-
tent, that a hundred cavaliers could repofe with
eafe under it's (hade. For that reafon it obtained
the name of centum cavallo. Father Kir cher allures
us, that he had feen, on the fame mountain, in a
place called 'îrecaflagne, three cheflnut trees of fuch
a prodigious fize, that when they were felled, you
might have lodged a large flock of fheep under
covert of their bark. The (hepherds employed
them for this purpofe, in the night-time, and in
bad weather, inftead of penning up their charge
in the fold. Nature has granted, to this (lately
vegetable, the faculty of collecting, on the deep
mountains, the waters of the Atmofphere, by means
of leaves formed like fo many tongues ; and of
penetrating, by means of it's (lurdy roots, down
to the very bed of fountains in defpite of lavas and
rocks.

Nature

204 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Nature has been pleafed, elfewhere, to produce
the fruit of this tree with a degree of bkternefs,
for the ufe of fome animal no doubt, on the brink
of the falt-water creeks, and arms of the Sea, in
Virginia. She has beftowed on the tree which
bears it, leaves difpofed in form of a tile, a icaly
bark, flowers different from thofe of the European
cheftnut-tree, but adapted, unqueftionably, to the
humid exhalations, and to the afpe*5ls of the Sun
to which it is expofed. In a word, (he has trans-
formed it into the great India cheftnut. It arrives
at much greater beauty in it's native country, than
in Europe. That of America is the maritime
cheftnut-tree ; and that of Europe is the cheftnut-
tree of the mountains. She has placed, perhaps
by a different kind of combination, this fruir, on
the beech-tree of our hills, the mail: of which is
evidently a fpecies of cheftnut.

Finally, by means of one of thofe maternal at-
tentions which have induced her to fufpend, even
on herbs, the productions of trees, and to (erve up
the fame dimes on the fmalleft tables, fhe has
placed before us the fame fruit in the grain of the
black corn, which, in it's colour, and it's triangu-
lar form, refembles the feed of the beech, called
in Latin fagus, whence this fpecies of corn has
obtained the name of fagopymm. One thing, at

any

STUDY XI. 205

any rate, is certain, namely, that independent of
the mealy fubftance, we find, in the black-corn,
in the beech -mad, and in the cheftnut, fimilar
properties, fuch as that of cooling exceflive heat of
urine *.

It was, in like manner, the intention of Nature
to produce the acorn, in a great variety of expo-
fures. Pliny enumerated, in his time, thirteen dif-
ferent fpecies in Europe, one of them, which
makes very excellent food, is that of the green
oak. It is of this that the Poets fpeak, when
they celebrate the felicity of the Golden Age, be-
caufe it's fruit then ferved as an aliment to Man.
It is worthy of being remarked, that there is not
a hngle genus of vegetable, but what gives in
fome one of it's fpecies, a fubftance capable of be-
ing converted into nourifhment for mankind. The
acorn of the green oak is, among the fruits of this
genus of trees, the portion referved for our ufe.
Nature has been pleafed, after making this provi-
fion for Man, to fcatter the other fpecies of the
oak over the different foils of America, to fupply
the neceffities of her other creatures. She has pre-
ferved the fruit, and has varied the other parts of
the vegetable. She has placed the acorn, but with
the leaves of the willow, on the plant which has,

* See ChomeV% Treatife on Common Plants.

for

206 STUDIES OF NATURE.

for that reafon, got the name of the willow-leafed
oak, and which thrives in that country by the wa-
ter's-fide *. She has placed it, togedier with fmall
and pendent leaves affixed to pliant tails, like thofe
of the afpin, on the water-oak, which grows there
in the marmes. But when fhe intended to plant
them in dry and parched foils, (he united to them
leaves of ten inches in breadth, adapted to the re-
ception of rain-water, fuch are thofe of the fpecies
known by the name of the black oak in that
country.

It may be neceffary farther to obferve, that the
place where any fpecies of plant produces the
fined fruit, determines it's principal genus. Ac-
cordingly, though the oak has it's fpecies fcattered
about every where, it muft be confidered as
of the genus of mountain-trees ; becaufe that
which grows on the mountains of America, and
there diftinguifhed by the name of the cheftnut-
leafed oak, yields the largeft acorns, and is one of
the greateft trees in that part of the world; whereas
the water-oak, and the willow-leafed oak, rife to
no great height, and produce very fmall acorns.

The fruit, as we have feen, is the invariable
character of the plant. To it, accordingly, Na-

* See the figures of itfin Father Charlevoix, his Hiftory of
New France, vol. iv.

tu re

STUDY XI. 207

ture has likewife attached the principal relations
of the animal kingdom to the vegetable kingdom.
It was her intention that an animal of the moun-
tains mould find the fruit, on which he has been
accuftomed to live, in the plains, on the fand,
among the rocks, when he is under the neceffity
of changing his country, and efpecially on the
brink of rivers, when he defcends thither to
quench his thirft. I am not acquainted with a
fingle mountain-plant but what has fome of it's
fpecies, with their correfponding varieties, fcattered
over all fituations, but principally on the margin
of waters.

The mountain-pine has it's kernels mounted
on wings, and the aquatic pine has it's feed in-
clofed in a fkiff. The feeds of the thiftle, which
grows on a parched foil, are furniflied with
plumes, to convey them from place to place :
thofe of the fullers-thiftle, which thrives by the
water's fide, have none, becaufe they had no occa-
fion for any to affift them in Avimming. Their
flowers vary for fimilar reafons ; and though Bo-
tanifts have made two different genera of them,
the goldfinch fails not to acknowledge this laft as
a real thiftle. He refts himfelf upon it, when he
finds it convenient to go and cool himfelf on fome
watery bank. He forgets, on beholding his fa-
vourite plant, the fandy downs where he was

born,

208 STUDIES OF NATURE.

born, and cheers the banks of the rivulet, with
the mufic of his fong, and the beauty of his
plumage.

It appears to me impomble to acquire anything
like a knowledge of plants, unlefs by ftudying
their geography, and their ephemeris. Without
this double illumination, which mutually reflects,
their forms will be for ever flrange to us. The
greater! part of Botanifts, however, pay no manner
of regard to this. Tn making their collections,
they remark not the feafon at which plants grow,
nor the place where, nor the afpect to which they
are expofed. They carefully attend to all their
intrinfic parts, and efpecially to their flowers ; and
after this mechanical examination, depofit them
in their herbary, and imagine they have a tho-
rough knowledge of them, efpecially if they have
had the good fortune to dignify them, by im-
posing fome Greek name. They referable a cer-
tain huflar, of whom I have heard, who having
happened to find a Latin infcription in brazen
characters, on an antique monument, difengaged
them one after another, and tumbled them toge-
ther into a baiket, which he difpatched to an An-
tiquarian of his friends, with a requeft that he
would inform him what they meant. They no
more lead us to an acquaintance with Nature,
than a Grammarian would give us a relifh for the

genius

STUDY XT. 209

genius of Sophocles, by prefenting us with a naked
catalogue of his tragedies, of the divifion of their
acts and fcenes, and of the number of verfes which
compofe them. With equal abfurdity are they
chargeable who colled plants, without marking
their relations to each other, and to the elements ;
they fcrupuloufly preferve the letter, but fupprefs
the fenfe of it. Far différent was the manner in
which a Tournefort, a Vaillant, a Linnœus, profe-
cuted the ftudy of Botany. If thefe learned men
have not deduced any confequence from thofe re-
lations, they have, at leaft, prepared the projecting
ftones of expectation, which promife the conftruc-
tion of a future fabric of fcience.

Though the obfervations which \ have juft
made, refpecting the elementary harmonies of
plants, are but few in number, I have the con-
fidence to affirm, that they are of very high im-
portance to the progrefs of agriculture. The point
in queftion is not to determine geometrically the
genera of flowers, whofe mirrors are the bell
adapted for reflecting the rays of the Sun in every
point of Latitude ; the glory of calculating theii
curves is referved for future Newtons. Nature has
outrun our moil ardent wifhes, in thofe places
where fhe has been left at liberty to re-eftabliili
her own plans. We have it in our power to fe-
cure profperity to ours, in a manner the mod De-
voir, in. p neficiajj

il© STUDIES OF NATURE.

nefkial, by reducing them into harmony with
her's. In order to afcertain what plants are bed
adapted to fucceed in fuch and fuch a diftrid:, you
have only to pay attention to the wild plants which
thrive there fpontaneoufly, and which are diftin-
guifhable for their vigor and for their multitude :
then fubilitute in their place domeftic plants,
which have the fame kind of flowers and leaves.
Wherever umbelliferous plants grow, you may put
in their room fuch of our culinary vegetables as
have mod analogy with them, from their leaves,
their flowers, their roots, and their grains, fuch as
the daucus genus : the arthichoke will there ufe-
fully replace the gaudy thiftle ; the domeftic
plumb-tree ingrafted on a wild flock of the fame
plant, in the very place where this laft fpontane-
oufly fprung up, will become extremely vigorous.
I am perfuaded that by thefe natural approxima-
tions, advantage might be derived from the molt
barren fands and rocks ; for there is not a fingle
genus of wild plants but what contains a fpecies
fit for food.

But it was not fufficient for Nature to have efta-
bliflied fo many harmonies between plants, and
the fituations in which they were deftined to vege-
tate, had fhe not likewife provided means for re-
ftoring them, when deflroyed by the intolerant
culture of Man. Let a piece of ground be left

uncultivated,

STUDY XI. - 211

uncultivated, for ever fo fhort a fpacô of time, and
you will prefently fee it clothed with vegetables.
They grow there in fuch numbers, and fo vigo-
rouily, that there is no hufbandman capable of
producing an equal quantity, on the fame fpot,
let him take what pains he will. Thefe (hoots,
however, fo vigorous and fo rapid, which fre-
quently take poffeffion of our dock-yards of free-
flone, of our walls of afhlar, and of our courts
paved with granite, are, in many cafes, only a pro-
vifional culture. Nature, who is always advancing
from harmony to harmony, till fhe has attained
that point of perfection which (lie propofed to
herfelf, fows, at firft, with graffes, and herbage of
different fpecies, all abandoned foils, waiting for
an opportunity of exerting her powers, to raife on
that very fpot vegetables of a higher order. On
the rude neglected diftricts, where barren downs
alone meet our eyes, posterity may behold (lately
forefts arife.

We (hall throw, as our cuftom is, a fuperncial
glance on the very ingenious methods which Na-
ture employs for preparing and conducting thofe
vegetable progreflions. We (hall hence attain a
glimpfe, at lead, not only of the elementary rela-
tions of plants, but of thofe which exift between
their different claffes, and which extend even to

p 2 the

212 STUDIES OF NAT t" RE.

the animal kingdom. Vegetables which are the
moll contemptible in the eyes of Man, are fre-
quently the mod neceffary in the order of Cre-
ation.

The principal means employed by Nature for
fecuring the growth of plants of every fpecies, are
the thorny plants. It is very remarkable, that
plants of this defcription are the firft which appear
on lands in fallow, or in foreds which have been
cut down. They are, in truth, wonderfully well
adapted to promote foreign vegetations, becaufe
their leaves with deep incifions, like thofe of the
thidle and echium, or their fprigs bent into an
arch, as thofe of the bramble, or their horizontal
and interlaced branches, like thofe of the black-
thorn, or their boughs bridled with briars and un-
provided with leaves, as thofe of the fea-rum,
leave underneath and around them many intervals
through which other vegetables may arife, and
find protection from the tooth of mod quadrupeds.
Nurferies of trees are frequently to be found in
their bofom. Nothing is more common in cop-
pice-woods than to fee a young oak dart out of a
tuft of brambles, which enamels the earth all
around, with it's cluders of prickly flowers; or a
young pine arife out of a yellow brake of marine-
rufhes.

When

STUDY XI. 2L3

When thefe trees have once acquired a certain
degree of growth and fize, they flifle, by their
fhade, thofe thorny plants, which fubfift no longer,
except along the fkirts of the woods, where they
enjoy air fufficient for their vegetation. But in
this iïtuation, fuch plants are ftill going on to ex-
tend the empire of their fuperiors, from year to
year, over the plains. Thus, the thorny plants
are the original cradles of the forefls; and the
fcourge of the agriculture of Man, is the bul-
wark of that of Nature.

Man has, however, imitated, in this refpect, the
proceffes of Nature ; for if he wifhes to protect the
newly fown feeds of his garden, he finds it fre-
quently neceflary to cover them with prickly
branches of one fort or another. It appears to me
probable, that there is not a heath but what, in
time, might become a foreft, were their com-
moners reftrained from driving their flocks thither
to pafture, for the cattle crop the tender (hoots of
the trees as fa ft. as they fpring up. This, in my
opinion, is the reafon why the declivities of the
lofty mountains of Spain, of Perfia, and of many
other parts of the World, are not clothed with
trees : it is becaufe of the numerous flocks of
iheep which are driven thither, in Summer, and
which roam over their different chains. I am fully
convinced tHat thofe mountains were^.covered, in

p 3 the

214 STUDIES OF NATURE.

the earlier ages of the World, with forefts which
were laid low by their firft inhabitants ; and that
they would refume their ancient clothing, though
now naked and defert, were the cattle to pafture
on them no longer. It is very remarkable, that
thofe elevated regions are (owed over with prickly
plants, juft as our heaths generally are.

Don Gardas de Figtieroa, Ambaflador from Spain
at the Court of Cha-Abas, King of Perfia, relates,
in the account which he has given of his journey,
that the lofty mountains of Perfia, which he croffed,
and where the Turcomans are continually ftray-
ing, as they tend their fleecy charge, were covered
with a fpecies of thorny (hrub, which grew luxu-
riantly in the moll parched fituations. This fame
fhrubbery ferved as a retreat to a great number
of partridges.

From this circumftance we take occafion to ob-
ferve, that Nature employs the birds, particularly,
to fow the thorny plants in places the fteepeft and
mod inacceffible. They are accuftomed to retire
thither in the night, and there depofit, with their
dung, the ftony feeds of the bramble-berry, of the
berry of the eglantine, of the barberry, and of
moft thorny fhrubs, which, from relations no lefs
wonderful, are indigeitible in their flomach.

Birds

STUDY XI,. 215

Birds have, befides, particular harmonies with
thofe vegetables, as we (hall make appear in it's
proper place. Not only do they find on them a
plentiful fupply of food, and fhelter under them,
but downs for lining their nefts, as on thirties,
and on the cotton-tree of America ; lb that if
many of them refort for fafety to the elevation of
towering trees, others find it in the thorny brake.
There is not a fingle bufli but what has it's pecu-
liar bird.

Independantly of the plants proper to each fitu-
ation, and which are there domefticated, there are
fome in a ftate of inceflant peregrination, and flit
round the earth, without fettling in any fixed
abode. We can eafily have a conception of the
caufe of this confiant removal, by fuppcrfing, what
is actually the truth, that feveral of fuch plants
flied their feeds only at the feafon when certain re-
gular winds blow, or at certain revolutions of the
currents of the Ocean. Whatever may be in this,
I am of opinion that we mud rank, under this
defcription, many plants which were known to the
Ancients, but are not now to be found. Such,
among others, is the celebrated lazerpiiium of the
Romans, the juice of which, called Inzer, fold for
it's weight in filver. This plant, according to
Pliny, grew in the vicinity of the city of Corenum,
in Africa 3 but had become fuch a rarity in his

p 4 time

2l6 STUDIES OF NATURE.

time as hardly any where to be feen. He tells us
that a Tingle plant of it had been found, under
the reign of Nero, and that it was Terçt to this
Prince as a great curiofity.

Modern Botanifts pretend, that the lazerpitium
is the Tame plant with the jilphium of our gardens.
But they are evidently in an error, from the de-
Tcriptions which the Ancients, and, among others,
Vliny and Diofcerides have left us of it. For my
own part, I have no doubt that the lazerpitium is
of the number of the vegetables which are def-
ined to flit along the Earth, from Eaft to Weft,
and from Weft to Eaft. It is, perhaps, at prefent,
on the weftern (bores of Africa, whither the eas-
terly winds may have conveyed it's Teeds; per-
haps, likewiTe, by the revolutions of the wefterly
winds, it may have returned to the place where it
was in the days of Augufius ; or it may have been
conveyed into the plains of Ethiopia, among Na-
tions totally unacquainted with it's pretended won-
derful qualities.

. Pliny enumerates a great many other vegetables,
which are, at this day, to us equally unknown. It
may merit obfervation, that thofe vegetable appa-
ritions have been contemporary with Teveral Tpecies
of flitting birds, which have likewiTe diTappeared.
It is well known that there are Teveral clafles of

bircte,

STUDY XI. ZIJ

birds, and of fifties, which do nothing but migrate
inceflantly over the Earth and through the Seas ;
fome, in a certain revolution of days ; others, at
the end of a certain period of years. Many plants
may be fubjedted to a fimilar deftiny. This Law
extends even to the Heavens,. in which fome new
(far is, from time to time, making it's appearance.
Nature, as I think, has difpofed her Works in
fuch a manner, as to have always fome novelty in
referve, in order to keep Man continually in ex-
ercise. She has eftablifhed, in the duration of the
exiflence of the different beings of each kingdom,
concerts of a moment, of an hour, of a day, of a
moon, of a year, of the life of a man, of the du-
ration of a cedar, and, perhaps, of that of a globe:
but this, undoubtedly, is known to the Supreme
Being alone.

1 am perfuaded, at the fame time, that thé
greater!: part of flitting plants muft have a princi-
pal centre, fuch as a fteep rock, or an ifland in
the midft of the Sea, from whence they diffufe
themfelvCi' over all the reft of the world. This
leads me to deduce, what I confider as an irrefra-
gable argument in fupport of the recent Creation
of our Globe; it is this, were the Globe of very
remote antiquity, all the poflible combinations of
the propagation of plants by ked, would have been
already completed all over the World. Thus, for

example,

2lS STUDIES OF NATURE.

example, there would not be an unihabited ifland
and fhore of the Seas of India, which you would
not find planted with cocoa-trees, and fown with
cocoa-nuts, which the Ocean wafts thither every,
year, and which it fcatters alternately on their
ftrands, by means of the variety of it's monfoons
and of it's currents. Now, it is unqueftionably
certain, that the radiations of that tree and it's
fruit, the principal focufes of which are in the
Maldivia Iflands, are not hitherto diffufed over
all the iflands of the Indian Ocean.

The Philofopher Francis Leguat, and his unfor-
tunate companions, who were, in the year 1690,
the firfh inhabitants of the fmall Ifland of Rodri-
guez, which lies a hundred leagues to the eafl-
ward of the Ifle of France, found no cocoa-treees
in it. But, precifely at the period of their fhort
refidence there, the Sea threw upon the coaft feve-
ral cocoa-nuts in a flate of germination; as if it
had been the intention of Providence to induce
them, by this ufeful and feafonable prefent, to re-
main on that ifland, and to cultivate ih >

Francis Leguat, who was unacquainted with the
relations which feeds have to the element in which
they are defigned to grow, was very much afto-
nifhed to find that thofe fruits, which weighed
from five to fix pounds, muft have performed a

voyage

STUDY XI. 219

voyage of fixty or fourfcore leagues, without being
corrupted. He took it for granted, and he was
in the right, that they came from the Ifland of St.
Brande, which is fituated to the North-eaft of
Rodriguez. Thofe two defert iflands had not, as
yet, from the Creation of the World, communi-
cated to each other ,all their vegetables, though
fituated in a current of the Ocean which fets in
alternately, in the courfe of one year, for fix
months toward the one, and fix months toward the
other.

However this may be, they planted thofe co-
coa-nuts, which, in the fpace of a year and a half,
fent out (hoots of four feet in height. A bleffing
from Heaven, fo diftinctly marked, had not ths
power of detaining them in that happy ifland. An
inconfiderate defire of procuring for themfelves
women conftrained them to abandon it, notwith-
flandingthe remonftrances of Léguai, and plunged
them into a long feries of calamities, which few of
them were able to furvive. For my own part, I
I can entertain no doubt, that had they repofed
that confidence in Providence which they had rea-
fon to do, it's care would have conveyed wives for
them into that defert Ifland, as it had fent to
them the gift of the cocoa-nut.

To

ilQ STUDIES Or NATURE.

To return to the fubject of vegetable naviga-*
tion ; all the combinations and the verfatilities of
their fowings, would have been long ago com-
pleted in iflands lying between the fame parallels,
and in the fame monfoon*, if the World had been
eternal. The double cocoa-nuts, the nurferies of
which are in the Sechelles Iflands, would have
diffufed themfelves, and would have had time to
germinate on the Malabar coaft, on which the Sea
is from time to time throwing them. The Indians
would have planted upon their mores thofe fruits
to which they afcribed virtues fo miraculous,
while the palm-tree, which bears them, was fo
entirely unknown but twelve years ago to the
people of this coaft, that they believed them to he.
natives of the bottom of the Sea, and thence gave
them the appellation of marine cocoa-nuts. There
are, in like manner, a multitude of other fruits
between the Tropics, of which the primordial
flocks ar« in the Moluccas, in the Philippines, in
the iflands of the South-Sea, and which are en-
tirely unknown on the coafts of both Continents^
and even in the adjacent iflands, which, undoubt-
edly, would have become there the objects of cul-
tivation to their inhabitants, had the Sea been al-
lowed fumcient time to multiply the projection of
them on their fliores.

I mall

STUDY Jtl. È2t

t fhall purfue this reflection no farther ; but it
evidently demonftrates the newnefs of the World.
Were it eternal, and exempted from the care of a
Providence, it's vegetables would long fince have
undergone all the poffible combinations of the
chance which re-fows them. We mould find their
différent fpecies in every fituation where it was
poffible for them to grow. From this obfetvation
I deduce another confequence, namely this, That
the Author of Nature evidently intended to link
Mankind together, by a reciprocal communication
of benefits, the chain of which is, as yet, very far
from being completed. Where is, for example,
the benefactor of Humanity, who fhall tranfport
to the Oftiacs and the Samoïèdes of Waigats
Strait, Winter's tree from the Straits of Magellan,
the bark of which unites the favour of cloves, of
pepper, and of cinnamon ? And who is the man
that fhall convey to Magellan's Strait the peafe-
tree of Siberia, to feed the ftarving Patagonian.

What a rich collection might Rufïïa make, not
only of the trees which thrive in the northern and
the fouthern regions of America, but of thofe
which, in all parts of the World, crown the lofcv,
ice-covered mountains, whofe elevated ridges have
a temperature approaching to that of her plains ?
Wherefore beholds fhe not her forefts enriched
with the pinss of Virginia, and with the cedars of

Mount

222 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Mount Lebanon ? The defert fhores of the litis
might every year clothe themfelves with the fame
fpecies of oats wherewith fo many Nations, inha-
biting the banks of the rivers of Canada are prin-
cipally fupported. Not only might me collect in
her plains the trees and the plants of cold Lati*
tudes, but a great number of annual vegetables,
which grow during the courfe of a Summer, in
warm and temperate Latitudes. I know, by ex-
perience, that the Summer's heat is as powerful at
Peterfburg as under the Line.

There are, befides, parts of the ground, in the
North, which have configurations perfectly adapted
to afford a fhelter againfl the northerly winds, and
to multiply the warmth of the Sun. If the South
has it's icy mountains, the North has it's reverba-
tory vallies. I have feen one of thofe fmall vallies,
near Peterfburg, at the bottom of which flows a
brook that never freezes, even in the midft of
Winter. The rocks of granite, wherewith Finland
is roughened all over, and which, according to the
report of Travellers, cover mod of the lands of
Sweden, of the fhores of the Frozen Ocean, and
all Spitzbergen, are fufficient for producing the
fame temperatures, in many places, and for dimi-
nifhing in them, to a considerable degree, the fe-
verity of the cold.

1 have

STUDY XI. 223

I have feen, in Finland, near Wiburg, beyond
the fixty-firft degree of Latitude, cherry-trees en-
tirely expofed to the weather, though thefe trees
are natives of the forty-fecond degree ; that is, of
the kingdom of Pontus, from whence Luctdlus
tranfplanted them to Rome, after the defeat of
Mithridates. The peafantry of that Province cul-
tivate tobacco with fuccefs, which is a much more
foutherly plant, being originally a native of Brafil.
It is, I admit, an annual plant, and that it does
not acquire, in it's northern fituation, a very high
degree of perfume ; for they are under the necef-
fity of expofing it to the heat of their floves, in
order to bring it to a ftate of perfect maturity.
But the rocks with which Finland is covered over,
would undoubtedly prefent, to attentive eyes, re-
verberating fituations, which might bring it to a
fufficient degree of maturity, without the aid of
artificial heat.

I myfelf found, not far from the city of Frede-
rickfham, upon a dunghill, under the fhelter of a
rock, a very lofty tuft of oats, the produce of a
fingle feed, confiding of thirty-feven ftalks, loaded
with as many ears completely ripe, without' reck-
oning a multitude of other fmall lucklers. I ga-
thered it, with an intention of having it prefented
to her Imperial Majeliy, Catharine II. by my Ge-
neral M. Diéofquef, under whofe orders, and in

whofe

224 STUblES OF NATURE.

whofe company I was then vifiting the forti»
fled places of that province : it was likewife his
intention; but our Ruffian attendants, carelefs,
as all Haves are, fuffered it to be loft. He was ex-
ceedingly vexed at this, as well as I : 1 cannot
help thinking, that a Iheaf of corn fo rich and
beautiful, the produce of a province, confidered,
even at Peterfburg, asfmitten with fterility, becaufe
of the rocks which cover it's furface, and procured
for it, from ancient Geographers, the epithet of
lapidofa, (flony) would have been as acceptable to
her Majefty, as the huge block of granite which
Ihe has fince had conveyed from thence, to be
formed, at Peterfburg, into the bafis of a ftatue
of Peter the Great.

I have feen, in Poland, feveral private indivi-
duals cultivate the vine and the apricot-tree with
very great fuccefs. Mr. de la Roche, Conful from
the Prince of Moldavia, carried me, when at War-
faw, to a little garden, in the fuburbs of that City,
which produced to the occupier an annual revenue
of one hundred pilloles, though it did not contain
quite thirty of the laft-mentioned tree. It was to-
tally unknown in that country a hundred and fifty
years ago. The apricot was firfl introduced into
it by a Frenchman, valet-de-chambre to a Queen
of Poland. This man raifed the fruit fecretly, and
made prefents of it to the Grandees of the Country,

pretending.

STUDY XI. 225

pretending that he had received it from France, by
the couriers of the Court. The great people did
not fail to pay him magnificently for his prefents ;
and this fpecies of commerce became to him the
foundation of an ample fortune, by means of which
his great-grand-children are at this day the molt
opulent Bankers of that Country.

What I have faid refpecYing the pofiibility of
enriching Ruflia and Poland with ufeful vege-
tables, is not only in the view of acknowledging,
the beft way in my power, the gracious reception
with which I was honoured by perfons of rank,
and by the Government of thofe Countries, when
I was a flranger among them ; but becaufe thefe
indications tend equally to the improvement of
France, the Climate of which is more temperate.
We have icy mountains, capable of producing all
the vegetables of the North ; and reverberating
vallies equally adapted to the production of moft
of thofe of the South. It would not be proper, as
our cuftom is, to make an effort to render this
fpecies of culture general through a whole diftridt,
but to fet it a-going in fome little fheltered expo-
fure, or fmall winding valley. The influence of
thefe pofuions is of no great extent. Thus, the
famous Conftantia vine of the Cape of Good-Hope
fucceeds perfectly only on a fmall fpot of ground,
fituated at the bottom of a little hill, whereas the

vol. in. q, adjoining

Z2Ô STUDIES OF NATURE.

adjoining and furrounding vineyards do not pro-
duce the mufcadine grape of any thing like the
fame quality. Of this, too, I have my own perfo-
nal experience.

In France, it would be proper to look for (heU
tered afpects, fuch as we have been defcribing, in
places where there are white ftones in abundance,
the colour of which is the bed adapted to reverbe-
rate the rays of the Sun. Nay, I believe, that
marl is indebted to it's white colour, for part of the
heat which it communicates to the lands on which
it is fpread ; for it reflects upon them the rays of
the Sun with fo much activity, as to burn up the
firft (hoots of many herbs. This is the reafon, if
I am not miftaken, why marl, which has, in other
refpedts, the principles of fecundation within it-
felf, kills a great many of the fmaller herbs, which
are accufromed to grow under the (hade of the
corn, and whofe firft leaves are more tender than
thofe of corn, which is, in general, the mod hardy
of gramineous plants.

It would be farther neceflary to look for thofe
fortunate cxpofures in the vicinity of the Sea, and
under the influence of it's winds, which are fo ne-
ceflary to the vegetation of many plants, that fe-
veral of them refufe to grow in the inland parts of
a country. Such is, among others, the olive-tree,

which

STUDY XI. 227

which it has been found impoflible to propagate
in the interior of Alia and of America, though
the Latitude be, in other refpects, favourable.
Nay, I have remarked, that it is not fruitful in
iflands, and on fhores where it is excluded from
the fea-breezes. To this caufe I afcribe the fte-
rility of thofe which have been planted in the Ifle
of France, on it's weftern more ; for it is meltered
from the Eaft-winds by a chain of mountains. As
to the cocoa-tree, it will not thrive, between the
Tropics, unlefs it has, if I may venture to fay fo,
it's root in the fea-water. It is, I firmly believe,
for want of thofe geographical confiderations, and
fome others of a fimilar nature, that many plans
of improvement in cultivation have failed in
France, and in her Colonies.

However that may be, it might be poffible to
find, within the kingdom, an icy mountain, with,
perhaps, a reverberating valley below. It would
be a mofl agreeable employment to go in fearch
of fuch a fituation, and the greateft benefits might
be derived from it. We might convert it into a
Royal Garden, which mould prefent to our Sove-
reign a fpectacle of the vegetation of a multitude
of climates, upon one line, of lefs than fifteen
hundred fathoms of elevation. There he might
bid defiance to the burning heat of the dog-ftar,
under the (hade of cedars, on the moffy bank of

0,2 a rivulet

228 STUDIES OF NATURE.

a rivulet ifluing from the mow; and, perhaps*
efcape the feverity of Winter's cold, at the bottom
of a valley with a fouthern afpect, under the palm-
tree, and amidft a field of fugar-canes. We might
there naturalize the animals which are the compa-
triots of thofe vegetables. He might hear the
braying of the rein-deer of Lapland, from the fame
valley in which he would fee the peacocks of Java
building their nefts. This landfcape would collect
around him a part of the tributes of the Creation,
and exhibit to him an image of the terreftrial pa-
radife, which was fituatedyas I fuppofe, in a fimi-
lar pofition. In ferious truth, I cannot help ex-
prefïïng a wifh, that our Kings would extend their
fublime enjoyments, as far as the ftudy of Nature
has purfued it's refearches under their fk>uri(Tikig
Empire *.

It now remains, that I examine the harmonies
which plants form with each other. Thefe har-

* Ne/cia mens bominum fati fortifjue /attira / Ah, blind to fu^
turity ! Little did good Saint-Pierre think, that the ill-fated
Prince, for whom he took fo much delight to plant and deco-
rate this earthly Paradife, was, in the courfeofa few fleeting
years, to be dethroned, imprifoned, condemned, and publicly
executed, in the Metropolis of his own Kingdom ; and the very
name of King profcribed by a Nation once enthufiaftically at-
tached to Royalty. How wonderful are the Works of Nature ?
How myfterious the Ways of Providence ! H. H.

monies

STUDY XI. 229

monies conftitute the inexpreffible charms lavifhed
on the fîtes which Nature has (owed and planted
with her own hand ; and they are to be the fub-
ject of the enfuing fe&ion.

VEGETABLE HARMONIES OF PLANTS.

We are going to apply to plants the general
principles laid down in the preceding Study, by
examining, one after another, the harmonies of
their colours, and of their forms.

The verdure of plants, which is fo grateful to
the eye, is a harmony of two colours oppofite in
their elementary generation, of yellow, which is
the colour of the Earth, and of blue, which is the-
colour of the Heavens. Had Nature dyed plants
yellow, they would have been confounded with the
ground ; if blue, they would have been confounded
with the Heavens and the Waters. In the firft
cafe, all would have appeared earth j in the fé-
cond, all would have appeared fea : but their ver-
dure gives them contrails the moft delightful with
the grounds of this magnificent picture, and con-
fonances equally agreeable with the yellow colour
of the Earth, and with the azure of the Heavens.

CL3 The

23O STUDIES OF NATURE.

The green colour poffefies this farther advan-
tage, that it accords in a moft wonderful manner
with all the others, which arifes from it's being the
harmony of the two extreme colours. Painters,
who are endowed with tafte, hang the walls of their
exhibition-rooms with green, in order that the
pictures, of whatever colours they may be, may
detach themfelves from that ground without harfh-
nefs, and harmonize upon it without confufion*.

Nature, not fatisfied with this firft general tint,
has employed, in extending it over the ground of
her fcene, what Painters call tranfitions. She has
appropriated a particular made of bluifh green,
which we call fea- green, to plants which grow
in the vicinity of water, and of the Heavens.
This is the (hade which, in general, tinges the
plants of the fhores, as reeds, willows, poplars ;
and thofe of high grounds, as the thiftle, the cy-r
prefs, and the pine ; and which makes the azure
of the rivers to harmonize with the verdure of the

* Undoubtedly, when they put on a green ground, pictures
of plants, or landfcapes, fuch pictures detach themfelves from it
but indifferently. There is, in my opinion, a tint better adapted
to be the ground of a picture-gallery ; namely, gray. This
tint, formed of black and white, which are the extremes of the
chain of colours, harmonizes with every other, without excep-
tion. Nature frequently employs it in the Heavens, and on the
Horizon, by means of vapours and of clouds, which are gene-
rally of that colour.

meadows,

STUDY XI. 23I

meadows, and the azure of the Heavens with the
verdure of the heights. Thus, by means of this
light and fugitive tint, Nature diffufes delicious
harmonies over the limits of the waters, and along
the profiles of landfcapes ; and it is productive of
a (till farther magic to the eye, in that it gives
greater apparent depth to the valleys, and more
elevation to the mountains»

M

Something more wonderful ftill challenges our
attention, namely this, that though ihe employs
but one fingle colour in arraying fo many plants,
[he extracts out of it a quantity of tints fo prodi-
gious, that each of thofe plants has it's own, pe-
culiar to itfelf, and which detaches it fuffkiently
from it's neighbour to be diftinguifhable from it 5
and each of thefe tints is varying, from day to day,
from the commencement of Spring, when moft of
them exhibit themfelves in a bloody verdure up to
the laft days of Autumn, when they are trans-
formed into various yellows.

Nature, after having thus harmonized the ground
of her picture, by means of a general colour, has
detached from it every vegetable in particular, by
means of contrafts. Such as are defigned to grow
immediately on the ground, on ftrands, or on
du/ky rocks, are entirely green, leaves and Rems,
#s the greateft part of reeds, of gralles, of moffes,

0*4 of

t^t STUDLES OF NATURE»

of tapers, and of aloes ; but thofe which are def-
tined to arife out of the midft of herbage, have
items of different tints of brown; fuch are the
trunks of moft trees, and the ftalks of fhrubs.
The alder, for example, which thrives amidft the
graffy turf, has ftems of an alh-coloured gray; but
the wallwort, which entirely refembles it in all
other refpects, and which grows immediately on
the ground, is green all over. The mugwort,
which grows along hedges, has reddifh flems, by
which it is ealily diftingtiifhable from the neigh-
bouring fhrubs. Nay, there are, in every genus
of plants, certain fpecies which, by their fhining
colours, feem to have been formed for terminating
the limits of their claffes. Such is, in the forb
genus, a fpecies called the Canadian fervice tree,
the branches of which are of a coral red. There
are, in the willow tribe, ofiers whofe fcions are as
yellow as gold ; but there is not a fingle plant'
which does not detach itfelf entirely from the
ground which furrounds it by it's flowers and by
it's fruits.

It is impoffible to fuppofe that fo many varieties
fliould be mechanical refults of the colour next to
which bodies are placed ; for example, that the
bluifh green of moft mountain-vegetables lhould
be an effect of the azure of the Heavens. It is
worthy of being remarked, that the blue colour is

not

• STUDY XI. 233

not to be found, at lead as far as I know, in the
flowers or in the fruits of lofty trees ; for, in this
cafe, they would be confounded with the Hea-
vens ; but it is very common on the ground, in
the flowers of herbs, fuch as the blue-bottle, the
fcabious, the violet, the liverwort, the iris, and
many others. On the contrary, the colour of the
earth is very common in the fruits of lofty trees,
fuch as the cheftnut, the walnut, the cocoa-nut,
and the cone of the pine. Hence we have an
intimation, that the point of view of this magni-
ficent picture was taken from the eye of Man.

Nature, after having diftinguifhed the harmonic
colour of each vegetable, by the contrafting colour
of it's flowers, and of it's fruits, has followed the
fame laws in the forms which ("he has given them.
The moft beautiful of forms, as we have feen, is
the fpherical form ; and the mod agreeable con-
trail which it is capable of forming, is when found
in oppofition to the radiating form. You will fre-
quently find this form and it's contraft in the ag-
gregation of the flowers that go by the name of ra-
diated, as the daify, which has a circle of fmall
white divergent petals, furrounding it's yellow
difk : we find it, likewife, with other combina-
tions, in the blue-bottle, in the afters, and a mul-
titude of other fpecies. When the radiating parts
of the flower are outermost, the fpherical parts are

inmoft,

2J4 STUDIES OF NATURE.

inmoft, as in the fpecies which I have juft named;
but when the firft are inmoft, the fpherical parts
are outmoft : this may be remarked in thofe whofe
ftamina are drawn out into length, and the petals
in fpherical portions, fuch as the flowers of the
hawthorn and of the apple-tree, and moft part of
the rofaceous and liliaceous plants. Sometimes
the contraft of the flower is with the furrounding
parts of the plant. The rofe is one of thofe in
which it is moft ftrongly marked ; it's difk is
formed of beautiful fpherical portions, it's calix is
bridled with beards, and it's (talk with thorns.

When the fpherical form is found placed, in a
flower, between the radiating and the parabolic,
then there is a complete elementary generation,
the effect of v,hich is always highly agreeable; it
is this, too, which is produced by moft of the
flowers that have juft been named, by the profile
of their calices, which terminate their projecting
ftems. The nofegay girls are fo fenfible of the
value of this combination, that they fell a iimpie
rofe on it's branch at a much higher price than
they would afk for a large pofy of the fame flowers,
efpecially if there are on it a few buds, which pre-
fent the charming progreflions of the florification.
But Nature is lo vaft, and my incapacity fo great,
that I muft reftrict myfelf to throwing a iimpie
glance on the contraft, which arifes from the

Ample

STUDY XI. £35

Émple oppofition of forms : it is fo univerfal, that
Nature has given it to plants which had it not in
themfelves, by oppofing them to others which
have a configuration entirely different.

The fpecies oppofite in forms are almoft always
in company. When you fall in with an old wil-
low, on the bank of a river, which art has not de^-
graded, you may frequently fee upon it a great
convolvulus covering the radiated foliage of the
tree with it's own heart- formed leaves, and it's
bell-fliaped white flowers, to make up the defect
of apparent flowers, which Nature has denied to
this tree. Different fpecies of ropeweed produce
the fame harmonies on various fpecies of high gra-
mineous plants.

Thefe plants, called creeping, are fcattered over
the whole vegetable kingdom, and are appropriat-
ed, as I fuppofe, to each vertical fpecies. They have
a great variety of methods of fixing themfelves on
the upright plant, which would alone merit a par-
ticular treatife. There are fome which turn them-
felves fpirally around the trunks of forefl: trees,
fuch as the honey-fuckle ; others, as peafe, have
hands with three to five fingers, by which they
lay hold of fhrubbery : it is very remarkable, that
thofe hands do not make their appearance till they
have acquired a height at which they begin to

have

2$6 STUDIES OF NATURE.

have occafion for them as a fupport ; others, as
the baftard- pomegranate, attach themfelves in
form of cork-fcrew'i others form a fi m pie hook
with the tail of their leaf, as the nafturtium : the
pink employs a fimilar method of adhefion. Thefe
two beautiful flowers are fupported in our gardens
with rods ; but it would be a problem well worthy
of the inveftigation of Florifts, to afcertain what
are the auxiliary plants, if I may call them fo, to
which thefe were defigned to unite themfelves, in
the places where they are native : delightful groups
might be formed by their re-union.

I am perfuaded that there is not a vegetable but
what has it's oppofite in fome parts of the Earth :
their mutual harmony is the caufe of the fecret
pleafure which we feel in wild rural fcenes, where
Nature is at liberty to combine them. The fir-
tree rifes, in the forefts of the North, like a lofty
pyramid, of a dark green, and with a motionlefs
attitude. The birch is almoft always found in it's
vicinity, and grows to nearly the fame height, is
of the form of an inverted pyramid, of a lively
verdure, with a moveable foliage, continually
playing about with every breath of the wind. The
round-leafed trefoil loves to grow in the midft of
the fine grafs, and to adorn it with it's own flow
ery nofegay. Nay, I believe that Nature has made
thofe deep inci fions in the leaves of a great many

vegetables,

STUDY XI.

*37

vegetables, entirely in the view of facilitating alli-
ances of this fort, and of opening a paffage for the
graffes, the verdure and delicacy of whofe Items
form with them an infinity of contrails. Of this
inftances innumerable may be feen in uncultivated
fields, where tufts of grafs pierce through the
broad plants of the thiftle and the echium. This
arrangement has, likewife, been made, in or-
der that the graffes, which are mod ufeful of all
vegetables, might receive a portion of the rain
from Heaven, through the interfaces of the broad
foliage of thofe privileged children of Nature,
which would ftifle every thing around them, but
for thofe profound incifions. Nature does nothing
merely for the pleafure of doing it, but always
connects with it fome reafon of utility : this ap-
pears to me the fo much more decidedly marked,
that the incifions in leaves are much more com-
mon, and deeper in the plants and under-flirub-
bery, which rife to no great height, than in trees.

The harmonies refulting from contraft, are to
be found even in the waters. The reed, on the
brink of rivers, raifes into the air it's radiating
leaves, and it's embrowned diftaff, whereas the
nymphasa extends at it's feet a broad heart-formed
foliage, and rofes of yellow gold : the one prefents,
on the waters, a continued pallifade, and the other
a platform of verdure.

Similar

23S STUDIES OF NATURE.

Similar oppofitions prefent themfelves in th*
mod frightful of climates. Martens, of Hamburg,
who has given us a very good account of Spitz -
bergen, tells us, that when the feamen belonging
to the veflel in which he navigated along it's
coafts, heaved Up the anchor, they feldom failed
to bring up with it a very broad leaf of the alga
marina, fix feet in length, and attached to a tail
as long : this leaf was fmooth, of a brown colour,
fpotted with black, ftriped with two white ftripes,
and made in form of a tongue : he calls it the
plant of the rock. But what is very lingular, it
was ufually accompanied by a hairy plant, about
fix feet in length, like a horfe's tail, and formed
of hairs fo fine, that one might denominate it,
fays he, the filk of the rock. He found on thofe
difmal Ihores, where the empire of Flora is in
fuch a ftate of defolation, the cocblearia (fcurvy
grafs) and the forrel, which grew together. The
leaf of the firft is rounded in form of a fpoon, that
of the other is lengthened into the fhape of the
iron head of an arrow. A Phyfician of confider-
able ability, of the name of Bartholin*, has ob-
ferved, that the virtues of their faits are as oppofite
as their configurations ; thofe of the firft are al-
kalis, thofe of the other are acids; and from their
union refults what medical men call a neutral fait,

* See CbomeVs Hiftory of Common Plants.

which

STUDY XI.

239

which they ought rather to call a harmonic fait, the
moft powerful remedy which can be employed as
an amifcorbutic, and the (curvy is a difeafe which
is readily, and ufually caught in thofe dreadful
climates.

For my own part, I apprehend that the qualities
of plants are harmonic as their forms ; and that
as often as we find them grouped agreeably and
conftantly, there mufl refult from the union of
their qualities, for nourishment, for health, or for
pleafure, a harmony as agreeable as that which
arifes from the contrail of their figures. This is a
prefumption that I could fupport, by referring to
the inftinct of animals, which, in browfing on the
herbage, vary the choice of their aliments ; but
this confideration would lead me away from my
fubject.

1 mould never come to a conclufion, were I to
go into a detail refpefling the harmonies of (o
many plants which we undervalue, becaufe they
are feeble or common. If wc fuppofe them, for
thought's fake, of the fize of our trees, the majefty
of the palm-tree would difappear before the mag-
nificence of their attitudes and of their propor-
tions. Some of them, fuch as the echium, rife
like fuperb candlefticks, forming a vacuum round
their centre, and rearing toward Heaven their

prickly

24O STUDIES OF NATURE.

prickly arms, loaded, their whole length through,
with lamps of violet-coloured flowers. The ver-
bafcum, on the contrary, extends around it, it's
broad leaves of folemn drapery, and fends* up from
it's centre a long diftarT of yellow flowers, as falu-
tary to the ftomach, as grateful to the touch. The
violet, of deep blue, contrails, in the Spring, with
the primrofe, expanding it's golden cup with a
fcarlet brim. On the embrowned angles of the
rock, under the made of ancient beech-trees, the
mulhroom, white and round as an ivory piece for
the chefs- board, arifes out of a bed of mofs of the
moil beautiful green.

MuQirooms alone prefent a multitude of un-
known confonances and contrafts. This clafs is,
firft, the moil varied of all thofe of the vegetables
of our climates. Sebajlian le Paillant enumerates one
hundred and four fpecies of them in the vicinity
of Paris, without taking into the account the fun-
goïds, which furnifh, at leaft, a dozen more. Na-
ture has difperfed them over moft fhady places,
where they frequently form contrafts the mod ex-
traordinary. There are fome which thrive only
on the naked rock, where they prefent a foreft of
fmall filaments, each of which fupports it's parti-
cular chapiter. There are fome which grow on
fubftances the moft abject, with forms the moft
folemn ; fuch is that which thrives on what falls

from

STUDY XI. 24Ï

from the horfe, and which refembles a Roman
hat, whence it has borrowed it's name. Others
prefent agreeable confonances : fuch is that which
grows at the foot of the alder, under the form of
a cockle. What nymph has planted a (hell by the
root of a tree of the rivers ?

This numerous tribe appears to have it's def-
tiny attached to that of the trees, which have each
a mufhroom appropriated to itfelf, and rarely to be
found elfewhere : fuch are thofe which grow only
on the roots of plumb-trees and pines. To no
purpofe does Heaven pour down it's copious rains;
the muihroom, under covert of it's umbrella, re-
ceives not a fingle drop. They derive the whole
fupport of life from the Earth, and from the po-
tent vegetable to whofe fortune they have united
their own : like thofe little Savoyards, who are
planted as pofts at the gates of the hotels of the
Great, they extract their fubfiftence out of the
fuperfluity of another ; they grow under the Iliade
of the Powers of^he foreft, and live on the fuper-
abundance of their fumptuous banquets.

Other vegetables prefent oppofitions of ftrength
to weaknefs in a different way, and confonances of
protection ftill more diftinguilhed. Thofe which
we have been mentioning, like lordly Chieftains,
leave their humble friends at their feet : the others

vol. in. r carry

242. STUDIES OF NATURE.

carry them in their arms, and place them upon
their heads. They frequently receive the recom-
pence of their noble hofpitality. The liannes
which, in the Antilles-Iflands, attach themfelves
to the trees of the foreft, defend them from the
fury of the hurricane. The Gallic Oak has oftener
than once feen itfelf an object of veneration to the
Nations, from having carried the miftletoe in it's
branches. The ivy, a friend to monuments and
tombs ; the ivy, with which, in ancient times,
they crowned the Poets who conferred immorta-
lity, iometimes covers with it's foliage the trunks
of the ftatelieft trees. It is one, among many, of the
irrefiftible proofs of the vegetable compenfations of
Nature ; for I do not recoiled that I ever law the ivy
on the trunks of pines, of firs, or of other trees
whofe foliage lafts all the year round. It invefts
thofe only which are dripped by the hand of
Winter. Symbol of a generous friendfhip, it at-
taches itfelf only to the wretched ; and when death
itfelf has fmitten it's protector, it reftores him
again the honours of the foreft where he lives no
longer ; it makes him revive, by decorating his
(hade with garlands of flowers, and feftoons of un-
decaying verdure.

The greateft part of plants which grow under
the (hade, are adorned with the molt vivid colours ■>
nus the mofles difplay the brilliancy of their eme-
rald

study xr. 243

raid green on the dufky fides of the rocks. In the
forefts, the mufliroom and the agaricum diftin-
guifh themfelves by their colours from the roots
of the trees under which they grow. The ivy de-
taches itfelf from their gray barks by it's fhining
green ; the miftletoe difclofes it's branches of a
yellowifh green, and it's fruits fimilar to pearls,
amidft the thick foliage of the oak. The aquatic
convolvulus dazzles you with it's large white bell-
fliaped flowers on the trunk of the willow. The
virgin's-bower clothes with verdure the ancient
towers, and, in Autumn, her foliage of gold and
purple, feems to fix, on their fober eminences,
thé rich colours of the fetting Sun. Other plants,
entirely concealed from the eye, difcover them-
felves by their perfumes. It is thus that the ob-
fcure violet invites the hand of lovers to the bofom
of the prickly fhrub. And thus is verified, on
every hand, that great Law of contrafts, which
governs the World : No aggregation is, in plants,
the effed of chance.

Nature has eftablifhed, in the numerous tribes
of the vegetable kingdom, a multitude of alli-
ances, the end of which is unknown to us. There
are plants, for example, the fexes of which are on
different individuals, as in the animal Creation.
There are others whom you always find united in
feveral clutters, as if they loved to live in fociety ;

& 2 others,

*44 STUDIES OF NATUKE.

others, on the contrary, you almoft always meet
with in a ftate of folitude. I prefume, that many
of thefe relations are connected with the character
of the birds which live on their fruits, and which
re-fow them. The herbage in the meadows fre-
quently reprefent the bearing of the trees in the
forefls ; there are fome which, in their foliage and
proportions, refemble the pine, the fir, and the
oak : nay, I believe that every tree has a confo-
nance in it's correfponding herb. It is by a magic
of this fort, that fmall fpots of ground prefent to
us the extent of a large diftric~t. If you are under
a grove of oaks, and perceive, on an adjoining
hillock, tufts of germander, the foliage of which
refembles them in miniature, and you will feel all
the effect of a perfpe&ive. Thefe diminutions of
proportion extend from trees even down to moffes,
and are the caufes, in part, of the pleafure which
we enjoy in wild rural fcenes, where Nature has
had leifure to difpofe and accomplish her plans.
The effect of thofe vegetable illufions is fo un-
doubtedly certain, that if you have the ground
cleared, the extent of any particular fpot, when
ftripped of it's natural vegetables, appears much
fmaller than before.

Nature farther employs diminifhing fhades of
verdure, which, being lighter on the fummit of
trees than at their bafe, gives them the appearance

of

STUDY XI.

24|

of being more lofty than they really are. She apr
propriates, befides, the pyramidical form to many
mountain-trees, in order to increafe the apparent
elevation of their fite ; this is obfervable in the
larch, the fir, the cyprefs, and in many other
plants, which grow on heights. She fometimes
Unites, in the fame place, the effects of feafons and
of climates the moft oppofite. She clothes, in hot
climates, the whole fides of mountains with the
vegetable called the ice-plant, becaufe it feems en-
tirely covered over with flakes of ice j you would
believe that, in the midft of Summer, Boreas had
breathed upon it all the chilling blafts of the
North.

On the other hand, we find, in Ruflia, mofTes in
the midft of Winter ; which, from the red and
fmoky colour of their flowers, have the appearance
of being fet on fire. In our rainy climates, (he
crowns the fummits of hillocks with broom and
rofemary ; and the tops of ancient towers with the
yellow gilly-flower ; in the midft of the gloomieft
day, you would imagine you faw the rays of the
Sun mining upon therm

In another place, (he produces the effect of the
wind in the midft of perfect ftillnefs. In many
parts of America, a bird has only to alight on a

* 3 tuft

246 STUDIES OF NATURE.

tuft of the fenfitive plant, in order to put in mo-
tion the whole ftripe, which fometimes extends t<»
three furlongs. The European traveller Hands
Hill, and obferves, with aftonifhment, the air tran-
quil, but the herbage in motion. I myfelf have
fometimes miftaken, in our own woods, the mur-
mur of poplars and of afpins, for the bubbling of
brooks. Oftener than once, feared under their
ihade, on the fkirt of a meadow, whofe herbage
the winds put into an undulatory motion, this
multiplied tremuloufnefs has transfufed into my
blood the imaginary coolnefs of the ftream.

Nature frequently employs the aerial vapours,
in order to give a greater extent to our landfcapes.
She diffufes them over the cavities of vallies, and
Hops them at the windings of rivers, giving you a
glimpfe, at intervals, of their long canals, illumi-
nated by the Sun. She thus multiplies their plans,
and prolongs their extent. She fometimes with-
draws this magic veil from the bottom of the val-
lies ; and rolling it over the adjacent mountains,
on which me tinges it with vermilion and azure,
(he confounds the circumference of the Earth with
the vault of Heaven. It is thus, that (he employs
clouds as evanefcent as the illufions of human life,
to raife us to Heaven ; it is thus that fhe expands
over her mod profound myfteries, the ineffable

fenfations

STUDY XI. 247

iênfations of infinity, and that (he withdraws from
our fenfes the perception of her Works, in order
to convey to our minds a more impreflive feeling
of them.

ANIMAL HARMONIES OF PLANTS.

Nature, after having eftablilhed on a foil formed
of fragments, infenfible and lifelefs, vegetables
endowed with principles of life, of growth, and
generation, accommodated to thefe beings which
had, together with thefe fame faculties, the power
of felf-motion, difpofitions to inhabit them, paf-
fions to derive their nouriihrnent from them, and
an inftinct which impels them to make a proper
choice: thefe are animals. I {hall here fpeak only
of the mod common relations which they have
with plants ; but were I to attempt a detail of
thofe which their innumerable tribes have with
the elements, with each other, and with Man,
whatever might be my ignorance, I mould dif*
clofe a multitude of fçenes fljll more worthy of
admiration.

In an order entirely new, Nature has not changed
her Laws : (he has eftablilhed the fame harmonies
and the fame contrails, of animals to plants, as of
plants to the elements. It would appear natural

R 4 to

248 STUDIES OF NATURE,

to our feeble reafon, and confonant to the great
principles of our Sciences, which afcribe fo much
power to analogies, and to phyfical caufes, that fo
many fenfible beings which are produced in the
midft of verdure, mould be, in procefs of time,
affected by it. The impremons of their parents,
added to thofe of their own infancy, which ferve to
explain fo many appearances in the human fpe^
cies, acquiring, in them, increafing flrength, from
generation to generation, by new tints, ought, at
length, to exhibit oxen and (heep as green as the
grafs on which they pafture. We have obferved,
in the preceding Study, that as vegetables were
detached from the ground by means of their green
colour, the animals which live on verdure diftin-
guifh themfelves from it, in their turn, by means
of their duiky colours; and thofe which live on
the duiky barks of trees, or of other dark grounds,
are inverted with colours brilliant, and fometimes
green.

On this fubjecl, I have to remark, that many
fpecies of the birds of India, which live amidft the
foliage of trees, as the greateft part of paroquets,
many of the colibri, and even of turtles, are of the
fineft green; but independamly of the white, blue,
and red marbled fpots, which diftinguifh their
different tribes, and render them perceptible at a
diflance upon the trees, the brilliant verdure of

their

STUDY Xï. 249

mejr plumage detaches them, to great advantage,
from the folemn and imbrowned verdure of thofe
fouthern forefts. We have feen that Nature em-
ploys this as the general means of diminifhing the
reflexes of the heat ; but, that fne might not con-
found the objects of her picture, if fhe has dark-
ened the ground of her fcene, fhe has bellowed
greater brilliancy on the drefles of the actors.

It would appear that Nature has appropriated
the fpecies of animals coloured, in the moft agree-
able manner, to the fpecies of vegetables, whofe
flowers are the leaft vivid, as a compenfation.
There are much fewer brilliant flowers between
the Tropics, than in the temperate Zones ; and,
as a compenfation, the infects, the birds, and even
the quadrupeds, fuch as feveral fpecies of mon-
keys and lizards, are there arrayed in the moft
lively colours. When they reft on their proper
vegetable, they form with them the moft beautiful
contrafts, and the moft lovely harmonies. I have
often flood ftill, in the Weft-Indies, to contem-
plate the little lizards, which live on the branches
of trees, employ themfelves in catching flies. They
are of a beautiful apple- green, and have on their
back a fort of characters of the moft vivid red, re-
fembling the letters of the Arabian alphabet.
When a cocoa-tree had feveral of them difperfed
along it's fterrij never was there Egyptian Pyramid

of

Q.$0 STUDIES OF NATURE.

of porphyry, with it's hieroglyphics, To myfterious,
and fo magnificent, in my eyes *.

I have, likewife, feen flocks of fmall birds, de*
nominated cardinals, becaufe they are red all over,
fettle on ih rubbery, the verdure of which was black-
ened by the Sun, and prefent the appearance of gi-r
randoles ftudded with little burning lamps. Father
du Tertre fays, that there is not. in the Antilles, a
fpectacle more brilliant, than the alighting of co-
veys of the parrot fpecies, called arras, on the
fummit of a palm-tree. The blue, the red, and
the yellow of their plumage, covers the boughs of
the flowerlefs tree, with the moft fuperb enameL
Harmonies fomewhat fimilar may be feen in our
own climates. The goldfinch, with his red head,
and wings tipped with yellow, appears, at a dis-
tance, on a bufli, like the flower of the thiftle in
which he was hatched. You would fometimes
take the flate-coloured wagtail, when perched on
the extremity of the leaves of a reed, for the flower
of the iris.

* They have fometimes ferved me to explain the moral fenfe
of hieroglyphics, engraven on the obelifks of Egypt, in honour
of her conquering heroes. On beholding the characters traced
upon them from right to left, with heads, beaks and paws, they
brought to my recollection the little fly-catchers of my palm-
trees.

]

STUDY XI. 251

ït would be a very great curiofity to colled a
great number of thefe oppofitions, and of thofe
analogies. They would lead us to a difcovery of
the plant, which is peculiarly adapted to each ani-
mal. Naturalifls have paid to thofe adaptations
no great degree of attention ; fuch of them as have
written the Hiftory of Birds, have clafled them
according to the feet, the bill, the noftrils. They
fometimes fpeak of the feafons of their appearance,
but fcarcely ever of the trees which they frequent.
Thofe only who, employed in making collections
of butterflies, are frequently under the neceffity of
looking for them in their ftate of nymph, or ca-
terpillar, have fometimes diftinguiflied thofe in-
fects by the names of the vegetables on which they
found them. Such are the caterpillars of the ti-
thymale, of the pine, of the elm, and fo on, which
they difcovered to be peculiarly appropriated to
îhefe vegetables. But there is not an animal ex-
ifting but what may be referred to it's own parti-
cular correfponding plant.

We have divided plants into aerial, aquatic, and
terreftrial, as animals themfelves are divifible, and
we have found, in the two extreme dalles, unvary-
ing harmonies with their elements. They may be
farther divided into two clafles, into trees and
herbs, as animals likewife are into volatile and
quadrupeds. Nature does not affociate the two

kingdoms

$52 STUDIES OF NATURE»

kingdoms in consonances, but in contrails ; that
is, (he does not attach the great animals to the
great vegetables ; but unites them contrariwife, by
affociating the clafs of trees with that of the fmali
animals, and that of herbs with the great quadru-
peds : and by means of thefe oppofitions, fhe be-
llows adaptations of protection to the feeble, and
of accommodation to the powerful.

This Law is fo general, that* J have remarked^
in every country, where there is no great variety
in the fpecies of graffes, thofe of the quadrupeds
which live upon them are but few in number -, and
that wherever the fpecies of trees are multiplied,
thofe of volatiles are likewife fo. The truth of
this may be afcertained by confulting the herbals
of many parts of America, and, among others,
thofe of Guyana and of Brafil, which prefent but
few varieties in the graffes, but a great number in
the trees. It is well-known that thofe countries
have, in fact, few quadrupeds natural to them, and
that they are peopled, on the contrary, with an in-
finite variety of birds and infects.

If we caft a glance on the relations of graffes to
quadrupeds, we fhall find that, notwithstanding
their apparent contrafts, there is actually between
themamultitudeofreal correfpondencies. Thefmall
elevation of the gramineous plants places them

within

STUDY XI. 253

within the reach of the jaws of quadrupeds, whofe
head is in a horizontal pofition, and frequently in-
clined toward the ground. Their delicate (hoots
feetn formed to be laid hold of by broad and flelhy
.lips ; their tender ftems, eafily fnapped by the in-
cifive teeth ; their mealy feeds eafily bruifed by
the grinders. Befides, their bufliy tufts, and elaf-
tic without being ligneous, prefent fofc litter to
ponderous bodies.

If, on the contrary, we examine the correfpon-
dencies which exift between trees and birds, we
(hall find that the branches of trees may be eafily
clafped by the four-toed feet of mod birds, which
Nature has difpofed in fuch a manner, that by
means of three before and one behind, they may
be able to grafp the bough as with a hand. Again,
the birds find, in the different tiers of the foliage,
a (belter againfl the rain, the Sun, and the cold,
toward which the thicknefs of the trunks farther
contribute. The apertures formed in thefe, and
the moffes which grow upon them, furnifli fitua-
tions for building their nefts, and materials for
lining them. The round or oblong feeds of trees
are accommodated to the form of their bills. Such
as bear fleihy fruits are reforted to by birds, which
have beaks pointed, or crooked, like a pick-axe.

In

254- STUDIES OF NATURE»

In the iflands of the regions fituated between
the Tropics, and along the banks of the great ri-
vers of America, the greateft part of maritime and
fluviatic trees, among others, many fpecies of the
palm-tree, bear fruits enclofed in very hard (hells,
whereby they are enabled to float on the face of
the waters, which re-fow them at a great diftance;
but their covering does not fecure them from the
attack of the birds. The different tribes of pan>
quets which have made them their habitation, and
of which I have reafon to believe that there is a
fpecies appropriated to each fpecies of palm-tree,
eafily find means to open their hard cafes with
hooked bills, which pierce like an awl, and hold
faft like pincers.

Nature has, farther, accommodated animals of a
third order, which find in the bark, or in the flower
of a plant, as many conveniencies as the quadru-
ped has in a meadow, or the bird in the whole
tree : I mean the infects. Certain Naturalifls have
divided them into fix great tribes, which they
have characterized, according to cuftom, but to
very little purpofe, by Greek names. They clafs
them into coleopterous, or cafed, infects ; as the fca-
rab tribe, fuch are our may-bugs, or chafers : into
hémipterous, or half-cafed, as the gallinfects, fuch
is the kermès : into tétrapîerous farinaceous, or
four-mealy- winged, as butterflies -, into tétrapterous,

without

STUDY XI. 155

without any addition, or four-naked-winged, as
beesj into dipterous, or two- winged, as the com-
mon fly ; and into apterous, or winglefs, as the ant.
But thefe fix clafTes admit of a multitude of divi-
sons and of fubdivifions, which unite fpecies of
infects, of forms and inftincts the moft diffimilar ;
and feparate a great many others of them which
have otherwife a very ftriking analogy among
themfelves.

Whatever may be in this, the order of animals
in queftion appears to be particularly attributed to
trees. Pliny obferves that ants are Angularly fond
of the grains of the cyprefs. He tells us, that they
attack the cones which contain them, on their
half-opening as they arrive at maturity, and plun-
der them to their very laft feed ; and he confiders
it as a miracle of Nature, that an infect fo dimi-
nutive fhould deftroy the feed of one of the largeft
trees in the World. I believe we never mail be
able to eftablifh, in the different tribes of infects,
a real order, and in the ftudy of them, that plea-
fure and utility of which it is fufceptible, but by
referring them to the different parts of vegetables.
Thus we might refer to the nectars of the flowers,
the butterflies and flies which are furnifhed with a
probofcis for fipping up their juices ; to their fta-
mina, thofe flies which, like the bee, have fpoon-
mouths fcooped out in their thighs, lined with

hair,

2^6 STUDIES OF NATURE.

hair, for collecting their powder, and four wings
to aflift them in carrying off their booty ; to the
leaves of plants, the common flies and the gallin-
feels, which have pointed and hollow prongs for
making incifions in them, and for drinking up
their fluids j to the grains, the fcarab race, as the
weevil, which is defigned to force it's way into the
heart of the feed to feed upon it's meal, and which
is provided with wings, incloled in cafes, to pre-
vent their being injured, and with a file to open
for itfelf a paflage ; to the ftem, thofe worms which
are quite naked, becaufe they have no need of
being clothed in a fubftance of wood, which (hel-
lers them on every fide, but they are furnifhed
with augers, by the help of which they fometimes
go nigh to deftroy whole forefts ; finally, to the
wreck of every fort, the ants which come armed
with pincers, and with an inflinct of advancing in
bands to cut to pieces, and to carry off every thing
that fuits their purpofe.

The defert of this vaft vegetable banquet is
hurled down by the rainy torrents to the rivers,
and thence to the Sea, where it prefents a new or-
der of relation with the fifties. It is worthy of re-
mark, that the moft attractive baits which can be
prefented to them, are deduced from the vege-
table kingdom, and particularly from the grains,
of from the fubftances of the plants, which have

the

STUDY XI. 257

the aquatic characters which we have indicated, fuch
as the hard (hell of the Levant, the rum of Smyrna,
the juice of the tithymal, the Celtic fpikenard,
the cummin, the anife, the nettle, the fweet-
marjoram, the root of the birthwort, and the feed
of the hemp. Thus, the relations of thefe plants
with fîmes confirm what has been faid of thofe of
their grains with the waters.

By referring the different tribes of infects to the
«different parts of plants, and in that way only, can
we difcern the reafons for which Nature has been
determined to beftow on thofe diminutive animals
figures fo extraordinary. We fliould then know
the ufes of their utenfils, of which the greater part
is hitherto unknown ; and we mould have conti-
nually new occafion to admire the Divine Intelli-
gence, and to perfect our own. On the other
hand, fuch progrefs in knowledge would diffufe
the cleared light over many parts of plants, the
utility of which is a world unknown to Botanifts?
becaufe they have confonances only with animals.

I am perfuaded, that there is not a fingle vege-
table but what has connected with it, at lead, one
individual of each of the fix general claffes of in-
fects, acknowledged by Naturalifts. As Nature
has divided each genus of plants into different
Ipecies, in order to render them capable of growing

vol. in. s in

258 STUDIES OF NATURE.

in different fkuations ; {he has, in like manner,
divided each genus of infects into different fpecies,
in order to adapt them to inhabit different fpecies
of plants. For this reafon fhe has painted, and
numbered, in a thoufand different but invariable
ways, the almoft infinite divifions of the fame
branch. For example, we conftantly find on the
elm the beautiful butterfly, called the gold- bro-
cade, on account of it's rich colouring. That
which goes by the name of the four omicrons, and
which lives I know not where, always produces
defcendants impreffed with that Greek character,
four times, on their wings. There is a fpecies of
bee with five claws, which lives on radiated flowers
only ; without thofe claws, fhe could not cling fafl
to the plane mirrors of thofe flowers, and load
herfelf from their ftamina, fo eafîly as the common
bee, which ufually labours at the bottom of thofe
which have a deep corolla.

Not that I imagine any one plant nourifhes, in
it's different varieties, all the collateral branches
of one family of infects. I believe that each genus
of thefe extends much farther than the genus of
plants which ferves as it's principal bafis. In this,
Nature manifefts another of her Laws, by virtue
of which fhe has rendered that the beft which is
the molt common. As the animal is of a nature
fuperior to the vegetable, the fpecies of the firft

are

STUDY XI. 259

are more multiplied, and more generally diffufed
than thofe of the fécond. For example, there are
not fo many as fixteen hundred fpecies of plants in
the vicinity of Paris j but within the fame compafs,
there are enumerated near fix thoufand fpecies of
flies. This leads me to prefume, therefore, that
the different tribes of plants crofs with thofe of
animals, which renders their fpecies fufceptible of
different harmonies. Of this a udgment may be
formed from the variety of taftes, in birds of the
fame family. The black headed yellow-hammer
nettles in the ivy ; the red-headed in walls, in the
neighbourhood of hemp-fields ; the brown yellow-
hammer builds on trees by the highway's- fide,
where fhe finishes off her neft with horfe-hair. A
dozen fpecies of that bird are enumerated in our
climates, ea,ch of which has it's particular depart-
ment. Our different forts of larks are likewife
apportioned to different fituations ; to the woods,
to the meadows, to the heaths., to arable lands, and
to the fhores of the Sea.

Very interefting obfervations may be made re-
fpe&ing the duration of vegetables, which are un-
equal, though fubjugated to the influences of the
fame elements. The oak ferves as a monument
to the nations ; and the nojlocium, which grows
at his foot, lives only a fingle day. All I fhall fay
upon this head, in general, is, that the period of

s 2 their

ZOO STUDIES OF NATURE.

their decay is by no means regulated in confor-
mity to that of their growth ; neither is that of
their fecundity proportioned to their weaknefs, to
climates, or to feafons, as fome have pretended.
Pliny * quotes inftances of holmes, of plane-trees,
and of cypreffes, which exifted in his time, and
which were more ancient than Rome, that is, more
than feven hundred years old. He farther tells
us, that there were ftill to be feen near Troy,
around the tomb of Ilus, oaks which had been
therefrom the time that Troy took the name of
Ilium, which carries us back to an antiquity much
more remote.

I have feen, in Lower Normandy, in a village
church-yard, an aged yew, planted in the time of
William the Conqueror ; it is flill crowned with
verdure, though it's trunk cavernous, and through
and through pervious to the day, refembles the
flaves of an old cafk. Nay, there are bufhes which
feem to have immortality conferred upon them.
We find, in many parts of the kingdom, haw-
thorns, which the devotion of the Commonalty has
confecrated by images of the Virgin, and which
have lafted for feveral ages, as may be afcertained
by the infcriptions upon the chapels which have
been reared in the vicinity.

* Natural Hiftory, book xvi. chap. 44.

But,

STUDY XI. 26l

But, in general, Nature has proportioned the du-
ration and the fecundity of plants to the demands
of animal life. A great many plants expire as foon
as they have yielded their feed, which they commit
to the winds. There are fome, fuch as mulh-
rooms, whofe exiftence is limited to a few days, as
the fpscies of flies which feed upon them. Others
retain their feeds all the Winter through, for the
jufe of the birds; fuch are the fruits of molt
Jhrubs.

The fecundity of plants is by no means regu-
lated according to their fize ; but proportionally
to the fecundity of the animal fpecies which is to
feed upon them. The pannic, and the fmall mil-
let, and fome other gramineous plants, fo ufeful
to man and beaft, produce incomparably more
grains than many plants, both greater and fmaller
than themfelves. There are many herbs which
perpetuate themfelves, by their feeds, only once a
year ; but the chickweed renovates itfelf by it's
feeds, up to feven or eight times, without being
interrupted in the procefs even by Winter. It
produces ripe feeds within fix weeks from the
time of it's being fown. The capfule, which con-
tains them, then inverts itfelf, turning toward the
earth, and half opens, to leave them at liberty to
be carried away by the winds, and the rains, which

s 3 fo\y

ÏÔ2 STUDIES OF NATURE,

fow them again every where. This plant enfures,
the whole year through, the fubfiftence of the
fmall birds of our climates. Thus, Providence
is fo much the more powerful, as the creature is
more feeble.

Other plants have relations to animals the more
tenderly arTecling, in proportion as climates and
feafons feemto exercife over the animal the greater
degree of feverity. Were we enabled to invefti-
gate thefe adaptations to the bottom, they would
explain all the varieties of vegetation, in every la-
titude, and in every feafon. Wherefore, for ex-
ample, do moft of the trees of the North (bed
their leaves in Winter ; and wherefore do thofe of
the South retain theirs all the year round ? Where-
fore, in defiance of the Winter's cold in the North,
do the firs there continue always clothed with ver-
dure ? It is a matter of no fmall difficulty to dis-
cover the caufe of this ; but the end is obvioufly
difcernible. If the birch and the larch of the
North drop their foliage, on the approach of Win-
ter, it is to furnifh litter to the beads of the fo-
reft ; and if the pyramidical fir there retains it's
leaves, it is to afford them ihelter amidfh the
fnows. This tree then prefents to the birds the
moffes which are fufpended on it's branches, and
it's cones replenifhed with ripe kernels. In their

yicinity

STUDY XI. 263

vicinity, oftimes, thickets of the fervice-tree dif-
play for their ufe the fhining clutters of their fear-
let berries.

In the Winters of our climates, many ever-
green (hrubs, as the ivy, the privet, and others,
which remain loaded with black or red fruit, con-
trafting flrikingly with the fnow, as the prime-
print, the thorn, and the eglantine, prefent to the
winged creation both a habitation and food. In
the countries of the Torrid Zone, the earth is
clothed with frefh liannes, and (haded with trees
of a broad foliage, under which animals find a
cool retreat. The trees themfelves, of thofe cli-
mates, feem afraid of expofing their fruits to the
burnifig heat of the Sun : inftead of rearing them
as a cone, or exhibiting them on the circumfe-
rence of their heads, they frequently conceal them
under a thick foliage, and bear them attached to
their trunks, or at the fprouting of their branches:
fuch are the jacquier, the banana, the palm-tree of
every fpecies, the papayer, and a multitude of
others. If their fruits invite not the animals ex-
ternally, by vivid colours, they call them by the
noife which they excite. The lumpifh cocoa-nut,
as it falls from the height of the tree which bears
ft, makes the earth refound to a confiderable dif-
tance. The black pods of the canneficier, when
ripe, and agitated by the wind, produce, as they

s 4 clafh

264 STUDIES OF NATURE.

ckfh againft each other, a found refembling the
tic-tac of a mill. When the grayifh fruit of the
genipa of the Antilles comes to maturity, and falls
from the tree, it bounces on the ground with a
noife like the report of a piftol *. Upon this fig-
nal, more than one guefl, no doubt, reforts thither
in quefl of a repaft. This fruit feems particularly
deftined to the ufe of the land-crabs, which are
eagerly fond of it, and very foon grow fat on this
kind of food. It would haveanfwered no purpofe
to them to fee it on the tree, which they are inca-
pable of climbing; but they are informed of the
moment when it is proper for food, by the noife of
it's fall.

Other fruits, as the jaque and mango, affect the
fenfe of fmelling in animals fo powerfully, as to be
perceptible more than the quarter of a league dit-
tant, when the fruit is to windward. I believe
that this property, of emitting a powerful per-
fume, is likewife common to fuch of our fruits as
lie concealed under the foliage, apricots, for in-
ftance. There are other vegetables which ma-
mfeft themfelves to animals, if I may ufe that ex-
prefhon, only in the night-time. The jalap of
Peru, or the belle of the night, opens not her
flrongly-fcented flowers except in the dark. The

* Father du Tertres Hiftory of the Antilles.

flower

STUDY XI. 265

flower of the nafturtium, or nun, which is a native
of the fame country, emits, in the dark, a phof-
phoric light, obferved, for the firft time, in Eu-
rope, by a daughter of the celebrated Linnauu

The properties of thefe plants convey a happy
idea of thofe delightful climates, in which the
nights are fufficiently calm, and fufficiently lumi-
nous to difclofe a new order of fociety among ani-
mals. Nay, there are infects which fland in no
need of any pharos to affift them in {leering their
nocturnal courfes. They carry their lanterns about
them ; fuch are the fpecies of luminous flies. They
fcatter themfelves, fometimes, in the groves of
orange-trees, of papayas, and other fruit-trees, in
the midft of the darkeft night. They dart, at
once, by feveral reiterated beatings of their wings,
a dozen of fiery ftreams, which illuminate the fo-
liage and fruits of the trees whereon they fettle,
with a golden and bluiih light * ; then, all at once
reprefling their motion, they plunge again into ob-
fcurity. They alternately refume and intermit
this fport during the whole night. Sometimes there
are detached from them fwarms of brilliant fparks
of light, which rife into the air, like the emana-
tions of a firework.

* Confult the fame Work of du Tertre.

Were

266 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Were we to ftudy the relations which plants
have to animals, we fliould perceive in them the
ufe of many of the parts, which are frequently
confidered as productions of the caprice, and of
the confufion, of Nature. So widely extended are
'thofe relations, that it may be confidently affirm-
ed, that there is not a down upon a plant, not an
intertexture of a fhrub, not a cavity, not a colour
of leaf, not a prickle, but what has it's utility.
Thofe wonderful harmonies are efpecially to be
remarked, with relation to the lodgings and the
nefts of animals. If, in hot countries, there are
plants loaded with down, it is becaufe there are
moths, entirely naked, which clip off their fleece,
and weave it into clothing. There is found, on
the banks of the Amazon, a fpecies of reed, from
twenty- five to thirty feet high, the fummit of
which is terminated by a large ball of earth. This
ball is the workmanlhip of the ants, which retire
thither at the time of the rains, and of the periodi-
cal inundations of that river : they go up, andde-
fcend along the cavity of this reed, and live on the
refufe which is then fwimming around them on
the furface of the water.

It is, I prefume, for the purpofe of furnifhing
fimilar retreats to many fmall infects, that Nature
has hollowed the ftems of molt of our plants of the

fliore.

STUDY XI. 2&|

Oiore. The valifneria *, which grows in the ftream
of the Rhone, and carries it's flower on a fpiral
item, capable of being drawn out in proportion to
the rapidity of the fudden fwellings of that river,
has holes pierced through at the bafis of it's leaves,
the ufe of which is much more extraordinary. If
you take up this plant by the root, and put it into a
large VefTel full of water, you perceive, at the bafis
of it's leaves, mafTes of a Wuifh jelly, which in-
fenfibly lengthen into pyramids of a beautiful red.
Thefe pyramids prefently furrow themfelves into
flutings, which difengage from the fummit, invert
themfelves all around, and prefent, by their ex-
panfion, very beautiful flowers formed of rays
purple, yellow, and blue. By little and little, each
of thefe flowers advances out of the cavity in which
it is partly contained, and withdraws to fome dif-
tance from the plant, remaining, however, attach-
ed to it, by a fmall filament. You then perceive
each of the rays of which thofe flowers are com-

* Confult, with regard to the Valifneria, the Voyage of an
anonymous Englifh traveller, performed in the year 1750, to
France, Italy, and the Iflands of the Archipelago, in four fmall
volumes, vol. i. It is ftored with judicious obfervations of every
kind. Confult likewife, refpe&ing the genipa, and the different
fruits, plants, and animals of fouthern countries, the fprightly
Father du Tertre, the patriotic Father Charlevoix, John de Laet,
the Hiftorian, and all travellers who have written on the fubjecT:
of Nature, without the fpirit of fyftem, affifted by the light of
feafon alone,

fe|)S STUDIES OF NATURE.

pofed, aflume a motion peculiar itfelf, which comT
municates a circular movement to the water, and
precipitates to the centre of each of them all the
fmall bodies which are floating around. If thofe
wonderful expanfions are difturbed by any fudden
{hock, immediately every filament contracts, all
the rays clofe, and all the pyramids retire into
their cavities ; for thofe pretended flowers are po-
ly pufe s .

There are, in certain plants, parts which may be
confidered as characters of uncultivated Nature, but
which are, like all the reft of her Works, evident
proofs of the wifdom and providence of her Au-
thor ; fuch are the prickles. Their forms are
varied withoqt end, efpecially in hot countries.
Some are iliaped like faws, like hooks, like needles,
like the head of a halberd, and like caltrops.
Some of them are round like awls, fome triangu-
lar, like the lhoemaker's piercer, and fome flat-
tened like a lancet. There is no lefs variety in
their aggregations. Some are arranged on the
leaves in balls, like thofe of the opuntia -, others
in ftripes, like thofe of the Peruvian taper. Some
are invifible, as thofe of the fhrub of the Antilles,
known by the name of captain's-wood. The leaves
of this formidable plant, appear, on the upper
fide, fmooth and fhining ; but they are covered;,
on the under fide, with very delicate prickles,

which

STtJDY XI. ±6§

•which are inferted in fuch a manner, that, apply
your hand to them ever fo cautioufly, it is impof-
fible to avoid pricking your fingers.

There are other thorns planted only on the
flems of plants, others are on their branches. In
our climates, they are fcarcely ever to be found,
except on fhrubbery, and on a few trees ; but in
both Indies, they are fcattered over a great many
fpecies of trees. Their very various forms and dif-
pofitions have relations, of which the greateft part
are to us unknown, to the fecurity and defence of
the birds which live upon them. It was neceflary
that many of the trees of thofe countries mould be
armed with thorns, becaufe many quadrupeds are
there to be found, capable of climbing them, to
eat the eggs and the young of birds, fuch as the
monkey, the civet-cat, the tyger, the wild-cat, the
mufk-rat, the opoflum, the wild rat, and even the
common rat.

The Afiatic acacia * prefents to it's winged in-
habitants a retreat abfolutely inacceffible to their

enemies.

* There is a plant of the Afiatic acacia to be feen in that
beautiful garden adjacent to the iron gate of Chaillot, which
formerly belonged to the virtuous Chevalier de Genjîn. As to
the name of falfe-acaaa, given to the acacia of America, I mud
obferve, that Nature produces nothing falfe. She has given va-
rieties

270 STUDIES OF NATURE.

enemies. It bears no prickles on it's trunk, and
in it's branches ; but at the height of ten or twelve
feet, precifely at the place where the tree begins to
branch off, there is a belt of feveral rows of large
thorns, from ten to twelve inches in length, pré-
fenting an impenetrable rampart of fpikes, nearly
refembling the iron head of a halberd. The collar
of the tree is encircled by it in fuch a manner, that
it is impoffible for any quadruped to get up. The
acacia of America, improperly called the falfe-aca-
cia, has it's prickles formed into hooks, and. fcat-
tered over it's branches, undoubtedly from fome
unknown relation of oppofition to the fpecies of
quadruped which makes war on the bird that in-
habits it.

There are, in the Antilles Iflands, trees which
have no thorny prickles, but which are much more
ingpnionfly protected than if they had. A plant
known in thofe countries by the name of the
prickly thiftle, which is a fpecies of creeping
taper, attaches it's roots, fimilar to filaments, to the
trunk of one of thofe trees, and runs to the ground
«11 around it, to a confiderable diftance, crofTing

rieties of all her productions, in all Countries, in order to be-
ftow upon them relations adapted to the elements and to animals ;
and when we do not find in thefe the characters which we have
affxgned to them, the charge of falfhood is not, in juftice, to be
fixed on her Works, but on our fyftems.

it's

STUDY XI. 27I

k*s branches one over another, and forming an in-
clofure of them, which no quadruped dares to ap-
proach. It likewife produces a fruit very grateful
to the palate. On beholding a tree, the foliage of
which is harmlefs, filled with birds that have there
fixed their habitation, furrounded about the roots
by one of thofe prickly thiftles, and you are pre-
fented with the idea of one of thofe commercial
defencelefs cities, apparently acceffible on every
fide, but protected all around by a citadel, en-
compaffing it with extended intrenchments. Thus
the tree is on one fide, and it's thorn on the other.

Quadrupeds which live on the eggs of birds,
would be reduced to great diftrefs, did not Nature
fometimes produce, on the fummits of thofe very
trees, a vegetable of very extraordinary form, which
opens a paffage to them. It is, in every refpect,
the oppofite of the prickly thiftle. It is a root of
two feet in length, as thick as a man's leg, prick-
ed, as if pierced with a bodkin, and adhering to a
branch of the tree, by a multitude of filaments,
fomewhat in the fame way that the prickly thiftle
is affixed to the under part of it's trunk. Like the
other, it derives it's nourifhment from the tree, and
emits from ten to twelve great leaves, in form of
a heart, of about three feet in length, and two feet
in breadth, refembling the leaves of the nymphœa.
Father du îertre calls it the felfe-root of China.

What

272 STUDIES OF NATURE.

What is flill more extraordinary, it lets fall, from
the top of the tree on which it is placed, in a per-
pendicular direction, very ftrong cordage, of the
lize of a quill, the whole length through, which
takes root on reaching the ground. The plant it-
felf emits no fmell, but this cordage fmells ftrongly
of garlic. Undoubtedly, when a monkey, or fome
fuch clambering animal, perceives this broad ftan-
dard of verdure, to no purpofe does the tree op-
pofe, around it's root, a fortification of thorns,
this fignal announces that he has a friend within
the fortrefs : the fmell of the cordage, which de-
fcends down to the ground, directs him to the
fcali'ng ladder, even during the night ; and while
the birds are ileeping in fecurity on their nefts,
confident in the ftrength of their bulwarks, the
enemy gets poffelTion of the town through the
fuburbs.

In thofe countries, thé thorns upon the trees af-
ford protection even to the infects. Bees there carry
on their honey-making proceffes in the aged
trunks of prickly trees, hollowed by the hand of
Time. It is very remarkable that Nature, who
has provided this refource for the bees of Ame-
rica, has with -held from them a fting, as if thofe
on the trees were fufficient for their defence. I
believe that to this reafon it may be afcribed,
though no attention has been paid to it, that we

have

SÏUDY XI. 273

iiave never hitherto been able to rear in the An-
tilles Iflands, the honey-bees of the country. They
refufed, no doubt, to take up their abode in do-
meftic hives, becaufe they did not confider them-
felves as there in a ftate of fecurity ; but might,
perhaps, have been induced to make that choice,
had the hives to which they were invited been de-
corated and defended by thorns.

If Nature employs prickly vegetables for the
defence even of flies againft the attacks of qua-
drupeds, fhe fometimes makes ufe of the fame
means for delivering quadrupeds from the perfe-
ction of common flies. She has, in truth, be-
llowed on thofe which are the mod expofed to it,
manes and tails, armed with long hair, to drive
them away ; but the multiplication of thofe in-
fects is fo rapid in warm and humid feafons and
countries, as to threaten deftruction to the whole
race of animals. One of the vegetable barriers,
oppofed to them by Nature, is the dionaa mufci-
pila. This plant bears on one and the fame branch,
oppofite little leaves, befmeared with a fugary li-
quor, refembling manna, and fludded with very
fharp prickles. When a fly perches on one of
thofe little leaves, they inftantly clofe with a
fpring, like the jaws of a wolf- trap, ajid the fly is
fpitted through and through.

vol. in. t There

274 STUDIES OF NATURE.

There is another fpecies of the dionœa which
catches thofe infects with it's flower. When a fly
attempts to extract it's nectareous juices, the co-
rolla, which is ttibulous, fhuts at the collar, feizes
the infect by the probofcis, and thus puts it to
death. This plant is cultivated in the Royal Gar-
den. It is obfervable, that it's cup-formed flower
is white, radiated with red, and that thefe two co-
lours univerfally attract flies, from their natural
avidity of milk and of blood.

There are aquatic plants, armed with thorns,
proper for catching fifties. You may fee in the
Royal Garden, an American plant, called martinia,
the flower of which has a very agreeable odour,
and which, from the form of it's rounded leaves,
the fleeknefs of their tails and of their ftems, has
all the aquatic characters which have been indi-
cated. It has this farther character peculiar to it-
felf, that it tranfpires fo copioufly as to appear to
the touch in a (rate of continual humidity. I can
have no doubt, therefore, that this plant grows in
America on the brink of the water. But the fheli
which envelops it's feeds pofieftes a very extraor-
dinary nautical character. It refembles a fifh half
dried, white and black, with a long fin upon the
back. The tail of this fifh is drawn out into great
length, and terminates in a very fharp point, bent
into the form of a fiîh-hook. This tail ufually

feparates

STUDY XI; £75

feparates into two, and thus prefents a double
hook. The configuration of this vegetable fifh is
completely fimilar in fize, and in form, to the
hook which is employed at fea for catching gold-
neys, and at the head of which is figured, in linen,
a flying-fifh, with this exception, that the gold-
ney-hook has but one curve and barb, whereas the
fhell of the martinia has two, which muft render
it's effect more infallible. This fhell contains
feveral black feeds, fhrivelled, and fimilar to the
globules of the fheep's dung flattened*

As I poffefs but few books on Botany, I did not
know of what country the martinia was a native;
but having lately confulted the Work of Linnaus,
I find that we got it from Vera-Cruz. The cele-
brated Naturalift, whom I have juft mentioned,
difcovers, in this (hell, no refemblance but that of
a woodcock's head ; but had he ever feen the hook
for goldneys, he could not poffibly have hefitated
about preferring this fimilitude, in the appear-
ance, in as much as the extremity of this pretend-
ed beak beads back into two hooks, which prick
like needles, and are, as well as the whole fhell,
and the tail, by which it is united to the flem, of
a ligneous and horny fubflance, not eafily broken
afunder. John de Laet * tells us, that the land of

* Hiftory of the Weft-Indies, book v. chap. 1 8=

t 2 Vera-

276 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Vera-Cruz is oh a level with the Sea, and that it5^
port, called St. John de Hutloa, is formed by a fmalt
ifland, no higher than the water -, fo that, fays he,
when the tide rifes very high, the land wholly dis-
appears.

Such inundations are very common at the bot-
tom of the Gulf of Mexico, as we learn from the
relation which Dampier has given us of the Bay of
Campechy, which is in that vicinity. Hence I pre-
fume, that the martinia, which grows on the inun-
dated mores of Vera-Cruz, has certain relations,
which we know nothing of, to the rimes of the
Sea ; in as much as the feeds of feveral trees and
plants of thofe countries, defcribed by John de
Laetj pofTefs very curious nautical forms. A draw-
ing of the martinia, taken from Nature, is pre-
fented fronting page 191 of this Volume.

But there is no occafion to refort to foreign
plants, for afcertaining the exiftence of vegetable
relations to animal. The bramble, which affords,
in every field through which we pafs, a fhelter to
fo many birds, has it's prickles formed into hooks;
fo that it not only prevents the cattle from difturb-
ing the bird's retirement, but frequently lays them
under contribution for a flake of wool or hair, pro-
per for finifliing off their nefts, as a reprifal for
hoftility committed, and an indemnification for

damages

STUDY XI. 2Jj7

damages fuftained. Pliny alleges, that this gave
rife to the pretended animofity between the linnet
and the afs. This quadruped, whofe palate is
proof againft thorns, frequently browfes on the
ihrub in which the linnet builds her neft. She is
fo terrified at his voice, that on hearing it, fays,
he, fhe Hicks down her eggs; and her callow
brood die with terror of it. But fhe makes war
upon him, in her turn, by fixing her attack on
the fcratches made in his hide by the prickles,
and picking the flefh, in thofe tender parts, to the
very bone. It muft be a very amuiing fpectacle
to view the combat between the little and melo-
dious fongfter, and the dull, braying, but other»
wife inoffenfive, animal.

Did we know the animal relations of plants, we
fhould poffcfs fources of intelligence refpecting
the inftincts of the brute creation, with which we
are totally unacquainted. We mould know the
origin of their friendfhips, and of their animofities,
at leaft as to thofe which are formed in fociety ;
for with regard to fucli as are innate, 1 do not be-
lieve that the caufe of them was ever revealed to
any man. Thefe are of a different order, and be-
long to another world. How fhould fo many ani-
mals have entered into life, under the dominion of
hatred, without having been offended ; furnifhed
with /kill and induftry, without having ferved an
t 3 apprentice-

2J$ STUDIES OF NATURE.

apprenticefhip ; and directed by an inflinct more
infallible than experience ? How came the elec-
trical power to be conferred on the torpedo, invi-
fibility on the caméléon, and the light of the flars
thernfelves on a fly ? Who taught the aquatic-bug
to Hide along the waters, and another fpecies of the
fame denomination to fwim upon the back ; both
the one and the other for catching their prey,
which hovers along the furface ? The water- fpider
is ftill more ingenious. She inclofes a bubble of
air in a contexture of filaments, takes her ftation
in the middle, and plunges to the bottom of the
brook, where the air-bubble appears like a globule
of quick- filyer. There, fhe expatiates under the
fhade of the nymphéa, exempted from the dread
of every foe. If, in this fpecies, two individuals,
different in fex, happen to meet, and to fuit each
other, the two globules, being in a ftate of ap-
proximation, become united into one, and the
two infects are in the fame atmofphere. The Ro-
mans, who constructed on the mores of Baia?, fa-
loons underneath the waves of the Sea, in order to
enjoy the coolnefs, and the murmuring noife of
the waters, during the heats of Summer, were lefs
.dexterous, and lefs voluptuous. If a man united
in himfelf thofe marvellous faculties which are the
portion of infeds, he would pafs for a god with
fris fellow-creatures,

16

STUDY XI. 279

It is of importance for us to be acquainted with,
at lead, fuch infects as deftroy thofe which are of-
fenfive to Man. We might turn their mutual hofti-
lity to good account, by converting it into the means
of our own repofe. The fpider catches the flies in
nets 1 the formicaléo furprizes the ants in a tunnel
of land; the four-winged ichneumon feizes the
butterflies on the wing. There is another ichneu-
mon, fo fmall and fo cunning, that it lays an egg
in the anus of the vine-fretter. Man has it in his
power to multiply at pleafure the families of in-
fects which are ufeful to him; and may find means
of diminifhing fuch as make depredations on his
agricultural pofleffions. The fmall birds of our
groves tender him, to the fame effect, fervices of
Hill greater extent, and accompanied with other
circumftances inexpreffibly agreeable. They are
all directed by inftinct to live in his vicinity, and
about the pafturesand habitations of his flocks and
herds. A fingle fpecies of them might frequently
be fufficient to protect the cattle from the infects
which infeft them through the Summer.

There is in the North a gadfly, cailed Kourbma
by the Laplanders, and by the Learned, œjlrus
rangiferinuSj which torments the domeftic rein-
deer to fuch a degree as to force them in agony to
the mountains, and fometimes actually plague
them to death, by depofuing their eggs in the fkin.

t 4 of

2.So STUDIES OF NATURE.

of the animal. Many differtations have, as the
cuftom is, been compofed on this fubject., but no.
remedy for the evil has been propofed. 1 am
convinced there mull be birds in Lapland, which
would deliver the rein-deer from this formidable
infect, did not the Laplanders terrify them away
by the noife of their fowling-pieces. Thefe arms
of civilized Nations have overfpread with barba-
rifm all our plains. The birds, deflined to embel-
lilh the habitation of Man, withdraw from it, or
approach with timidity and miftruft. The found
of mufquetry ought to be prohibited, at leafl,
around the haunts of the harmlefs cattle. Whe^
the birds are not feared away by the fowler, they
follow their inftincts,

I have frequently feen in the Me of France, a
fpecies of ftarling, called martin, imported thither
from India, perch familiarly on the back and horns
of the oxen, to pick them clean. To this bird
that ifland ftands indebted, at the prefent day, for
the deftrudtion of the locufts, which, in former
times, committed fuch ravages upon it. In thofe.
of our European rural fcenes which (till exhibit, on
the part of Man, fome degree of hofpitality to-
ward the innocent warblers, he has the pleafure of
feeing the ftork build her neft on the ridge of his
houfe; the fwallow flutter about in his apart-
ments : and the wagtail, along the bank of the

riverj

STUDY XI. 28l

river, frilk around his Iheep, to protect them from
the gnats.

The foundation of all this variety of pleafant
and ufeful knowledge is laid in the ftudy of plants.
Each of them is the focus of the life of animals,
the fpecies of which there colled in a point, as the
rays of a circle at their centre.

As foon as the Sun, arrived in his annual pro*
greffion, at the fign of the Ram, has given the lig-
nai of Spring to our Hemifphere, the rainy and
warm wind of the South takes it's departure from
Africa, fwells the Seas, elevates the rivers above
their banks, fo that they inundate the adjacent
plains, and fatten them with their fertilizing llime ;
and levels, in the forefts, the aged trees, the de-
cayed trunks, and every thing that prefents an ob-
ftacle to future vegetation. It melts the fnows
which cover our fields, and forcing it's way to the
very Pole, it breaks to pieces, and diflblves the
enormous mafles of ice which Winter had there
accumulated. When this revolution, known all
over the Globe by the name of the equinoctial
gale, has taken place, in the month of March, the
Sun revolves night and day around our Pole, fo
that there is not a fingle point, in the whole nor-
thern Hemifphere, that can efcape his heat.

Every

252 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Every ftep he advances in his courfe through
the Heavens, a new plant makes it's appearance
on the Earth. Each of them arifes in fucceffion,
and occupies it's proper ftation at the hour affigned
to it ; at one and the fame inftant it receives the
light in it's flowers, and the dew of Heaven on
it's foliage. In proportion to it's progrefs in
growth, the different infect-tribes which thence
derive their nourifliment, likewife difplay their
exiflence, and unfold their characters. At this
epocha, too, each fpecies of bird reforts to the
fpecies of plant with which me is acquainted,
there to build her neft, and to feed her young
with the animal prey which it prefents to her, to
fupply the want of the feeds which it has not as
yet produced. We prefently behold the tribes of
birds of paffage flock thither, in queft of the por-
tion which Nature has provided for them like-
wife. Firft comes the fwallow, to preferve our
habitations from the vermin, by planting her neft
around us. The quail forfakes Africa, and graz-
ing the billows of the Mediterranean, and in troops
innumerable, is fcattered over the boundlefs mea-
dows of the Ukraine. The heathcock purfues his
courfe northward as far as Lapland. The wild
ducks and geefe, the filvery (wans, forming long
triangular fquadrons in the air, advance to the
very iflands adjacent to the Pole. The ftork, in
former times adored in Egypt, which (he aban-
dons.

STUDY XI. 283

dons, croffes over Europe, halting here and there
to take repofe, even in great cities, on the roofs of
the houfes of hofpitable Germany. All thefe birds
feed their young on the infe<fts and reptiles which
the newly expanded plants have foftered into life.

Then, too, it is that the fifhes iffue in legions,
from the northern abyfles of the Ocean, allured to
the mouths of rivers by clouds of infects, which
are confined entirely to their waters, or expand
into life along their banks. They ftem the watery
current in fhoals, and advance, fkipping and
fpringing, up to the very fources of the ftream ;
others, as the north-capers, fuffer themfelves to
be fwept into the general current of the Atlantic
Ocean, and appear, in form of a fhip's bottom,
on the coafts of Brafil, and on thofe of Guinea.

Quadrupeds themfelves, likewife, then under-
take long peregrinations. Some proceed from the
South to the North, with the Sun ; others from
Eaft to Weft. There are fome which coaft along
the rugged chains of mountains ; others, follow
the courfes of rivers which have never been navi-
gated. Lengthened columns of black cattle paf-
ture, in America, along the banks of the Méchaf-
fipi, which they caufe to refound with their bel-
lowing. Numerous fquadrons of horfes traverfe
the rivers and the deferts of Tartary ; and wild

(heep

£§4 STUDIES OF NATURE.

fheep ftray bleating amidft it's vaft folitudes.
Thefe flocks have neither overfeer nor (hepherd to
guide them through the defert, to the mufic of the
pipe ; but the expanfion of herbage which they
know, determines the moment of their departure,
and the limits of their progrefs. It is then that
each animal inhabits his natural fituation, and re-
pofes under the (hade of the vegetable of his fa-
thers. It is then that the chains of harmony ex-
ert all their force, and that all, being animated by
confonances, or by contrafts, the air, the waters,
the forefts, and the rocks, feem to be vocal, to be
jmpaflioned, to be tranfported with delight.

But this vaft concert can be comprehended by
celeftial Intelligences only. To Man it is fuffi-
cient, in order to ftudy Nature with advantage,
that he limit his refearches to the ftudy of one
fingle vegetable. It would be neceifary, for this
purpofe, to make choice of an aged tree, in fome
folitary fituation. From the characters which
have been indicated, a judgment might eafily be
formed, whether it be in it's natural pofition; but
ftill better from it's beauty, and from the accef-
fories which Nature uniformly places in connec-
tion with it, where the hand of Man has not inter-
pofed to derange the operations. The ftudent
would firft obferve it's elementary relations, and
the ftriking characters which diftinguilh the diffe-
rent

stuiJY xi, 285

rent fpecies of the fame genus, fome of which
grow at the fources of rivers, and others at the
place of their difcharge into the Ocean. He
would afterwards examine its convolvulufes, it's
mofles, it's miflletoes, it's fcolopendrœ, the mufh-
rooms of it's roots, nay, the very graflfes which
grow under it's (hade. He would perceive, in
each of it's vegetables, new elementary relations,
adapted to the places which they occupy, and to
the tree which fuftains, or Ihelters them.

His attention might next be directed to the
various fpecies of animals which refort to it as a
habitation, and he would prefently be convinced,
that, from the fnaii up to the fquirrel, there is not
a fingle one, but what has determinate and cha-
racteriftic relations to the dependancies of it's ve-
getation.

If the tree in queftion were growing in a foreft,
itfelf too of confiderable antiquity, it would, moft
probably, have, in it's vicinity, the tree which
Nature defigned mould contraft with it in the fame
fite, as, for example, the birch with the fir. It is
farther probable, that the acceffory vegetables and
animals of this laft, would, in like manner, form
a contraft with thofe of the firft. Thefe two
fpheres of obfervation would mutually illuminate
each other, and would diffufe the cleared light

over

286 STUDIES OF NATURE,

over the manners of the animals which frequen-e
them. We fhould then have a complete chapter
of that immenfe and fublime Hiftory of Nature,
the alphabet of which is hitherto unknown to us.

I am fully convinced, that without fatigue, and
almoft without any trouble, difcoveries the moft
curious might be made ; were we to reftrict our
enquiries but to one fîngle compartiment, we
fhould difcover a multitude of the moft enchanting
harmonies. In order to enjoy fome imperfect
fketches of this kind, we muft have recourfe to
travellers. Our Ornithologifts, fettered by me-
thods and fyftem, only think of fwelling their ca-
talogue, and diftinguifh nothing in birds fave the
feet and the bill. It is not in the nefts that they
obferve them, but in hunting, and in their pouch.
They even confider the colours of their plumage
as accidents. It was not by chance, however, that
Nature, on the mores of Brafil, beftowed a beau-
tiful carnation colour, with a border of black,
on the extremity of the wings of the Ouara, a fpe-
cies of curlew, which inhabits the fea-green foliage
of the palétuvier, which grows in the bofom of
the waves, and bears no apparent flowers. The
Javia, another bird of the fame climate, is yellow
over the belly, with the reft of the plumage gray.
It is about the fize of a fparrow, and perches on
the pepper-plant, the flowers of which have no

luftre,

Study *i. 287

luftre, but whofe grains are eaten by this bird, and
re-fown wherever (lie takes her flight.

To thofe correfpondences muft be joined fuch
as pertain to fite, which itfelf derives fo much
beauty from the overfhadowing vegetable. Thefe
harmonies are detailed by Father Francis d' Abbe-
ville. If credit is to be given to the Hiftory of
Voyages by the Abbé Prevoji, there is, on the
banks of the Senegal, a fluviatic tree, the leaves of
which are thorny, and the branches pendant, in
form of an arch. It ferves as a habitation to birds
called kurbalos, or fifhers, of the fize of a fparrow,
variously coloured. Their bill is very long, and
armed with little teeth, refembling a faw. They
build a neft of the bulk of a pear, compofed of
earth, feathers, fhraw, mofs, and attach it to a long
thread, fufpended from the extremity of the
branches which project over the river, in order to
fecure it from the ferpents and monkeys, which
fometimes contrive to clamber up after them. You
would take thofe nefts, at a little diftance, for the
fruit of the tree : and fome of thofe trees contain
to the number of a thoufand. You perceive the
kurbalos fluttering inceffantly along the water,
and entering into their nefts with a motion that
dazzles the eyes.

According

2§8 èTUDIES OF NATURE.

According to Father Charlevoix, there grows id
Virginia, on the brink of the lakes, a laurel-leafed
yew-tree, Which puilies feveral flems from it's
root, the branches of which embrace all the fur-
founding trees, and climb to the height of more
than fixteen feet. They form, in Summer, an im-
penetrable made, and in Winter a temperate retreat
for the birds. It's flowers have no very flriking
appearance, and it's fruit grows in round clutters,
loaded with black grains. This yew has for it's
principal inhabitant, a very beautiful kind of jay.
The head of that bird is adorned with a long black
crefl, which it can erect at pleafure. It's back is
of a deep purple. The wings are black on the in-
iide, blue externally, and white at the extremities,
with white ftripes acrofs every feather. It's tail is
blue, and marked with the fame ftripes as the
wings ; and it's cry is far from being difagreeable.

There are birds which lodge not upon their fa-
vourite plant, but oppofite to it. Such is the co-
libri, which frequently nettles, in the Antilles
(Hands, on the ftraw which thatches a cottage, in
order to live under the protection of Man. In our
climates, the nightingale conftrucls his neft under
covert of a bulh, choofing, in preference, fuch
liquations as repeat an echo, and carefully obferv-
ing to expofe it to the morning fun. Having em-
ployed fuch precautions, he takes his ftation in the

vicinity,

STtTDY XI. 289

vicinity, againft the trunk of a tree ; and there,
confounded with the colour of it's bark, and mo-
tionlefs, he becomes invifible. But he prefently
animates the obfcure retreat which he has chofen,
by the divine melody of his fong, and effaces all
the brilliancy of plumage, by the charms of his
mufic.

But whatever enchantment may be diffufed by
plants and animals over the fituations which have
been afligned to them by Nature, I never can con-
fider a landfcape as pofleffing all it's beauty, unlefs
I perceive in it, at leaft, one little hut. The habi-*
tation of Man confers, on every fpecies of vege-
table, a new degree of intereft or of^majefty. No-
thing more is neceflary, in many cafes, than a tree,
in order to characterize, in a country, the wants of
whole Nation, and the care of Providence. I love
to fee the family of an Arab under the date-tree
of the defert, and the boat of an iflander of the
Maldivias loaded with cocoa-nuts, under the co-
coa-trees of their gravelly ftrands. The hovel of
a poor un-indufttious Negro gives me pleafure,
under the fhade of a great gourd-plant, which ex-
hibits his complete fet of houfhold furniture. Our
magnificent hotels, in great cities, are the habi-
tations of tr;.defmen merely : in the country, they
are transformed into caftles, palaces, temples. The
long avenues which announce them confound

vol. 111. v themfelves

tgO STUDIES OF NATURE.

themfelves with thofe which form the communica-
tion of empires. This is not, in truth, what I
confider as mod interefting in rural fcenery. To
the moft oftentatious exhibition of fplendor, I
have frequently preferred the view of a little ham-
let of fiihermen, built by the fide of a river. With
inexpreflible delight have I fometimes repofed,
under the (hade of the willows, and of the pop-
lars, on which were fufpended the bow-nets, com-
pofed of their own branches.

I fhall now proceed, in my ufual fuperficial
manner, to take a rapid glance of the harmonies
of plants with Man ; and, in order to introduce,
at leaft, fomething of order into a fubject fo rich
in matter, I fhall farther divide thofe harmonies»
relatively to Man himfelf, into elementary, into
vegetable, into animal, and into human, properly
fo called, or alimentary \

IUMAN

STUDY XI. 291

HUMAN HARMONIES OF PLANTS.

Elementary Harmonies of Plants relatively to Mam

If we conlider the vegetable Order under the
fïmple relations of ftrength and magnitude, we
mail find it divided, with a fufficient degree of
generality, into three great claffes, namely, into
herbs, into fhrubs, and into trees. It is to be re-
marked, in the firft place, that herbs are of a fub-
ftance pliant and foft. Had they been ligneous
and hard, like the young boughs of trees, to which
it might appear they ought naturally to have a re-
femblance, as they grow on the fame foil 5 the
greateft part of the Earth would have been in-
acceflible to the foot of Man, till the fire, or the
hatchet, had cleared the way for him. It was not
by chance, therefore, that fo many grafles, moffes,
and herbs, afTumed a foft and yielding texture,
nor from want of nourishment, nor of the means
of expanfion ; for fome of thofe herbs rife to a
very great height, fuch as the banana of India,
and feveral ferulaceous plants of our own climates,
which attain the ftature of a little tree.

On the other hand, there are ligneous fhrubs,
which do not exceed the generality of herbs in

u 2 height;

292 STUDIES OF NATURE.

height ; but they grow, for the mofi part, on
rugged and fleep places, affording to Man the
means of clambering up with facility, for they
fhoot out of the very clefts of the rocks. But as
there are rocks which have no clefts, and which pre-
fent the perpendicularity of a wall, there are like-
wife creeping plants which take root at their bafes,
and which, fixing themfelves to their fides, rife
in clofe cohefion to a height furparhflg that of
many of the tailed trees : fuch are the ivy, the
virgin-vine, and a great number of the lianne
tribe, which mantle along the rocks of fouthern
regions.

Were the Earth covered with vegetables of this
fort, it would be impofhble to walk over it. It is
very remarkable, that when uninhabited iflands
were difcovered, fome were found clothed with
forefts, as the Illand of Madeira ; others in which
there was nothing but herbage and ruihes, as the
Malouine Iflands, at the entrance of Magellan's
Strait; others carpeted with moffes limply, fuch
as feveral little iiles on the coaft of Spitzbergen ;
others, in great number, on which thefe feveral ve-
getables were blended ; but I do not know of a
fingle one which was found to contain only fhrub-
bery and liannes. Nature has placed this clafs
only on places not eafily to be fcaled, in order to
facilitate accefs to Man. It may be affirmed, that

no

STUDY XI. $93

no precipice prefents a furface fo perpendicular as
to be infurmountable, with their afïïflance. Thus
aided, the ancient Gauls were on the point of
florming the capitol.

As to trees, though they are repleniflied with a
vegetative force, which elevates them to a very
confiderable height, the greater part of them do
not fend out their firft branches but at a certain
diftance from the ground. So that though they
form, when they have attained a certain degree of
elevation, an intertexture impenetrable to the Sun,
which they extend to a great diftance around, they
leave, however, about their roots, avenues fuffi-
cient to render them acceffible, fo that the forefts
may be traverfed with eafe and expedition.

Such, then, are the general difpofitions of vege-
tables upon the Earth, relatively to the occafion
which Man had to range over it. The herbage
ferves as a carpet to his feet; the fhrubbery as a
fcaling ladder to his hands; and the trees are as
fo many parafols over his head. Nature, after
having eftablilhed thofe proportions between them,
has diftributed them in all the varieties of fitua-
tion, by bellowing on them, abftracliedly from
iheir particular relations to the elements, and to
the animal creation, qualities the beft adapted to
minifter to the neceffities of Man, and to com-
u 3 penfate

294

STUDIES OF NATURE,

penfate, in his favour, the inconveniences of cli-
mate.

Though this manner of ftudying her Works
be now held in contempt by mod Naturalifts, to
it, however, fhall our refearches be limited. We
have jufl been confidering plants according to their
fhape and fize, after the manner of gardeners ; we
proceed farther to examine them as is done by the
wood-feller, the huntfman, the carpenter, the
fiïherman, the fhepherd, the failor, nay, the nofe-
gay-maker. It is of fmall importance whether wç
are learned, provided we ceafe not to be men.

It is in the countries of the North, and on the
iummit of cold mountains, that the pine grows,
and the fir, and the cedar, and mod part of refi-
nous trees, which fhelter man from the fnows by
the clofenefs of their foliage, and which furnifli
him, during the Winter feafon, with torches, and
fuel for his fire-fide. It is very remarkable, that
the leaves of thofe ever-green trees are filiform,
and extremely adapted, by this configuration,
which pofTefTes the farther advantage of reverbe-
rating the heat, like the hair of animals, for refift-
ance to the impetuofity of the winds, that beat
with peculiar violence on elevated fituations. The
Swedifh Naturalifts have obferved, that the fatteft
pines are to be found on the dryeft and moftfandy

regions

STUDY XI. 295

regions of Norway. The larch, which takes equal
pleafure in the cold mountains, has a very refinous
trunk.

Mathiola, in his ufeful commentary on Diofco-
rides, informs us, that there is no fubftance more
proper than the charcoal of thefe trees, for promptly
melting the iron minerals, in the vicinity of which
they peculiarly thrive. They are, befides, loaded
with molTes, fome fpecies of which catch fire from
the flighted fpark. He relates, that being obliged,
on a certain occafion, to pafs the night in the lofty
mountains of the Strait of Trento, where he was
botanizing, he found there a great quantity of
larches [larix) bearded all over, to ufe his own ex-
preflîon, and completely whitened with mofs. The
fhepherds of the place, willing to amufe him, fet fire
to the moffes of fome of thofe trees, which was
immediately communicated with the rapidity of
gunpowder touched with the match. Amidft the
obfcurity of the night, the flame and the fparks
feemed to afcend up to the very Heavens. They
diffufed, as they burnt, a very agreeable perfume.
He farther remarks, that the belt agaricum grows
upon the larch, and that the arquebufiers of his
time made ufe of it for keeping up fire, and for
making matches. Thus Nature, in crowning the
fummit of cold and ferruginous mountains with
tliofe vafl vegetable torches, has placed the match

v 4 in

296 STUDIES OF NATURE.

in their branches, the tinder at their foot, and the
fteel at their roots.

To the South, on the contrary, trees prefent, in
their foliage, fans, umbrellas, parafols. Thelatanier
carries each of it's leaves plaited as a fan, attached
to a long tail, and fimilar, when completely dif-
played, to a radiating Sun of verdure. Two of
thofe trees are to be feen in the Royal-Garden.
The leaf of the banana refembles a long and broad
girdle, which, undoubtedly, procured for it the
name of Adam's fig-tree. The magnitude of the
leaves of feveral fpecies of trees increafes in pro-
portion as we approach the Line. That of the
cocoa-tree, with double fruit, of the Sechelles
Iflands, is from twelve to fifteen feet long, and
from feven to eight broad. A fingle one is fuffi-
cient to cover a numerous family. One of thofe
leaves is, likewife, to be feen in the Royal Cabinet
of Natural Hiftory. That of the talipot of the
lfland of Ceylon is of nearly the fame fize.

The interefting and unfortunate Robert Kno\\
who has given the beft account of Ceylon which I
am acquainted with, tells us, that one of the leaves
of the talipot is capable of covering from fifteen
to twenty perfons. When it is dry, continues he,
it is at once ftrong and pliant, fo that you may
fold and unfold it at pleafure, being naturally

plaited

STUDY XI.

297

plaited like a fan. In this ftate it is not bigger
than a man's arm, and extremely light. The na-
tives cut it into triangles, though it is naturally
round, and each of them carries one of thofe fec-
tions over his head, holding the angular part be-
fore, in his hand, to open for himfelf a paflage
through the bufhes. The foldiers employ this leaf
as a covering to their tents. He confiders it, and
with good reafon, as one of the greateft bleflings
of Providence, in a country burnt up by the Sun,
and inundated by the rains, for fix months of the
year.

Nature has provided, in thofe climates, parafols
for whole villages ; for the fig-tree, denominated,
in India, the fig-tree of the Banians, a drawing of
which may be feen in Tavernier, and in feveral
other travellers, grows on the very burning fand of
the fea-fhore, throwing, from the extremity of it's
branches, a multitude of moots, which drop to
the ground, there take root, and form, around
the principal trunk, a great number of covered
arcades, whofe made is impervious to the rays of
the Sun.

In our temperate climates, we experience a fimi-
lar benevolence on the part of Nature. In the
warm and thirfly feafon, (lie beftows upon us a va-
riety of fruits, replenished with the moftrefrefhing

juices,

5198 STUDIE9 OF NATURE.

juices, fuch as cherries, peaches, melons ; and, as
Winter approaches, thofe which warm and com-
fort by their oils, fuch as the almond and the
walnut. Certain Naturalifls have confidered even
the ligneous (hells of thefe fruits, as a prefervative
againft the cold of the gloomy feafon ; but thefe
are, as we have feen, the means of floating and of
navigating. Nature employs others, with which
we are not acquainted, for preferving the fub-
fiances of fruits, from the impreflions of the air.
For example, (he preferves, through the whole
Winter, many fpecies of apples and pears, which
have no other covering than a pellicle fo very thin,
that it is impoffible to determine how fine it is.

Nature has placed other vegetables in humid
and in dry fituations, the qualities of which are
inexplicable on the principles of our Phyfics, but
which admirably harmonize with the neceffities of
the men who inhabit thofe places. Along the wa-
ter-fide grow the plants and the trees which are
the dryed, the lighted, and, confequently, the bed
adapted to the purpofe of eroding the dream.
Such are reeds, which are hollow, and rufhes, which
are filled with an inflammable marrow. It requires
but a very moderate bundle of rufhes to bear the
weight of a very heavy man upon the water. On
the banks of the lakes of the North are produced
thofe enormous birch- trees, the bark of a fingle

one

STUDY XI. 299

one of which is fufficient to form a large canoe.
This bark is fimilar to leather in pliancy, and fo
incorruptible by humidity, that, in Ruffia, I have
feen fome of it extracted from under the earth
which covered powder magazines, perfectly found,
though it had lain there from the time of Peter
the Great.

If we may depend on the teftimony of Pliny and
of Plutarch, there were found at Rome, four hun-
dred years after the death of Numa, the books
which that great King had commanded to be de-
posited with his body in the tomb. The body was
entirely confumed ; but the books, which treated
of Philofophy and Religion, were in fuch a date of
prefervation, that Petilius, the Pretor, undertook to
read them, by command of the Senate. On the re-
port which he made refpefting their contents, they
were ordered to be burnt. They were written on
the bark of the birch-tree. This bark confifts of an
accumulation of ten or twelve fheets, white and
thin, like paper, the place of which it fupplied to
the ancients.

Nature prefents to Man different traje&iles on
different (bores. She has planted, on the banks
of the rivers of India, the bamboo, an enormous
reed, which rifes there fometimes to the height of
iixty feet, and fwells to the fize of a man's thigh.

The

300 STUDIES OF NATURE.

The part comprehended between two of it's joints
is fufficient to bear a man up on the water. The
Indian places himfelf upon it a-ftraddle, and fo
crofles a river, fwimming along by the motion of
his feet. The Dutch Navigator, John Hugo de
Linfchoiten, an author of reputation, allures us that
the crocodile never touches perfons who are paf-
fing rivers in this manner, though he frequently
attacks canoes, and even the boats of Europeans.
Linjchotten afcribes the abftinence of this voracious
animal to an antipathy which he has to that fpe-
cies of reed.

Francis Pyrard, another traveller, who' has ob-
ferved Nature with a careful eye, informs us, that
there grows, on the fhores of the Maldivia Iilands,
a tree called candou, the wood of which is fo light,
that it ferves as cork for the filhermen *. I think
I was once polTeffed of a log of wood of that fpe-
cies. It was ftripped of the bark, perfectly white,
of the thicknefs of my arm, about fix feet long,
and fo light, that I could eafily lift it by my finger
and thumb. In thefe fame iflands, and on the
fame flrands, rifes the cocoa- tree, which there at-
tains a higher degree of beauty than any where elfe
in the World. Thus, the tree of all others mod
ufeful to mariners, grows on the fhores of the Seas

* See Pj/wd's Voyage to the Maldivia Iflands, page 38.

mofl

STUDY XI. 301

moft frequented by men of that defcription. All
the world knows that the vefTel is there conftructed
of it's timber, that it's leaves are formed into
fails, that the trunk ferves for a maft, that the
hempen fubftance called caira, which furrounds
it's fruit, is wrought into cordage, and when the
whole is ready for fea, a cargo of cocoa-nuts is the.
lading. It is farther remarkable, that the cocoa-
nut, before it comes to perfect maturity, contains
a liquor which is an excellent antifcorbutic.

Is it not, then, a miracle of Nature, that this
fruit, replenifhed with fuch milk, fhould come to
perfection on the barren ftrand, and within the
warning of the briny Deep ? Nay, it is only on the
brink of the Sea, that the tree which bears it ar-
rives at it's higheft beauty ; for few are to be feen
in the interior of countries.

Nature has placed a palm-tree of the fame fa-
mily, but of a different fpecies, on the fummit of
the mountains of the fame climates : it is the
palmift. The item of this tree is fometimes above
a hundred feet high, is perfectly flraight, and
bears on it's fummit, all the foliage which it has,
a bunch of palms, from the midft of which ilfues
a long roll of plaited leaves, refembling the ftaff
of a lance. This roll contains, in a fort of coria-
ceous fheath, leaves ready to moot, which are very

good

%0Z STUDIES OF NATURE.

good eating before their expanfion. The trunk
of the palmift is woody only at the circumference,
and it is fo hard as to refill the edge of the beft
tempered hatchet. It may be cleft, with the ut-
moft eafe, from end to end, and is filled, in-
wardly, with a fpongy fubftance, which may be
eafily feparated. Thus prepared, it ferves to form,
for conducting waters, frequently diverted from
their courfe by the rocks which are at the fummit
of mountains, tubes which are not corruptible by
humidity. Thus the palm-tree gives to the inha-
bitants of thofe regions the means of conflrudting
aqueducts at the fource of rivers, and fhips at the
place of their difcharge.

Other fpecies of trees render them the fame fer-
vices, in other fituations. On the fhores of the
Antilles 1 Hands grows the acajou, there called, but
improperly, the cedar, on account of it's incor-
ruptibility. It arrives at fuch a prodigious fize,
that out of one log of it they make a boat capable
of carrying fo many as forty men *. This tree
pofferTes another quality, which, in the judgment
of the bed obfervers, ought to render it invaluable
for the marine fervice ; namely this, that it is the
only one, of chofe fhores, which is never attacked
by the fea-worm, an infed fo formidable to every

* Confult Fathers Labat and Du Tertre,

other

STUDY XI. 3O3

other fpecies of timber which floats in thofe feas,
that it devours whole fquadrons in a very little
time, and, in order to preferve them, lays us under
the neceffity, thefe many years paft, of Iheathing
their bottoms with copper. But this beautiful
tree has found enemies more dreadful than the
worm, in the European inhabitants of thofe Iflands,
who have almofl extirpated the whole race of
them.

The manner in which Providence has contrived
a fupply for the thirft of Man, in fultry places, is no
lefs worthy of admiration. Nature has placed, amidft
the burning fands of Africa, a plant whofe leaf,
twifted round like a cruet, is always filled with a
large glafs-full of frefh-water ; the gullet of this
cruet is fhut by the extremity of the leaf itfelf, fo
as to prevent the water from evaporating. She
has planted on fome parched diftricts of the fame
country, a great tree, called by the Negroes Boa.
the trunk of which, of a prodigious bulk, is natu-
rally hollowed like a ciftern. In the rainy feafon it
receives it's fill of water, which continues frefh and
cool, in the greateft heats, by means of the tufted
foliage which crowns it's fummit. Finally, me
has placed vegetable fountains on the parched
rocks of the Antilles. There is commonly found
there a lianne, called the water lianne, fo full of
fap, that if you cut a fingle branch of it, as much

water

304 STUDIES OF NATURE.

water is immediately difcharged as a man can
drink at a draught: it is perfectly pure and limpid.

In the fwamps of the Bay of Campeachy, tra-
vellers find relief of another kind. Thofe fwamps,
on a level with the Sea, are almoft entirely inun-
dated in the rainy feafon, and became fo parched
on the return of dry weather, that many huntfmen
who had happened to mifs their way in the forefts,
with which they are covered, actually perifhed with
third. The celebrated traveller Dompter relates, that
he feveral times efcaped this calamity, by means of
a very extraordinary fpecies of vegetation, which
had been pointed out to him on the trunk of a
kind of pine very common there; it refembles
a packet of leaves, piled one over another in tiers;
and, on account of it's form, and of the tree on
which it grows, he calls it the pine-apple. This
apple is full of water, fo that on piercing it at the
bafis with a knife, there immediately flows from it
a good pint of very clear and wholefome water.
Father du Tertre informs us, that he has feveral
times found a fimilar refrefhment in the leaves,
rounded like a cornet, of a fpecies of balizier,
which grows on the fandy plains of Guadaloupe.
I have been affured by many of our fportfmen,
that nothing was more proper for the quenching
of third than the leaves of the miftletoe, which
grows on many trees.

Such

STUDY XI.

3°5

Such are, in part, the precautions employed by
Providence for compenfating, in favour of Man,
the inconveniencies of every climate; by oppofing
to the qualities of the elements, contrary qualities
in vegetables. I fliall purfue them no farther, for
I believe the fubject to be inexhauftible. I am
perfuaded, that every Latitude, and every feafon,
has it's own, which are appropriated to it, and
that every parallel varies them in every degree of
Longitude.

Vegetable Harmonies of Plants with Man,

Were we now to examine the vegetable relations
of plants to Man, we ihould find them to be infi-
nite in number ; they are the perpetual fources of
our arts, of our manufactures, of our commerce,
and of our enjoyments ; but, in our ufual way, we
fliall jufl run over a few of their natural and direct
relations, with which Man has intermingled no-
thing of his own.

To begin with their perfumes, Man appears to
me the only being, endowed with fenfibility, who
is affected by thefe. Animals, it is granted, and
efpecially bees and butterflies, have certain plants
proper to themfelves, which attract or repel
them by their emanations; but thefe affections

vol. in, x feem

306 STUDIES OF NATURE.

feem to be connected with their neceffities. Maa
alone is fenfible to the perfume and luftre of
flowers, independantly of all animal appetite. The
dog himfelf, who, from Ins domeftic habits, aflumes
fo powerful a tin&ure of the manners and of the
tafles of Man, appears totally infenfible to that
enjoyment. The imprefllon which flowers make
upon us, feems connected with fome moral affec-
tion ; for there are fome which enliven us, whereas
others difpofe us to melancholy, without our being
able to affign any other reafons for it than thofe
which I have endeavoured to unfold, in examining
fome general Laws of Nature.

Inflead of diftin gui thing them as yellow, red,
blue, violet, we might divide them into gay, into
ferious, into melancholy : their character is fo ex-
preflive, that lovers, in the Eaft, employ their
fhades to defcribe the différent degrees of their
paffion. Nature makes frequent ufe of it, rela-
tively to us, with the fame intention. When the
wants to keep us at a diftance from a mar(hy and
unwholefome place, fhe fcatters there poifonous
plants, which prefent dingy colours, and offenfive
fmells. There is a fpecies of arum, which grows
in the moraffes of Magellan's Strait, whofe flower
exhibits the appearance of an ulcer, and exhales
an odour fo ftrong of putrid flefh, that the flefh-
fly reforts to it to depofit her eggs.

But

STUDY XI. 3O7

But the number of fetid plants is of no great
extent. The Earth is clothed with flowers which,
for the moft part, have very pleafing hues and per-
fumes. 1 wifli time would permit me to fay fome-
thing of the fimple aggregation of flowers. This
fubjecl is fo vaft, and fo rich, that I hefitate not
to affirm, that it prefents ample employment for
the moft famous Bocanift in Europe, through his
whole life, by difcovering to him every day fome
new beauty, and that without removing above a
league from his own habitation. All the art with
which jewellers difpofe their gems difappears be-
fore that which Nature difplays in the aflbrtment
of flowers.

I fhewed J. J. Roujfeau the flowers of different
trefoils, which I had picked up, as I was walking
with him : fome of them were difpofed in crowns,
in half-crowns, in ears, in (heaves, with colours end-
lefsly varied. While they were yet on their items,
they had befides other aggregations, with the plants
which were frequently oppofed to them, in colours
and in forms. I afked him, whether Botanifts gave
themfelves any trouble about thofe harmonies : he
told me no ; but that he had advifed a young
Painter, of Lyons, to learn Botany, with a parti-
cular view to ftudy in it the forms and the aflem-
blages of flowers ; and that he had thus become
one of the moft celebrated pattern- drawers in Eu-

x z rope.

308 STUDIES OF NATURE.

rope. On this fubject, I quoted to him a paflage
from Pliny, with which he was highly delighted : it
relates to a Painter of Sicyon, named Paujias, who
learned, by means of this ftudy, to paint flowers at
lead as well as he of Lyons knew how to draw
them : he had, in truth, a mafler as fkilful as Na-
ture herfelf, or rather one and the fame with her,
namely, Love.

I (hall give this ftory in the fimplicity of Ityle
of the old Translator of Pliny, in order to preferve
all it's vivacity*. te In his youth he became ena-
(e moured of a nofegay girl, of the fame city with
" himfelf ; her name was Glycera ; fhe was very
" pretty, and had a Angularly elegant tafte in af-
({ forttng, a thoufand different ways, the flowers
cc of nofegays and chaplets ; fo that Paujias, copy-
f( ing after Nature the chaplets and nofegays of
" his miftrefs, rendered himfelf, at length, perfect
*l in that art. Laft of all, he painted her feated, in
" the action of compofing a chaplet of flowers ;
iC and this picture is confidered as his great mafter-
<c piece : he called it Siephano-Plocos, the garland -
" weaver, becaufe Glycera had no other means of
" relieving the preffure of poverty, but making
ts and felling garlands and nofegays. And it is
6t confidently affirmed, that L. Lucidlus gave to

* Pliny's Natural Hiftory, book xxxv. chap. ii.

" Dionyfw%

STUDY XI. 309

" ÙionyJîuSi of Athens, two talents, for a fimple
" copy of this picture."

This anecdote muft have been fingularly pleal-
ing to Pliny, for he has repeated it in another
place * : " Thofe of Peloponefus," fays he, "were
" the firfl who regulated the colours and the
" fmells of the flowers of which chaplets were
" compofed. It was, however, originally the in-
et vention of Pait/ïas, a Painter, and of a nofegay*
" girl, named G/ycera, with whom he was vio-
" lently in love ; whence he was engaged to imi-
" tate to the life the chaplets and nofegays which
" fhe compofed. But the gill varied in fo many
" ways the arrangement of the flowers of her chap-
" lets, in order toteizeand employ her lover, that
" it afforded very high amufement to behold the
" fk.il! of the Painter Paufias, and the natural pro-
" duel; ion of Glycera, ftriving for the fuperiority."

Ancient Nature is flill better acquainted with
the fubjeâ:, than is the young Glycera. As it is
impoffible to follow her in her infinité variety, we
fhall make, at leaft, one obfervation refpecting her
regularity. It is this, that there is not any one
odoriferous flower, but what grows at the foot of
Man, or at leafb within reach of his hand. All

* Idem, book xxi. cliap. 2,

x 3 thofe

310 STUDIES OF NATURE.

thofe of this defcription are placed on herbage, or
on fhrubbery, as the heliotrope, the pink, the gil-
lyflower, the violet, the rofe, the lilach. Nothing
fimilar to thefe grows on the lofty trees of our fo-
refts ; and if fome flowers of brilliant appearance
are difplayed on certain tall trees of foreign coun-
tries, fuch as the tulip-tree, and the great cheft-
nut of India, they have no very pleafant fmell.
Some trees of India, it is admitted, as the fpice-
bearing plants, are perfumed all over; but their
flowers are not very fhowy, and do not partake of
the odour of their leaves. The flowers of the cin-
namon tree fmell like human excrement : this I
know to be true by experience j if, however, the
trees which were (hewed to me in the Ifle of
France, in a plantation belonging to Mr. Magon>
were the real cinnamon. The beautiful and fra-
grant flower of the magnolia grows on the lower
part of the plant. Befides, the laurel which bears
it is, as well as (pice-trees, a plant of no great ele-
vation.

It is poffible I may be miftaken in fome of my
obfervations ; but luppofing them multiplied, with
refpect to the fame objecl, and attefted by perfons
of veracity, and exempted from the fpirit of fyf-
tem, I am able to deduce general confequences
from them, which ought not to be a matter of in-
difference to the happinefs of Mankind, by de-

monftrating

STUDY XI.

311

monftrating to him the invariable intentions of be-
nevolence in the Author of Nature. The va-
rieties of their adaptation reflect mutual light;
the means are different, but the end is conftantly
the fame. The fame goodnefs which has placed
the fruit deftined for the nourishment of Man,
within reach of his hand, muft have likewife dif-
pofed his nofegay with fimilar attention to his con-
veniency. It may be here remarked, that our
fruit-trees are eafily fcaled, and different, in this
refpeft, from m oft foreft-trees. Farther, all thofe
which produce fruits that are foft, when in a flate
of perfect maturity, and which would have been li-
able to be bruifed in falling, fuch as the fig-tree,
the mulberry, the plumb, the peach, the apricot,
prefent their crop at a fmall diftance from the
ground : thofe, on the contrary, which yield hard
fruit, and fuch as have nothing to rifk from falling
far, carry it aloft, as walnut-trees, cheftnuts, an4
cocoas.

There is no lefs marveloufnefs of adaptation in
the forms and lizes of fruits, Many of them are
moulded for the mouth of Man, fuch as cherries
and plumbs ; others for his hand, fuch as pears
and apples ; others much larger, fuch as melons,
have the fub-divifions marked, and feem deftined
to be a focial family repaft : nay, there are fome
in India, as the jacq, and with ourfelves the pum--

x 4 pion.

312 STUDIES OF NATURE.

pion, large enough to be divided among a neigh-
bourhood. Nature appears to have obferved the
fame proportions in the various fizes of the fruits
deftined to the nutriment of Man, as in the mag-
nitude of the leaves which are defigned to afford
him a fhade in hot countries ; for of thefe fome
are contrived to be a fhelter for a fingle perfon,
others for a whole family, and others for all the in-
habitants of the fame hamlet.

T fhall not dwell long on the other relations
which plants have with the habitation of Man,
from their greatnefs and their attitude, though
many very curious obfervations might be fuggefted
on that fubjec~t. There are few of them but what
are capable of embellifhing his field, his roof, or
his wall. I fhall only remark, that the vicinity of
Man is beneficial to many plants. An anonymous
mifTionary relates, that it is firmly believed by the
Indians, that the cocoa-trees which have houfes
around their roots, become much more beautiful
than thofe where there are none ; as if that ufeful
tree took delight in being near the habitation of
Man.

. Another mifîionary, a bare- footed Carmelite,
called Father Philippe, pofitively afTerts, that when
the cocoa-tree is planted clofe by houfes or huts,
it is rendered more fruitful by the fmoke, by the

afhes,

STUDY XI. 313

afhes, and other circumftances connected with a
human dwelling, fo as to produce double the
quantity of fruit. He adds, that, for this reafon,
the places in India which confift of palm-planta-
tions, are crowded with houfes and little cabins ;
and that the proprietors of thofe plantations give,
at firft, a pecuniary premium, as an inducement to
come and live there, together with part of the
crop when it is reaped. He farther adds, that
though their fruits, which are very large and hard,
frequently fall down from the trees, when they
have attained a ftate of full maturity, either by the
gnawing of the rats, or by the violence of the
winds, there is not a fingle inflance known of any
perfon's being hurt by the fall. This appears to
me no lefs extraordinary than it did to him *,

I might extend the influences of Man to feveral
of our fruit-trees, efpecially the apple-tree and the
vine. I never faw finer apple-trees in the Pais de
(Saux, than thofe which grow around the habita-
tions of the peafantry. It is true that the atten-
tion of the proprietor may have greatly contributed
to this. I have fometimes felt myfelf flopped in
the flreets of Paris, to contemplate with delight
fmall vines, the roots of which are in the fand,

* See Voyage to the Eaft, of R.P. Philippe, a white friar
Book vii, chap. 5. fection. 4.

and

314 STUDIES OF NATURE.

and under the pavement, enriching with theif
ciufters the complete front of a guard-houfe. One
of them, I think about fix or feven years ago, pro-
duced two crops in one year, as was announced in
the public prints.

Animal Harmonies of Plants with Man*

But Nature was not fatisfied with having given
to Man a bower, and a carpet, loaded with fruit ;
this would not have availed him, had (lie not like-
wife furniihed him, in the vegetable order itfelf,
the means of defence againft the depredations of
wild beafts. In vain would he have watched over
the prefervation of his property through the day,
had it been expofed to pillage during the night.
She has beftowed a prickly fhrubbery to enclofe
him roupd and round. The farther we advance
fouthward, we find the greater variety in the fpe-
cies of thefe. But, on the contrary, we fee few^
if any, of thofe thorny ihrubs in the North, where
they appear ufelefs ; there being no orchards to de-
fend. They feem to be produced, in both Indies,
for every kind of fituation. Though I have been
only on the felvage, as I may fay, of thofe coun-
tries, I have feen there a great number of fuch.
fhrubs, the ftudy of which prefented a great va-
riety of curious remarks to a-Naturalift.

Among

STUDY XI. 315

Among others, I took particular notice of one,
ïn a garden on the Ifle of France, which to me ap-
peared proper for compofing a fence impenetrable
Co the fmalleft of quadrupeds. It rifes in form of
a (lake, about the thicknefs of a man's arm, quite
ftraight, without branches, and bearing no ver-
dure except a fmall bunch of leaves on it's fummit.
It's bark is bridled all over with very ftrong, and
very (harp prickles. It attains the height of {even
or eight feet, and grows as thick above as below.
A feries of thefe fhrubs, planted clofe to each
other, would form a real pallifado, without the
fmalleft interval. The opuntia and the taper, fo
common under the Torrid Zone, are armed with
prickles fo keen, that they pierce the foles of your
fhoes if you venture to walk over them. There is
not a tyger, or lion, or elephant, that dares to ap-
proach them. There is another fpecies of thorn,
in the Ifland of Ceylon, which is employed as a de-
fence againft Man himfelf, accuftomed as he is to
force his way through every obftacle. Robert Knox,
whom I have before quoted, informs us, that the
avenues of the kingdom of Candy, in the Ifland of
Ceylon, are blockaded only with faggots of thofe
thorns, with which the inhabitants obftruct the
parles of their mountains.

Man finds in vegetables, protection, not only
againft ferocious animals, but againft reptiles and

infects.

3 1 6 STUDIES OF NATURE.

infecls. Father du Tertre tells us, that he one day
found, in the Ifland of Guadaloupe, at the foot of
a tree, a creeping plant, the flem of which pre-
fented the figure of a ferpent. But he was much
more furprized on perceving feven or eight fnakes
lying dead around it. He communicated this dif-
covery to a medical man, who, by means of it,
performed many wonderful cures, by employing it
in the cafes of perfons bitten by thofe dangerous
reptiles. It is generally diffufed over the reft of
the Antilles Illands, in which it is known by the
name of fnake-wood. It is likewife found in the
Eaft-Indies. John Hugo de Linjchotten afcribes to
it the fame figure, and the fame qualities.

We have, in our own climates, vegetables which
prefent very ftrange correfpondencies and contrails
with reptiles. Pliny tells us, that ferpents are very
fond of the juniper and the fennel, but that they
are rarely found under the fern, the trefoil, the
alh-weed, and the rue; and that betony kills
them. Other plants, as has already been men-
tioned, deftroy flies, fuch as certain fpecies of the
dionasa. Thevenot aflures us, that in the Indies,
o-rooms defend their horfes from the flies, by rub-
bing them every morning with the flowers of the
pumpion. The fleabane, which bears black and
fhining grains, refembling a flea, clears the houfe
of that vermin, if Diofcorides is to be credited.

The

STUDY XI.

3*7

The cchium, which has it's feed formed like the
head of a viper, is fatal to thofe reptiles. It is
probable, that, from fuch configurations, men, in
the earlier ages of the World, difcovered the rela-
tions and the oppofitions between plants and ani-
mals. I am difpofed to believe, that each genus
of infect has it's deftrucYive vegetable with which
we are unacquainted. In general, all vermin fhuns
perfume.

Nature has farther given us, in plants, the firft
patterns of nets for hunting and fifhing. There
grows on certain heaths in China, a fpecies of ra-
tan, fo interwoven and fo ftrong, as to catch and
hold fall the flag, though in full vigour. I myfelf
have feen on the fands of the fea-fhore in the Iile
of France, a fpecies of lianne, called the falfe-po-
tatoe, which covers whole acres, like a vaft filhing
net. It is fo perfectly adapted to this very pur-
pofe, that the Negroes actually employ it in fiih-
ing. They form, with the ftems and foliage of it,
a very long feries of cordages, which they call
into the fea ; and having difpofed them in a chain
encompaffing a great fpace on the water, they draw
it afhore by the two extremities. They fcarcely
ever fail to bring out fiih * , for the fillies are ter-
rified, not only by a net which enclofes them, but

* See Francis Pyrard's Voyage to the Maldivias.

by

3IS STUDIES OF NATURE.

by every unknown fubftance which forms a made
on the furface of the water. By employing an in-
duftry equally fimple, and nearly fimilar, the inha-
bitants of the Maldivia lflands carry on fifheries
to a prodigious extent, employing no other means
to decoy the flm into their receptacles, except a
cord floating on the water, with the help of flicks.

Human, or elementary Harmonies of Plants,

There is not a fingle plant on the face of the
Earth, but what has certain relations to the necef-
fities of Man, and which does not ferve, fome-
where or another, for clothing to him, for a fhel-
ter, for pleafure, for medicine, or, at leaft, for
fuel. Some, which with us are entirely ufelefs, are
in high eftimation in other parts of the World.
The Egyptians put up frequent and fervent prayers
for a plentiful crop of nettles, from the feeds of
which they extract an oil, while the ftem furnifhes
them with a thread, which they weave into excel-
lent cloth. But thofe general relations, being in-
numerable, I fhall confine myfelf to a few particu-
lar obfervations, refpecting the plants which mi-
nifter to the firft of human wants, I mean the food
of Man.

We

STUDY Xï. 319

We remark, firft, that corn, which ferves for the
general fubfiftence of the Human Race, is not
produced by vegetables of a lofty ftature, but by
fimple graffes. The principal fupport of human
life is borne on herbage, and is expofed to the
mercy of every breath of wind. There is reafon to
believe, that had we ourfelves been intruded with
the fafety of our crops, we would not have failed to
place them on great trees; but in this, as well as
in every thing elfe, we are bound to admire Di-
vine Providence, and to miftruft our own wifdom.
Had our harvefts been the produce of the forefts,
in the event of thefe being deftroyed by war, or
fet on fire through our own imprudence, or rooted
up by the winds, or ravaged by inundations, whole
ages would have been requifite to re-produce
them in a country. Farther, the fruits of trees are
much more liable to drop off, than the feeds of
graiTes. The graffes, as has been already obferved,
carry their flowers in an ear, in many cafes fur-
mounted by little beards, which do not defend
their feeds from the birds, as Cicero fays, but which
ferve, as fo many little roofs, to fhelter them from
the water which falls from Heaven. The drops oi
the rain cannot drown them, as they do flowers
radiated, in difks, in rofes, and in umbels, the
forms of which, however are adapted to certain
places and to certain feafons ; but thofe of the
graffes are adapted to every expofure.

When

£20 STUDIES OF NATURE.

When they are borne in flowing and drooping
plumes, fuch as thofe ofmoft grafles of hot coun-
tries, they are fheltered from the heat of the Sun ;
and when collected into an ear, as thofe of mofl
grafles of cold countries, they reflect his rays on
at lead one fide. Farther, by the fupplenefs of
their flems, ftrengthened by joints from diftance
to diftance, and by their filiform and capillaceous
leaves, they efcape the violence of the winds. Their
weaknefs avails them more than flrength does the
great trees. Like fmall fortunes, they are re-fown
and multiplied, by the very fame tempefts which
lay wafte the vafl forefts.

They farther refift the effect of exceflive drynefs
by the length of their roots, which go, in queft of
moifture, a great way under ground ; and though
their leaves are narrow, they have them in fuch
numbers, that they cover the face of the ground
with plants endlefsly multiplied. At the {lighten;
fliower, you fee them all rear themfelves into the
air, at their extremities, as if they were fo many
claws. They even refill conflagration, which con-
fumes fo many trees in the foreft. I have feen coun-
tries in which they every year fet the herbage on
fire, in the feafon of drought, re-cover themfelves,
as foon as it rained, with the mort lovely verdure.
Though this fire be fo active, as frequently to de-
vour, root and branch, the trees which come into

contact

STUDY XI. 321

contact with it, the roots of herbage fuftain no
great injury from it.

They have, moreover, the faculty of re-pro-
ducing themfelves in three different ways, by
moots which pufh away from their roots, by creep-
ing branches, which they extend to a diftance,
and by grains extremely volatile or indigeftible,
which the winds and the animals fcatter about on
every fide. The greatefl part of trees, on the con-
trary, naturally regenerate themfelves only by their
feeds. Add to the general advantages of graffes,
an aftonifliing variety of characters, in their flori-
fication and in their attitudes, which renders them
more proper than vegetables of every other clafs,
to grow in every variety of fituation.

It is in this cofmopolite family, if I may be al-
lowed the expreffion, that Nature has placed the
principal aliment of Man ; for the various fpecies
of corns, on which fo many human tribes fubfift,
are only fo many fpecies of graffes. There is no
land on the Globe where fome kind of corn or an-
other may not be raifed. Homer, who had ftudied
Nature fo accurately, frequently characterizes each
country by the vegetable peculiar to it. One ifland
he celebrates for it's grapes, another for it's olive-
trees, a third for it's laurels, and a fourth for it's
palms j but to the Earth only he gives the general

vol. in. y epithet

322 STUDIES OF NATURE.

epithet of ze/5*p«, or corn- giving. Nature, in facl,
has formed it for growing in all fuuarions, from
the Line to the very border of the Frozen Ocean.
One fpecies is adapted to the humid places of
warm countries, as the rice of Afia, which grows
in vaft abundance in the muddy fwamps by the
fide of the Ganges. Another is fuited to the marfhy
grounds of cold countries ; fuch is a kind of falfe-
oats, which naturally grows on the banks of the
rivers of North-America, and of which many fa-
vage Nations annually raife immenfe crops *.

Other kinds of corn thrive wonderfully well on
warm and dry lands, as the millet and the pannick
of Africa, and the maize of Brafil. In our climates,
wheat agrees beft with a ftrong foil, rye with a
fandy one, buck-wheat with rainy declivities, oats
with humid plains, barley with flony ground. Bar-
ley fucceeds in the very bofom of the North. I
have feeti, as far up as the fixty -firft degree of
North-Latitude, amid ft the rocks of Finland, crops
of this grain as beautiful as ever the plains of Pa-
leftine produced.

Corn affords an abundant fupply to all the ne-
ceffities of Man. With it's flraw he enjoys the

* Confult Father Hennepin, a Francifcan : Cbamplain, and
other Travellers through North-America.

means

STUDY XI. 323

means of lodging, of covering, of warming him-
felf, and of feeding his fheep, his cow, and his
horfe ; with it's grain he can compound aliments
and liquors of every flavour. The northern Na-
tions brew it into beer, and diftil from it flrong
waters, more potent than thofe from winej fuch
are the diftillations of Dantzick. The Chinefe *
extract from rice, a wine as agreeable as the beft
wines of Spain. The Brafilians prepare their ouicou
with maize. In a word, with oats torrefied, it is
poffible to compofe a cream which (hall have the
perfume of the vanilla. If .we unite with thefe
qualities thofe of the other domeftic plants, mod
of which likewife grow all over the Earth, we mall
find in them the favour of the clove, of pepper,
of other fpiceriesj and without going farther than
our own gardens, we mail be able to colled: the
delicacies fcattered over the reft; of the vegetable
Creation.

We may diftinguifti, in the barley and the oats,
the elementary characters which have been formerly
indicated, and which vary the fpecies of plants of
the fame genus, in a conformity to the fituations
where they are designed to grow. The barley det-
uned to dry places has leaves broad and open at
their bafe, which convey the rain-water to the root

* Journey to China, by IJbrand-Ides.

Y 2 of

324 STUDIES OF NATURE.

of the plant. The long beards which furmount
the coat that is wrapped round the grain, are
bridled with denticulations, very much adapted to
the purpofe of making them adhere to the hair of
animals, and of re-fowing them in lofty and dry
fituations. The oats, on the contrary, deftined to
humid places, have narrow leaves, gathered clofe
around the ftem, in order to intercept the rain-
water. The coats of this plant diftended, fimilar
to two long half- bladders, and not very clofely ad-
hering to the grain, render it proper for floating,
and croffing the water by the help of the winds.
But here we are prefented with a (till more won-
derful fact, which will confirm what has been ad-
vanced, refpecling the ufes of the different parts
of plants, relatively to the elements, and which
extends the views of Nature even beyond the fruc-
tification, though we have confidered this as the
determining character; it is, that barley, in rainy
years, degenerates into oats, and that oats, in dry
feafons, change into bailey.

This obfervation, related by Pliny, Galen, and
Mathiola, the Commentator of Diofcorides *, has
been confirmed by the experiments of feveral mo-
dern Naturalifts. Mathiola, indeed, alleges, that
this transformation of barley is not into oats pro-

* See Mathiola on Diofcorides, book iv. page 43 z.

perly

STUDY XI. 325

perly fo called, which he denominates Bromos, but
into a plant which, at firft fight, refembles it, and
to which he gives the name of jEgilops. This trans-
formation, demonftrated by the frequently repeated
experiments of the hufbandmen of his country, and
by that which the father of Galen made, exprefsly
for his own fatisfaction ; together with that of the
flowers of the linarium, and of the leaves of many
vegetables, are fufficient proof, that the elemen-
tary relations of plants, are only fecondary rela-
tions, and that animal, or human, relations are the
primary. Thus, Nature has placed the character
of a plant, not only in the form of the fruit, but
in the fubftance of that very fruit.

Hence I prefume, that having formed, in gene-
ral, of a mealy fubftance, the bafis of human
life, Nature has diffufed it over all fituations, on
different fpecies of graffes ; that afterwards, in-
tending to add to this, certain modifications rela-
tive to fome humors of the human temperament,
or to fome influence of feafon, or of climate, (he
has formed other combinations of it, which fhe
has depofited in leguminous plants, fuch as peafe
and beans, which the Romans comprehended in
the clafs of comblants ; that, finally, fhe has
formed another fort of it, which fhe has laid up
in the fruits of trees, fuch as cheftnuts, or in roots,

y 3 as

326 STUDIES OF NATURE.

as potatoes, and other farinaceous under-ground
vegetables.

Thofe adaptations of fubftance to every climate
are fo infallibly certain, that, in every country,
the fruit which is mod common there is the belt,
and the mod wholefome. Hence 1 farther pre-
fume, that fhe has followed the fame plan with re-
fpedt to medicinal plants ; and that having dif-
fufed over various families of vegetables, virtues
relative to our blood, to our nerves, to our hu-
mors, (lie has modified them in every Country,
conformably to the difeafes which the climate of
each particular country generates, and has placed
them in oppofition with the particular characters
of thofe fame difeafes. It is, in my opinion, from
the neglect of thefe obfervations, that fo many
doubts and difputes have been excited refpect,ing
the virtues of plants. A fimple, which, in one
country, is an infallible cure for a malady, may,
fometimes increafe it in another. The Jefuits-
povvder, which is the pounded bark of a fpecies of
frefh -water manglier of Mexico, is a remedy for
the fevers of America, of a kind peculiar to damp
and hot fituations, but frequently fails when ap-
plied to thofe of Europe. Every medicine is mo-
dified according to the place, juft as every ma-
lady is.

IilraJi

STUDY XI. 327

I (hall purfue this reflection no farther, as it
would lead me into a deviation from my fubject.;
but if Phyficians would pay the attention to it
which it merits, they muft fludy more carefully
the plants of their own country, and not prefer to
them, as they generally do, thofe of foreign cli-
mates, which they are under the neceflity of mo-
difying a thoufand different ways, in order to give
them, as chance may direct., an adaptation to local
maladies. One thing is certain, namely, that when
Nature has determined a certain favour in any ve-
getable, (lie repeats it all over the Earth, with a
variety of modifications, which do not, however,
prevent our diitinguilhing it's principal virtue.
Thus, having placed the cochkaria (fcurvy-grafs)
that powerful anti-fcorbutic, even on the foggy
(hores of Spitzbergen, fhe has repeated the fa-
vour and the medicinal qualities of it, in the creffes
of our brooks, in the garden creffes, in the naftur-
tium, which is a crefs of the rivers of Peru j in a
word, in the very grains of the papaya, which
grows in humid places of the Antilles Iilands. We
find, in like manner, the favour, the fmell, and
the medicinal qualities of our garlic, in the woods,
the barks, and the mofles of America*.

* I muft here obferve that garlic, the fmell of which is fo
formidable to our fine ladies, is, perhaps, the moft infallible re-
medy in the World againft the vapours, and all the nervous dif-
orders to which women are fo fubject. Of this I have had r.e-

y 4 peatcd

328 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Thefe confederations induce me to believe, that
the elementary chara&ers of plants, and their entire
configuration are only fecondary means, and that

their

peated experience. Nay, Pliny goes fo far as to aiTure us, that it
is a cure for the epilepfy. It is, befides, an anrifeptic ; and every
plant which has it's fmell, has alfo the fame virtues. It is very
remarkable, that plants which fmell like garlic, ufually grow in
marfliy places, as a remedy, provided by Nature, againft the pu
trid emanations thence exhaled. Such is, among others, the
Jcordinm. Galen relates, that it's antifeptic virtue became démon-
trable from this, that after a battle, the dead bodies which hap-
pened to be in contact with plants of the fcordium, were found to
be in a much lefs putrid flate than thofe which were not; and
that thofe bodies remained frefh and found chiefly in the parts
which actually touched the plant. But the experiment which
the Baron Bujbequius made with it, upon living bodies, is frill
more ftriking. That great Man, on his return from the firft
journey which he made to Conftantinople, was attended by a
numerous retinue. A Turk of his fuite was attacked with the
plague, and died. His companions refolutely divided his fpoils
among themfelves, in defiance of the remonfbrances of the Phvfi-
cian of Bujbequius, who aflured them that the peftilence would
thereby be immediately communicated. In fact, a few davs
after, the fymptoms of that dreadful malady became apparent
among them.

But let us permit the intelligent and virtuous Ambaffador him-
felf to give an account of the confequences of this alarming event.
" The day after our departure from Adrianople," fays he, "thev
*' all came to him (the Phyfician) with a fad and dejected air,
*« complaining of a violent head-ach, and imploring relief. Thev
" were perfectly fenfible that they were affected with the firft
*' fymptoms of the peftilence. My Phyfician reprimanded them

" feverely,

STUDY XI. 329

their principal character is referable to the necef-
fities of Man. Thus, in order to eftablifh in plants
an order (impie and agreeable, inftead of running

over

" feverely, faying he was aftonifhed how they dared to apply to
" him for a remedy from an evil of which he had fore-warned
" them, and which they had obftinately perfifted in bringing upon
" themfelves. Not, however, that he intended to with-hold any
" afiiftance which might be in his power. On the contrary, he
" became extremely uneafy about the means of relieving them :
" But where was the poflibility of finding medicine on a road
" frequently fubjecled to a failure of the moft common necef-
" faries of life ? Providence became our only refuge, and we
" were effectually fuccoured in this trying hour. I am going to
" relate in what manner.

" It was my cuftom, on our arrival at the different halting-
" places on the road, to go a-walking in the vicinity, and to take
'• a view of every thing curious. That day I was fo fortunate as
" to bend my courfe to an adjacent meadow. My eye happened
" to catch fight of a plant with which I was unacquainted ;
" I picked up fome of it's leaves, and put them to my nofe :
" they fmellcd of garlic. I handed them to my Phyfician, afking
" him if he knew the plant. After having attentively examined
" it, he replied that it was the fcordium. He lifted up his hands
" to Heaven, and gave thanks to God for the feafonable relief
" which He had fent us. He inftantly gathered a conliderable
" quantity, put it into a large kettle, and boiled it thoroughly.
*' Then, calling for the patients, defired them to take courage,
" and, without the lofs of a moment, made them drink copioufly
" of the decoftion of that plant, with a flight infufion of the
" earth of Lemnos : he then had them well warmed, and put to
*' bed, defiling them not to go to fleep till they had fallen into a
" profufe perfpiration, with which they exaftly complied. The

" next

330 STUDIES OF NATURE.

over fucceffively their elementary, vegetable, ani-
mal, and human harmonies, it would be more pro-
per to invert this order, but without changing it,
and to fet out with the plants which prêtent to
Man a fupply for his firft wants, to proceed thence
to the ufes which animals derive from them, and
to conclude with the fituations which determine
their varieties.

This order may be followed fo much the more
eafily, that the firft point of departure is fixed by
the fmell and the tafte. The teftimony of thefe
two fenfes is far from being contemptible ; for
they aflift us in afcertaining the intimate qualities
of plants, much better than the decompofitions of
Chemiftry ; it may be extended to the whole ve-
getable kingdom, inafmuch as there is not a fingle
genus of plants, varied into umbelliferous, rofe-
formed, papilionaceous, and the reft, but what
prefents food to Man, in fome part or another of
the Globe. The ciperus of Ethiopia bears, at it's
root, bulbs which have the tafte of almonds. That
which in Italy is called Trafi produces bulbs which

*' next day they felt themfelves greatly relieved. A fimilar dofe
W was repeated, and the whole ended in a perfect cure. Thus,
« through the goodnefs of God, we efcaped a death which flared
*' us immediately in the face." (Letters of the Baron Bujbequius
*' vol. i. page 197 and 198.)

tafte

STUDY XI. 33I

tafte like cheftnuts *. We have found, in Ame-
rica, the potatoe in the clafs of Jolana, which are
poifons. It is a jafmine of Arabia, which fupplies
us with the coffee-berry. The eglantine, with us,
produces berries fit only for the ufe of birds ; but
that of the Land of YefTb, which grows there
among rocks, and the (hells on the fea-fhore, bears
cups fo large and fo nouriihing, that they ferve
for food to the inhabitants of thofe mores, for a
considerable part of the year \. The ferns of our
hills are unproductive ; but there grows in North-
America a fpecies of this plant, called Filix bacci-
fera> loaded with berries, which are very good to
eatf;. The tree itfelf of the Molucca Iilands,
called Libbi by the inhabitants, and palm-fagoe by
travellers, is, in the judgment of our Botanifts, merely
a fern. This fern contains in it's trunk the fagoe,
a fubftance lighter, and more delicate than rice.
In a word, there are even certain fpecies of fea-
weed, which the Chinefe eat with delight, among
others, thofe which compofe the nefls of a fpecies
pf fwallow.

By difpofing in this order, therefore, the plants
which produce the principal fubfiftence of Man,

* See the Catalogue of Garden-Plants of Boulogne, by Hy-
(uinth Ambrofino

f Confult Collection of Voyages by Tbevenot.

% See Father Charlevoix, his Hiftory of New France,

as

332 STUDIES OF NATURE.

as the grafles, we mould have, firft, for our own
country ; the wheat of ftrong lands, the rye of the
fands, the barley of the rocks, the oats of humid
places, the buck-wheat of rainy declivities ; and
for other climates and expofures, the pannic, the
millet, the maize, the Canadian oats, the rice of
Afia, fome fpecies of which thrive in dry fitua-
tions ; and fo of the reft.

It would be farther ufeful to afcertain on the
Globe the places to which the feveral origin of
each alimentary plant might be referred. What I
have to advance on this fubject may be conjecture
merely, but it appears to me to have an air of pro-
bability. I am of opinion, then, that Nature has
placed in iflands the fpecies of plants which are
mod beautiful, and beft adapted to the neceffities
of Man. Firft, iflands are more favourable to the
elementary expanfions of plants, than the interior
of continents, for there is no one but what enjoys
the influences of all the elements, being completely
furrounded by the winds and the feas, and fre-
quently in it's interior, poffefling the combined
advantages of plains, of fands, of lakes, of rocks,
and of mountains. An ifland is a little world in
epitome. Secondly, their particular temperature
is fo varied, that you find of them in all the prin-
cipal points of Longitude and Latitude, though
there be a conGderable number ftill unknown to

us,

study xi. 333

us, particularly in the South-Seas. Finally, expe-
rience demonftrates, that there is not a fingle fruit-
tree in Europe, but what becomes more beautiful
in fome of the illands along it's coafts, than in the
Continent.

I have fpoken of the beauty of the cheftnut-
trees of Corfica and Sicily : but Pliny, who has
preferved to us the origin of the fruit-trees which
were in Italy in his time, informs us, that moft of
them had been imported from the illands of the
Archipelago. The walnut came from Sardinia ;
the vine, the fig-tree, the olive, and many other
fruit-trees, were natives of the other iflands of the
Mediterranean. Nay, he obferves, that the olive-
tree, as well as feveral other plants, thrives only in
the vicinity of the Sea. All modern travellers
confirm thefe obfervations. Tavernier, who had
fo many times traverfed the Afiatic Continent, af-
fures us, that no olive-trees are to be feen beyond
Aleppo. An anonymous Englifh traveller, whom
I have already quoted with approbation, pofitively
aflerts, that no where, on the Continent, are there
to be found fig-trees, vines, mulberries, as well as
many other fruit-trees, once to be compared, either
as to magnitude or fertility, with thofe of the Ar-
chipelago, notwithstanding the careleflhefs and in-
dolence of the wretched pofleflbrs. To thefe I

might

534 STUDIES OF NATURE.

might add a great many other vegetables, which,
thrive only in tliofe iilands, and which furnilh to
the commerce of Europe, gums, mannas, and dye-
ftuffs. The apple-tree, fo common in France,
produces no where fuch fine fruit, and of fpecies
fo varied, as on the fhores of Normandy, under
the breath of the fea- breeze from the Weft. I
have no doubt that the fruit which was propofed
as the prize of beauty had, like Venus herfelf, fome
favourite ifle.

If we carry our remarks even into the Torrid
Zone, we mail find that it is neither from Afia,
«or from Africa, that we obtain the clove, the nut-
meg, the cinnamon, the pepper of the beft qua-
lity ; the benzoin, the fandal-wood, the fagoe, and
many others, but from the Molucca Iilands, or
from thofe which are in the fame feas. The co-
coa-tree attains it's perfect beauty only in the Mal-
divia Iflands. Nay, there are, in the archipelagos
of thûfe Seas, a great number of fruit-trees de-
fcribed by Dampier, which have not yet been
tranfplanted into the Old Continent ; fuch as the
grape-tree. The double cocoa is to be found only
in the Sechelles Iilands. The iilands recently dif-
covered in the South-Sea, fuch as that of Taïti,
have prefented us with trees hitherto unknown, as
the bread-fruit, and the mulberry- tree, the bark

of

study xi. 335

of which ferves to make cloth. As much may be
faid of the vegetable productions of the Iilands of
America relatively to their Continent.

Thefe obfervations might be extended even to the
very birds and quadrupeds, which are more beau-
tiful, and of fpecies more varied, in iflands, than
any where elfe. The elephants held in higheft
eftimation in Afia, are thofe of the Ifland of Cey-
lon. The Indians believe them to be pofleffed of
fomething divine ; nay, more, they allege, that
other elephants acknowledge this fuperiority. One
thing is certain, they fetch a higher price all over
Afia than any others. In a word, travellers the
mod worthy of credit, and who have made the
mod accurate obfervations, as the Englilh Dam-
pier, Father du Tertre, and fome others, aflure us,
that there is not a (hallow in the feas lying between
the Tropics, but what is diftinguilhed by fome fort
of bird, of crab, of turtle, or of filh, which is no
where elfe to be found, either of fpecies fo varied,
or in fo great abundance. I prefume that Nature
has thus fcattered her choiceft benefits over the
iflands, in order to allure men thither, and to per-
vade the Earth. Thefe are only conjectures, I
grant ; but they rarely deceive us when they are
founded on the wifdom and goodnefs of the Au-
thor of Nature.

The

336 STUDIES OF NATURE.

The fineft fpecies of corn, therefore, which is
wheat, might be referred to Sicily, where, in fad,
they pretend it was originally found. Fable has
immortalized this difcovery, by making that ifland
the fcene of the amours of Ceres ; as well as the
birth of Bacchus, in the Ifle of Naxos, becaufe of
the beauty of it's vines. This much is certain,
that corn is no where indigenous but in Sicily, if,
however, it (till re-perpetuates itfelf there fponta-
neoufly, as the Ancients affirm.

After having determined in the fame manner,
the other human accommodations of the graffes to
different lltuations of ground, we might examine
the graffes which exhibit marked relations to our
domeflic animals, fuch as the ox, the horfe, the
fheep, the dog. We might characterize them by
the names of thefe animals. We fhould have the
gramen bovinum, equinumy ovinum, caninum. The
different fpecies of each of thefe genera, might af-
terwards be diftinguifhed by the names of the
different places where they are found by the fe-
veral animals ; on the banks of rivers, among
rocks, on fands, on mountains ; fo that by the
addition of the epithets, fluviatUe, faxatile, arena-
fum, moniamim, you might fupply, in two words,
all the verbofe phrafeology of our botanical com-
pofitions.

We

STUDY XI.

337

We might apportion, in like manner, the other
graflès, to the different quadrupeds of our forefts,
as to the flag, to the hare, to the wild boar, and fo
on. Thefe firft determinations would require cer-
tain experiments to be made on the taftes of ani-
mals, but they would be very instructive, and
highly amufing. They would have no mixture of
cruelty, as mod of thole of our modern phyfics have,
by which the wretched animal is flead alive, poi-
foned, or fuffocated, in order to come at the know-
ledge of it's propenfities. Our experiments would
fludy their appetites only, and not their convul-
fions. Befides, there are a great many of thofe
preferred and rejected plants, already well-known
to our fhepherds. One of them fhewed me, in the
vicinity of Paris, a gramineous plant, which fattens
(heep more in a fortnight, than the other fpecies
can do in two months. The moment, too, that
they perceive it, they run after it with the utmoft
avidity. Of this I have been an eye-witnefs. I
do not mean, however, to affert that each fpecies
of animal limits it's appetite to a fingle fpecies of
food. It is quite fufficient, in order to eftablifli
the order which I am propofing, that each of them
gives, in every genus of plant, a decided pre-
ference to fome one fpecies ; and this is confirmed,
beyond all doubt, by experience.

VOL. III.

the

33& STUDIES OF NATURE*

The great clafs of the gramineous plants being
thus apportioned to Man and animals, other plants
would prefent ftill greater facility in their appro-
priations, becaufe they are much lefs numerous.
Of the fifteen hundred and fifty fpecies of plants,
enumerated by Sebajiian le Vaillant in the country
adjacent to Paris, there are more than a hundred
families, among which that of the graffes compre-
hends, for it's (hare, eighty-five fpecies, exclufive
of twenty-fix varieties, and our different forts of
corns. It is the moil numerous next to that of
mufhrooms, which contains a hundred and ten
fpecies, and that of moffes, which contains eighty-
fix. Thus, inftead of the fyftematic claffification
of botanic Writers, which gives no explanation of
the ufes of mofl of the vegetable parts, which fre-
quently confounds plants the mofl heterogeneous,
and feparates thofe of the fame genus, we mould
have an order fimple, eafy, agreeable, and of an
infinite extent, which pafiing from Man to ani-
mals, to vegetables, and to the elements, would
difcover to us the plants which ferve to our ufe,
and to that of other fenfible Beings, would render
to each of them it's elementary relations, to each
fite on the Earth it's vegetable beauty, and would
replenifh the heart of Man with admiration and
gratitude. This plan appears fo much the more con-
formable to that of Nature, that it is entirely com-
prehended

study xté 339

prehended in the benediction which it's Author
pronounced upon our firft parents, faying unto
them * : " Behold, I have given unto you every
" herb bearing feed, which is upon the face of all
te the Earth, and every tree, in the which is the
" fruit of a tree yielding feed, after it's kind: to
" you it fhall be for meat : and to every beaft of
" the Earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to
lc every thing that creepeth upon the Earth,
" wherein there is life, I have given every green
" herb for meat."

This benediction is not confined, as far as Mart
is concerned, to fome primordial fpecies in each
genus. It is extended to the whole vegetable
kingdom, which converts itfelf into aliment fit for
his ufe, by means of the domeftic animals. Lin-
nam has prefented to them, from the eight to the
nine hundred plants which Sweden produces, and
he remarked that, of thefe, the cow eats two hun-
dred and eigty-lix; the goat, four hundred and
fifty-eight ; the fheep, four hundred and feven-
teen ; the horfe, two hundred and feventy-eight ;
the hog, one hundred and feven. The firft animal
refufes only one hundred and eighty-four of them;
the fécond, ninety-two ; the third, one hundred
and twelve; the fourth, two hundred and feven -,

' Genefis, chap. i. ver. 29, 30.

Z 2 ^C

34© STUDIES OF NATURE.

the fifth, one hundred and ninety. In thefe enu
merations he comprehends only the plants which
thofe animals eat with avidity, and thofe which
they obfbinately reject. The others are indifferent
to them. They eat them when neceflity requires,
and even with pleafure, wThen they are tender. Not
one of them goes to wafte. Thofe which are re-
jected by fome, are a high délice to others. The
moft acrid, and even the mod venemous, ierve to
fatten one or another. The goat browfes on the
ranunculus of the meadow, though hot as pepper,
on the tithymal and the hemlock. The hog de-
vours the horfe tail and henbane. He did not put
the afs to this kind of proof, for that animal does
not live in Sweden, nor the rein-deer, which fup-
plies the want of him to fo much advantage in
northern regions, nor the other domeftic animals,
fuch as the duck, the goofe, the hen, the pigeon,
the cat, and the dog.

All thefe animals united, feem deftined to con-
vert to our advantage every thing that vegetates,
by means of their univerfal appetites, and efpecially
by that inexplicable inftinct of domefticity which
attaches them to Man ; whereas no art can com-
municate it either to that timid animal the deer,
nor even to fome of the fmaller birds, which feek
to live under our protection, fuch as the fwallow,
who builds her neft in our houfes. Nature has

bellowed

STUDY XI. 34I

beftowed this inftinctof fociability with Man, only
on thofe whofe fer vices might be ufeful to him at
all feafons ; and fhe has given them a configuration
wonderfully adapted to the different afpects of the
vegetable kingdom.

I fay nothing of the camel of the Arabian, which
can travel under a load, for feveral days together,
without drinking, in traverfing the burning fands
of Zara ; nor of the rein-deer of the Laplander,
whofe deeply-cleft hoof can faften, and run along,
on the fuiface of the fnow ; nor of the rhinoceros of
the Siamefe and of the Peguan, who, with the folds
of his /kin, which he can dittend at pleafure, is
able to difengage himfelf out of the marlhy grounds
of Siriam ; nor of the Afiatic elephant, whofe foot,
divided into five ergots, is fo fure on the fteep
mountains of the Torrid Zone ; nor of the lama
of Peru, who, with his forked feet, fcrambles over
the rocky heights of the Cordeliers. Every extra-
ordinary fituation is maintaining for Man a ufeful
and commodious fervant.

But without removing from our own hamlets,
the fingle- hoofed horfe paftures in the plains, the
ponderous cow in the bottom of the valley, the
bounding flieep on the declivity of the hill, the
fcrambling goat on the fides of the rocks; the hog,
furni(hed with a probofcis, rakes up the morals

1 % from

342 STUDIES OF NATURE.

from the bottom ; the goofe and the duck feed on
the fluviatic plants ; the hen picks up every grain
that was fcattered about, and in danger of being
loft in the field ; the four-winged bee collects a
tribute from the fmall duft of the flowers ; and the
rapid pigeon haftens to fave from lofs the grains
which the winds had conveyed to inacceflible rocks.
All thefe animals, after having occupied through
the day the various fîtes of vegetation, return in
the evening to the habitation of Man, with bleat -
ings, with murmurings, with cries of joy, bringing
back to him the delicious produce of the vegetable
creation, transformed, by a procefs altogether in-
conceivable, into honey, into milk, into butter,
into eggs, and into cream.

I take delight in reprefenting to myfelf thofe
early ages of the World, when men travelled over
the face of the Earth, attended by their flocks and
herds, laying the whole vegetable kingdom under
contribution. The Sun, going before them, in the
Spring, invited them to advance to the fartheft ex-
tremities of the North, and to return with Autumn
bringing up his train. His annual courfe in the
Heavens feems to be regulated by the progrefs of
Man over the Earth. While the Orb of Day is
advancing from the Tropic of Capricorn to that
of Cancer, a traveller departing on foot from the
Torrid Zone, may arrive on the fhores of the

Frozen

study xi. 343

Frozen Ocean, and return thence into the Tempe-
rate Zone, when the Sun traces backward his pro-
grefs, at the rate of only four, or, at moft, five
leagues a day, without being incommoded, the
whole journey through, with either the fultry heat
of Summer, or the froft of Winter. It is by regu-
lating themfelves according to the annual courfe
of the Sun, that certain Tartar-hordes ftill travel.

What a fpectacle muft the virgin Earth have
prefented to it's firft inhabitants, while every thing
was as yet in it's place, and Nature not yet de-
graded by the injudicious labours, or the defperate
madnefs of Man ! I fuppofe them taking their de-
parture from the banks of the Indus, that land
which is the cradle of the Human Race, on a pro-
grefs northward. They firft crofted the lofty
mountains of Bember, continually covered with
fnow, which, like a rampart, encompafs the happy
land of Cachemire, and feparate it from the burn-
ing kingdom of Lahor*. They prefented them-
felves to their eyes like vaft amphitheatres of ver-
dure, clothed, to the South, with all the vegetables
of India, and, to the North, with all thofe of Eu-
rope. They defcended into the vaft bafon which
contains them, and there they beheld a part of the
fruit-trees which were deftined one day to enrich

* Confult Bemier's Defcription of the Mogul Country.

z 4 our

344 STUDIES OF NATURE

our orchards. The apricots of Media, and the
peach-trees of Perfia, fkirted, with their bloflbming
boughs, the lakes, and the brooks of living water
which bedew their roots. On leaving the ever-
green vallies of Cachemire, they quickly pene-
trated into the forefts of Europe, and went to re-
pofe under the foliage of the (lately beech and
tufted elm, which had as yet (haded only the loves
of the feathered race, and which no Poet had hi-
therto fung. They eroded the boundlefs meadows
which are warned by the Irtis, refembling Oceans
of verdure, here and there diverfified with long
beds of yellow lilies, with (tripes of ginzang, and
tufts of broad-leaved rhubarb. Following the
track of it's current, they plunged into the forefts
of the North, under the majeflic branches of the
fir, and the moving foliage of the birch.

What fmiling vallies opened to their view, along
the rivers-fide, and invited them to deviate from the
road, by promifing them objects (till more lovely !
What hills enamelled with unknown flowers, and
crowned with ancient and venerable trees, endea-
voured to perfuade them to proceed no farther !
Arrived on the (hores of the Icy Sea, a new order
of things arofe to view. There was now no more
night. The Sun encompafled the Horizon round
and round ; and the mifts, difperfed through the
air, repeated, on different planes, the luftre of his

rays

STUDY xi. 345

rays in rainbows of purple, and parhelions of daz-
zling radiance. But, if the magnificence of the
Heavens was multiplied, defolation covered the
face of the Earth. The Ocean was hoary with
mountains of floating ice, which appeared in the
Horizon like towers and cities in ruin ; and on the
land, nothing to be feen, in place of groves, but
a wretched fhrubbery blafted by the winds, and
inftead of verdant meads, rocks clothed with mofs.
The flocks which had accompanied them muft
there undoubtedly have primed ; but even there
Nature had ftill made provifion for the neceffities
of Man. Thofe fhores were compofed of mafly
beds of coal *. The feas fwarmed with fifties, and
the lakes with fowls. They muft find, among the
animal tribes, fervants and affiliants : the rein-deer
appeared in the middle of the mofles : (he pre-
fented to thofe wandering families, the fervices of
the horfe in her agility, the fleece of the fheep in
her fur ; and fhewing them, like the cow, her four
teats, and but one nuriling, fhe feemed to tell
them that fhe was deftined, like her, to fhare her
milk with mothers opprefled by a too numerous
offspring,

But the Eaft muft have been the part of the
Globe which firft attracted the attention of Man-

* Profeflbr Gmlin's Journey to Siberia.

kind.

346 STUDIES OF NATURE.

kind. That place of the Horizon where the Sun
arifes, undoubtedly fixed their wondering eyes, at
a period when no fyftem had interpofed to regulate
opinion. On feeing that great Luminary arifing,
from day to day, in the fame quarter of the Hea-
vens, they muft have been perfuaded that he there
had a fixed habitation, and that he had another
where he fer, as a place of reft. Such imagina-
tions, confirmed by the teftimony of their eyes,
were, it muft be admitted, natural to men defti-
lute of experience, who had attempted to erect a
tower which mould reach to Heaven, and who,
even in the illumination of more fcientific ages,
believed, as a point of religion, that the Sun was
drawn about in a chariot by horfes, and retired
every evening to repofe in the arms of Thetis. I
prefume, they would be determined to go in queft
of him rather toward the Eaft than toward the
Weft, under the perfuafion that they would greatly
abridge their labour, by advancing to meet him.

It muft have been this conviction, I am difpofed
to think, which left the Weft, for a long time, in
a deferted ftate, under the very fame Latitudes
which, in the Eaft, were fwarming with inhabi-
tants, and which firft fent men in crowds. toward
the eaftern part of our Continent, where the ear-
lieft. and moft populous Empire of the World,
that of China, was formed. What confirms me

farther

STUDY XI. 347

farther in the belief, that the firft men, who ad-
vanced toward the Eaft, were engaged in this re-
fearch, and were in hafte to reach their object, is
this, that having taken their departure from India,
the cradle of the Human Race, like the founders
of other Nations, they did not, like them, people
the Earth progreffively, as Perfia, Greece, Italy,
and Gaul, were fucceffively, in a wefterly direction ;
but leaving defert the vail: and fertile countries of
Siam, of Cochinchina, and of Tonquin, which are
to this day half barbarous and uninhabited, they
never gave up the purfuit till they were (lopped by
the Eaftern Ocean ; and they gave to the iflands
which they perceived at a diftance, and on which
they did not for a long time, acquire the ikill to
land, the name of Gepuen, which we have trans-
formed into Japan, and which, in the Chinefe lan-
guage, fignifies, birth of the Sun.

Father Kircher * aflures us, that when the firft
Jefuit Aflronomers arrived in China, and there re-
formed the Calendar, the Chinefe believed the Sun
and the Moon to be no bigger than they appear
to the eye ; that, on fetting, they retired to a deep
cave, from which they iffued next day at the time
of rifing ; and, finally, that the Earth was a plane
and fmooth furface. Tacitus, who has written Hif-

* See China illuftrated, chap, ix.

tory

348 STUDIES OF NATURE.

tory with fuch profound judgment, does not deem
it to be beneath him, in that of Germany, to re-
late the traditions of the weftern Nations, who af-
firmed, that toward the North-weft was the place
where the Sun went to bed, and that they could
hear the noife which he made on plunging into the
waves.

It was from the quarter of the Eaft, then, that
the Orb of Day firft attracted the curioiïty of Man-
kind. There were, likewife, tribes which directed
their courfe toward that point of the Globe, taking
their departure from the fouthern part of India.
Thefe advanced along the peninfula of Malacca;
and, familiarized with the Sea, which they coafted
moft of the way, they were induced to form the
refolution of availing themfelves of the united ac-
commodation which the two elements prefent to
travellers, by navigating from ifland to ifland.
They thus pervaded that vaft belt of iilands, which
Nature has thrown into the Torrid Zone, like a
bridge interfered by canals, in order to facilitate
the communication of the two Worlds. When re-
tarded by tempefts, or contrary winds, they drew
their barks alhore, caft a few feeds into the ground,
reaped the crop, and deferred their re-embarka-
tion till fairer weather, and a feafon more favour-
able, encouraged them to venture forth.

Thus

STUDY XT. 349

Thus it was that the early mariners performed
their voyages, and that the Phenicians, employed
by Nechoy King of Egypt, made the circuit of
Africa in three years, departing by way of the
Red-Sea, and returning by the Mediterranean,
according to the account given of it by Herodotus**

The firft Navigators, when they no longer favv
iflands in the Horizon, paid attention to the feeds
which the Sea caft upon the fhore of thofe where
they were, and to the flight of the birds which
were withdrawing from it. On the faith of thefe
indications, they directed their courfe toward lands
they had never yet feen. Thus were difcovered the
immenfe Archipelago of the Moluccas, the Iflands
of Guam, of Quiros, of the Society, and, un-
doubtedly, many others which are dill unknown
to us. There was not one but what invited them
to land, by prefenting fome attractive accommo-
dation. Some ftretched out along the waves like
Nereids, poured from their urns, rills of freih
water into the Sea : it was thus that the Ifland of
Juan Fernandez, with it's rocks and cafcades, pre-
fented itfelf to Admiral An/on, in the midft of the
South -Sea. Others, on the contrary, in the fame
Ocean, having their centres funk, and their extre-
mities elevated, and crowned with cocoa-trees, of-

* Herodotus, book iv.

fer

3$0 STUDIES OF NATURE»

fer to their canoes bafons at all feafons tranquil
fwarming with fifties and fea-fowls : fuch is that
known by the name of Woejierland, or the Land of
Water, difcovered by the Dutch Navigator Schouten.
Others, in the morning, appeared to them, in the
bofom of the azure main, all over irradiated with
the light of the Sun, as that one of the fame Ar-
chipelago which goes by the name of Aurora. Some
announce themfelves in the darknefs of night, by
the flames of a volcano, as a pharos blazing aloft
amidft the waters, or by the odoriferous emana-
tions of their perfumes.

There was not one of them of which the woods*
the hills, and the downs, did not maintain fome
animal, naturally familiar and gentle, but which
becomes favage only from the cruel experience
which it acquires of Man. They faw fluttering
around them, as they difembarked on their ftrands,
the filken- winged birds of paradife, the blue pi-
geons, the cacatoès all over white, the lauris all
over red. Every new ifland tendered them fome
new prefent ; crabs, fifties, (hells, pearl-oyfters,
lobfters, turtles, ambergris ; but the raoft agree-
able, beyond all doubt, were the vegetables. Su-
matra difplayed, on her ftiores, the pepper plant ;
Banda, the nutmeg; Amboyna, the clove; Ceram,
the palm-fagoe ; Florès, the benzoin and fandal-
woodj New-Guinea, groves of cocoa-trees ; Tani,

the

STUDY XI. 351

the bread-fruit. Every ifland arofe in the midft of
the Sea, like a vafe which fupported a precious ve-
getable. When they difcovered a tree laden with
unknown fruit, they gathered fome branches of
it, and ran to meet their companions with fhouts
of joy, exhibiting to them this new benefit be-
llowed by Nature.

From thofe early voyages, and from thofe an-
cient cuftoms it is, that there has been diflufed,
over all Nations, the practice of confulting the
flight of birds before engaging in any enterprize,
and that of going to meet ftrangers, with the branch
of a tree in the hand, in token of peace, and of joy
at light of a prefent from Heaven. Thefe cuftoms
flill exift among the iflanders of the South'Sea, and
among the free tribes of America. But not fruit-
trees alone fixed the attention of the firft Men. If
fome heroic action, or fome irreparable difafter,
had excited admiration, or infpired regret, the
tree adjoining was ennobled by it. They preferred
it, with thofe fruits of virtue or of love, to fuch
as produced food or perfume. Thus, in the
iflands of Greece and of Italy, the laurel became
the fymbol of triumph, and the cyprefs that of
eternal forrow. The oak fupplied crowns of un-
decaying honour to the well-deferving citizen, and
fimple graffes decorated the brows of the men who
had laved their Country. O Romans ! people

worthy

3$2 STUDIES OF NATURE.

worthy of the Empire of the World, in that you
opened to every one of your fubjedts the career of
virtuous exertion, and culled the moft common
plants of the field to ferve as the badge of im-
mortal glory, that a crown for the head of virtue
might be found on every fpot of the Globe.

From fimilar attractions it was, that, from ifland
to ifland, the Nations of Afia made their way to
the New World, where they landed on the fhores
of Peru. Thither they carried the name of chil-
dren of that Sun whom they were purfuing. This
brilliant chimera emboldened them to attempt the
paffage to America. It was not diffipated till
they reached the mores of the Atlantic Ocean :
but it diffufed itfelf over the whole Continent,
where moft of the Chiefs of the Nations flill af-
fume the title of Children of the Sun *.

Mankind

* I do not mean to affirm, however, that America was peo-
pled only from the iflands of the South-Sea. I believe that a
paflage was opened into it, likewife, by the North of Afia and of
Europe. Nature always prefents to Mankind different means
for the attainment of the fame end. But the principal popula-
tion of the New World came from the iflands of the South-Sea.
This I am able to prove by a multitude of monuments flill ex-
isting, and to the moft remarkable of which I fhall confine my-
felf. It is demonftrated, then, by the worfhip of the Sun, efta-
blifhed in India, in the iflands of the South-Sea, and in Peru, as
well as by the title of Suns, or Children of the Sun, aflumed by

many

STUDY XI, 353

Mankind, encompafled with fo many bleffings,
continues to be wretched. There is not a fingle
genus of animal but what lives in abundance and

liberty,

many families of thofe countries ; by the traditions of the Ca-
raïbs fcattered over the Antilles, and in Brafil, who give them-
felves out as originally from Peru ; by the very eftablifhment of
that Monarchy of Peru, as well as that of Mexico, fituated on the
weftern coaft of America, which looks toward the iflands of the
South-Sea, and by the populoufnefs of their Nations, which were
much more confiderable, and more polifhed than thofe which
inhabited the eaftern coafts, which fuppofes the former to be of
a much higher antiquity; by the prodigious diffufion of the
Taïtian language, the different dialecls of which are fpread over
moft of the iflands of the South-Sea, and of which words innu-
merable are to be found in the language of Peru, as has lately
been proved by a gentleman of great learning, and even in that
of the Malays in Afia, fome of which I myfelf was able to diftin-
guifh, particularly the word mate which fignifies to kill ; by the
practices common and peculiar to the Nations of the Peninfula
of Malacca, of the iflands of Afia, of thofe of the South-Sea and
of Brafil, which are not the infpiration of Nature, fuch as that of
making fermented and intoxicating liquors, and of chewing
herbs and roots ; by the channels of the commerce of antiquity
which flowed in this direction, fuch as that of gold, which was
very common in Arabia and in the Indies, in the time of the
Romans, though there be very few mines of that metal in Afia ;
but above all, by the trade of emeralds, which muft have run in
that track from remote antiquity, in order to reach the Old Con-
tinent, where no mine of that gem is to be found. Hear what is
faid on this fubjecl. by Tavemier, who is worthy of credit when
he fpeaks of the commerce of Afia, efpecially as it relates to
jewels. " It is an error of long ihnding," fays he, " which
vol. in. a a " many

3^4 STUDIES OF NATURE,

liberty, the greateft part without labour, all at
peace with their fpecies, all united to the objecls
of their choice, and enjoying the felicity of re-
perpetuating

" many perfons have fallen into, to believe that the emerald was
" found originally in the Eaft. Moft jewellers, on firft looking
" at a high-coloured emerald, are accuftomed to fay, this is an
" Oriental emerald. But they are mrftaken, for I am well af-
" fured, that the Eaft never produced one, either on the Conti-
** nent, or in it's iflands. I have made accurate enquiries into
" this, in all the voyages I made." He had travelled fix times by
land through India. Hence it muft be concluded, that the fo
highly valued emeralds of the ancients, came to them from Ame-
rica, through the iflands of the South-Sea, through thofe of Alia,
through India, the Red Sea, and, finally, through Egypt, from
whence they had them.

To this may be objected the difficulty of navigating againft the
regular eafterly winds, in order to pafs from Afia to America,
under the Torrid Zone ; but, relatively to this fubjecl, I fhall
repeat, that the regular winds do not blow there from the Eaft,
but from the North-eaft and South -eaft, and depend fo much the
more on the two Poles, the nearer you approach toward the
Line. This oblique direction of the wind was fufficient for per-
fons who navigated from ifiand to ifland, and who had contrived
barks the leaft liable to deflection, fuch as the double pros of the
Ifles of Guam, the form of which feems to have been preferved
in the double balfes of the coaft of Peru. Schouten found one of
thofe double pros failing more than fix hundred leagues from
the Ifland of Guam toward America. Befides, it appears, like-
wife, that the South-Sea has it's monfoons, which have not hi-
therto been obferved. Hear the remarks made, on the variation
of thofe winds, by an anonymous Englifli Navigator, who failed
round the World, with Sir Jofepk Banks and Mr. Salander^ in the

years

STUDY XI. 353

perpetuating themfelves by their families ; whereas
more than the half of Mankind is doomed to celi-
bacy. The other half curfes the bands which have

matched

years 1768, 1769, 1770, and 1771, page 83. " The inhabi-
" tants of Otaheite, trade with thofe of the adjacent iflands which
" lie to the eaftward, and which we had difcovered on our paflage.
" During three months of the year, the winds which blow from
'£ the IVeJl quarter are very favourable to them for carrying on
" this traffic." Admiral An/on likewife met with windsfrom the
Weft, in thofe Latitudes, which retarded him.

Certain Philofophers explain the correfpondencies to be found
between the inhabitants of the iflands and thofe of Continents,
by fuppoling iflands to be lands once united to the Continent,
but now fwallowed up by the Ocean, the fummit only, and a few
of the inhabitants upon it, remaining above the water. But
enough has been already faid in this Work, to evince that ma-
ritime iflands are not fragments feparated from the Continent,
and that they have mountains, peaks, lakes, hills, proportionable
to their extent, and directed to the regular winds which blow
over their feas. They have vegetables peculiar to themfelves,
and which no where elfe attain the fame degree of beauty. Far-
ther, had thofe iflands formerly conftituted part of our Conti-
nent, we fliould find in them all thofe of our quadrupeds which
are to be met with in all climates ; there were no rats nor mice
in America, and in the Antilles, previous to the arrival of the
Europeans, if we may believe the teftimony of the Spanifh Hif-
torian Barrera, and of Father du Tertre. We fliould, likewife,
have found in them the ox, the afs, the camel, the horfe, but they
contained none of thefe animals ; but plenty of our common
poultry, ducks, dogs, fwine, as well as among the Iflanders of the
South-Sea, who themfelvea had no other of our domeftic animals.
a a 2 It

3^6 STUDIES OF NATURE.

matched him. The greater part tremble at the
thought of rearing a progeny, under the appre-
hension of being incapable to find fubfiftence for
them. The greater part, in order to procure fub-
fiftence for themfelves, are fubjected to painful
labours, and reduced to the condition of flaves to
their fellow-creatures. Whole Nations are ex-
pofed to perifh by famine : others, destitute of
territory, are piled a-top of each other, while the
greateft part of the Globe is a wildernefs.

It is obvious that the fir ft animals, fuch as the horfe and the
cow, being of a bulk and weight too confiderable, could not pof-
fibly, be their utility ever fo great, crofs the feas in the fmall ca-
noes of the early Navigators, who, on the other hand, would
have been very careful not to tranfport with them fuch vermin
as rats and mice.

Finally, let us revert to the general Laws of Nature. If all
the iflands of the South-Sea once formed a Continent, there mull
have been no fea, then, in the fpace which they occupy. Now,
it is indubitably certain, that were you, at this day, to take away
from around them, the Ocean by which they are encompafled,
and the regular winds which blow over it, you would blaft them
with fterility. The iflands of the South-Sea form, between Afia
and America, a real bridge of communication, with a few arches
alone of which we are acquainted, and of which it would not be
difficult to difcover the reft, from the other harmonies of the
Globe. But here I reftrain my conjectures on this fubjçct. I
have faid enough to prove, that the fame hand which has co-
vered the Earth with plants and animals for the fervice of Man,
has not neglected the different parts of his habitation.

There

STUDY XI. 357

There are many lands which never have been
cultivated ,* but there is not one, known to Eu-
ropeans, which has not been polluted with human
blood. The very folitudes of the Ocean gulp
down into their abyfles, veflels filled with men,
funk to the bottom by the hands of men. In ci-
ties, to all appearance fo flouriihing by their arts
and their monuments, pride and craft, fuperfti-
tion and impiety, violence and perfidy, are in a
ftate of inceflant warfare, and keep the wretched
inhabitants in perpetual alarm. The more that
fociety is polifhed in them, the more numerous
and cruel are the evils which opprefs them. Is the
induftry of Man there exerted, only becaufe he is
there molt miferable ? Why mould the Empire
of the Globe have been conferred on the fingle
animal which had not the government of it's own
parlions ? How comes it that Man, feeble and
t<anfitory, Ihould be animated by parlions at once
ferocious and generous, defpicable and immortal ?
How is it that, born without inftinc"t, he mould,
have been able to acquire fuch various know-
ledge ? He has happily imitated all the arts of
Nature, except that of being happy. All the tra-
ditions of the Human Race have preferved the
origin of thefe ftrange contradictions ; but Reli-
gion alone unfolds to us the caufe of them. She
informs us that Man is of a different order from

a a 3 the

358 STUDIES OF NATURE.

the reft of animals ; that his reafon perverted has
given offence to the Author of the Univerfe j
that as a juft punifhment, he has been left to the
direction of his own understanding ; that he is ca-
pable of forming his reafon only by the ftudy of
univerfal reafon, difplayed in the Works of Na-
ture, and in the hopes which virtue infpires ; that
by fuch means alone he can be enabled to rife
above the animal, beneath the level of which he is
funk, and to re-afcend, ftep by ftep, along the
fleepy declivity of the celeftial mountain from
which he has been precipitated.

Happy is he, in thefe days, who, inftead of ram-
bling over the "World, can live remote from Man-
kind I Happy the man who knows nothing be-
yond the circumference of his own Horizon, and
to whom even the next village is an unknown
land ! He has not placed his affections on objects
which he muft never more behold, nor left his re-
putation at the mercy of the wicked. He believes
that innocence refides in hamlets, honour in pa-
laces, and virtue in temples. His glory and his
religion confift in communicating happinefs to
thofe around him. If he beholds not in his gar-
den the fruits of Afia, or the fhady groves of Ame-
rica, he cultivates the plants which delight his wife
and children. He has no need of the monuments

of

study xi. 359

of Architecture to dignify and embellifh his land-
fcape. A tree, under the (hade of which a virtu-
ous man is reclined to reft, fuggefts to him fu-
blime recollections ; the poplar in the foreft re-
cals to his mind the combats of Hercules ; and the
foliage of the oak reminds him of the crowning
garlands of the Capitol.

a a 4 STUDY

STUDY XII. 361

STUDY TWELFTH.

OF SOME MORAL LAWS OF NATURE.

fVeaknefs of Reafon, of Feeling -3 Proofs of the Divi-
nity and of the Immortality of the Soul from Feeling.

SUCH are the phyfical proofs of the exiftence
of the Deity, as far as the feeblenefs of my
reafon has enabled me to produce and arrange
them. I have collected, perhaps, ten times as
many ; but I perceived that I was, after all, but
at the beginning of my career ; that the farther I
advanced, the farther it exrended itfelf before me ;
that my own labour would foon overwhelm me ;
and that, conformably to the idea of Scripture,
nothing would remain to me, after a complete
iurvey of the Works of Creation, but the moft
profound aftonifhment.

It

$6z STUDIES OF NATURE.

It is one of the great calamities of human
life, that in proportion as we approach the fource
of truth, it flies away from before us ; and that
when, by chance, we are able to catch fome of it's
fmaller ramifications, we are unable to remain
conftantly attached to them. Wherefore has the
fentiment which yefterday exalted me to Heaven,
at fight of a new relation of Nature — wherefore
has it difappeared to-day ? Archimedes did not re-
main always in an ecftafy, from the difcovery of
the relations of metals in the crown of King Hiero.
He after that made other difcoveries more conge-
nial to his mind : fuch as that of the cylinder cir-
cumfcribed within the fphere, which he gave di-
rections to have engraved on his tomb. Pythagoras
contemplated, at length, with indifference, the
fquare of the hypothenufe, for the difcovery of
which he had vowed, it is faid, a whole hecatomb
of oxen to Jupiter. I recollect that when I firft
became matter of the demonftration of thofe fu-
blime truths, I. experienced a delight almofl as
lively as that of the great men who were the firft
inventors of them. Wherefore is it extinguished ?
Why do I this day (land in need of novelties to
procure me pleafure ? The mere animal is, in this
refpect, happier than we are : what pleafed him
yefterday will likewife give him pleafure to-mor-
row : he fixes for himfelf a boundary, which he

never

STUDY XII. 363

never exceeds ; what is fufficient for him, always
appears to him beautiful and good. The inge-
nious bee conftructs commodious cells, but never
dreams of rearing triumphal arches, or obelifks, to
decorate her waxen city. A cottage was in like
manner fufficient for Man, in order to be as well
lodged as a bee. What need had he of five orders
of Architecture, of pyramids, of towers, of kiof-
ques ?

What, then, is that verfatile faculty, called rea-
fon, which I employ in obferving Nature ? It is,
fay the Schools, a perception of correfpondencies,
which effentially diftinguifhes Man from thebeaft;
Man enjoys reafon, and the beaft is governed
merely by inftinct. But if this inftinct always
points out to the animal what is bed adapted to
it, it is, therefore, likewife a reafon, and a reafon
more precious than ours, in as much as it is inva-
riable, and is acquired without the aid of long and
painful experience. To this, the Philofophers of
the laft age replied, that the proof of the want of
reafon in beafts is this, that they act always in the
fame manner; thus they concluded, from the very
perfection of their reafon, that they had none.
Hence we may fee to what a degree great names,
falaries, and affociations, may give currency to the
greateft abfurdities; for the argument of thofe

Philofophers

364 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Philofophers is a direct attack on the Supreme In-
telligence itfelf, which is invariable in it's plans,
as animals are in their inftincl. If bees uniformly
conftruct their cells of the fame figure, it is becaufe
Nature always makes bees of the fame form.

I do not mean, however, to affirm, that the rea-
fon of beafts and that of Man is the fame : ours is,
without difpute, much more extenfive than the
inftinc~t of each animal in particular ; but if Man
is endowed with an univerfal reafon, mud it not
be becaufe his wants are univerfal ? He likewife
difcerns, it is true, the wants of other animals ;
but may it not be relatively to himfelf that he has
made this his ftudy ? If the dog gives himfelf no
concern about the oats of the horfe, it is, perhaps,
becaufe the horfe is not fubfervient to the wants
of the dog.

We poffefs, notwithstanding, natural adaptations
peculiar to ourfelves, fuch as the art of agriculture,
and the ufe of fire. The knowledge of thefe, un-
doubtedly, would demonftraie our natural fuperi-
ority, were it not, at the fame time, a proof of our
wretchednefs. Animals are under no nccemty to
kindle fires, and to caft feed into the ground, as
they are clothed and fed by the hand of Nature ;
befides, many of them have, in themfelves, facul-
ties

STUDY XII. 365

ties far fuperior to our fciences, which are, if the
truth were told, foreign to us. If we have difco-
vered fome phofphoric fubftances, the luminous
fly of the Tropics has in itfelf a focus of light,
which illuminates it during the night. While we
are amufing ourfelves in making experiments on
electricity, the torpedo is employing it in felf-
defence: and while the Academies and States of
Europe are propofing considerable prizes to the
perfon who (hall difcover the means of determin-
ing the Longitude at Sea, the paillencu and the
frigat are every day performing a flight of three or
four hundred leagues between the Tropics, from
Eaft to Weft, without ever failing to find, in the
evening, the rock from which they took their de-
parture in the morning.

Another mortifying infufficiency prefents itfelf,
when Philofophy attempts to employ, in combat-
ting the intelligence of Nature, that very reafon
which can be of no ufe but to difcern it. What
plaufible arguments, refpecling the danger of the
parlions, the frivolity of human life, the lofs of
fortune, of honour, of children I You can eafily
unhoufe me, divine Marcus Aurelius, and you
too, fceptical Montagne ; but you have not pro-
vided for me another home. You put the ftaff of
Philofophy into my hand, and fay to me, walk on
intrepidly ; make the tour of the World, begging

your

366 STUDIES OF NATURE.

your bread ; you are juft as happy as we in our
villas, with our wives, and refpected by all around.
But here is an evil of which you had no forefight.
I have received, in my country, calumny only, as
the reward of all my fervices ; I have experienced
nothing but ingratitude on the part of my friends,
and even of my patrons ; I am folitary, and have
no longer the means of fubfiftence ; I am a prey
to nervous difordersj I ftand in need of men, but
my foul is troubled at the fight of them, while I
reflect on the fatal reafons by which they are united,
and that there is no poflibility of interefting them,
but by flattering their parlions, and by becoming
vicious as they are. What good purpofe does it
ferve to have ftudied virtue ? It fh udders at fuch
recollections, and even without any reflection,
merely at the fight of men. The firft thing that
fails me is that very reafon, on which you defire
me to lean for fupport. All your fine logicks
vanifh, precifely at the moment when I have moft
need of them. Put a reed into the hand of a lick
perfon : the very firft thing that will drop from
him, when attacked by a fit of illnefs, is that fame
reed ; and if he ventures to reft his whole weight
upon it, moft probably it will break, and, per-
haps run through his hand. Death, you tell me,
\vill cure every thing ; but in order to die, I have
no occafion for all this reafoning ; befides, I do
not drop, with the vigor of life, into the arms of

death,

STUDY XII. 367

death, but dying and reafoning no longer, flill,
however, feeling and fuffering *.

* Thus, Religion has greatly the fuperiority over Phiiofophy,
in as much as it fupports us, not by our reafon, but by our refig-
nation. She would have us, not on foot, and ftirring about,
but ftretched on a bed of languiftiing : not on the theatre of the
World, but repofing at the footftool of the Throne of God ; not
tormented with folicitude about futurity, but confident and com-
pofed. When books, honours, fortune, and friends forfake us,
flie prefents us, as a pillow for our head, not the recollection of
our frivolous and theatrical virtues, but that of our infufficiency ;
and, inftead of the arrogant maxims of Philofophy, fhe demands
of us only calmnefs, peace, and filial confidence.

I muft make one reflection more reflecting this reafon, or,
which amounts to the fame thing, reflecting this ingenuity of
which we are fo vain : namely this, that it appears to be the refult
of our miferies. It is very remarkable, that the Nations which
have been moft celebrated for their wit, their arts, and their in-
duftry, were the moft miferable on the face of the Earth, from
their government, their paffions, or their difcords. Read the
hiftory of the lives of moft men who have been diftinguifhed by
the fuperiority of their intellectual powers, and you will find
that they were extremely miferable, efpecially in their childhood.
One-eyed perfons, the lame, the hump-backed have, in general,
more wit than other men, becaufe, from being more difagreeably
conformed, they apply their reafoning powers toward obferving
with more attention the relations of Society, in the view of
fkreening themfelves againft it's oppreffion. Their humour, it
is true, is commonly of the farcaftic kind, but this character is
fufficiently applicable to what partes in the World for wit. Be-
sides, it was not Nature which rendered them malignant, but
the raillery, or the contempt, of thofe with whom they have
lived.

What

368 STUDIES OF NATURE.

What is, once more, that reafon, of which wc
boaft fo triumphantly ? As it is nothing more than
the relation of objects to our wants, it is reduced,
then, to mere perfonal intereft. Hence it is that
we have fo many family reafons, reafons of aflbci-
ations, reafons of ftate ; reafons of all countries,
and of all ages : hence it is, that the reafon of a
young man is one thing, and that of an old man
another; that the reafon of a woman differs from
that of a hermit, and a foldier's from a prieft's.
Every body, fays the Duke de la Rochefoucault, has
reafon (is in the right). Yes, undoubtedly, and it
is becaufe every one has reafon, that no one agrees
with another.

This fublime faculty farther undergoes, from
the firft moments of it's expanfion, a (hock fo vio-
lent, that it is rendered, in fome fort, incapable of
penetrating into the field of Nature. I do not
fpeak of our methods and fyftems, which diffufe
falfe lights over the firft principles of human
knowledge, by (hewing us truth only in books,
involved in machinery, and difplayed on theatres.
I have faid fomethingof thofe obftacles, in the ob-
jections which I have ventured to propofe againft
the elements of our Sciences ; but the maxims in-
flilled into us from our earlieft infancy, make a
fortune, be the firft, are alone fufficient to fubvert

our

STUDY XII. 369

our natural reafon >.they exhibit to us the juft and
the unjuft, only as they (land related to our per-
fonal interefts, and to our ambition ; they ufually
attach us to the fortune of fome powerful and re-
putable corps, and render us> as it may happen,
atheifts or devotees, debauched or continent, Car-
tefjans or Newtonians, juft as it affects the caufe
which has become our only moving principle.

Good caufe, then, we have to miftruft reafon,
as, from the very firft ftep, it milleads us in our
refearches after truth and happinefs. Let us en-
quire, whether there is not in Man fome faculty
more noble, more invariable, and of greater ex-
tent. Though, in profecuting this enquiry, I have
to prefent only views vague and indeterminate, I
hope that men more enlightened than I can pre-
tend to be, may one day fix them, and carry them
much farther. In this confidence, with the feeble
powers which 1 poflefs, I am going to engage in a
career, well worthy of the Reader's moft ferions
attention.

Defcartes lays this down as the bafis of the firflr
natural truths : / think* therefore I exiji. As this
Philofopher has acquired a very high degree of
reputation, which he merited, befides, by his know-
ledge in Geometry, and, above all, by his virtues,
his argument in proof of exiftence has been greatly

vol. in. b b extolled.

37<3 STUDIES OF NATURE.

extolled, and dignified with the title of axiom*
But, if Tarn not miftaken, this argument labours
under an efTential defect, in that it has not the
generality of a fundamental principle ; for it im-
plicitly follows, that when a man does not think,
he ceafes to exift, or, at leaft, to have a proof of
his exiflence. It follows farther, that the animal
creation, to which Defcarles denied the power of
thought, had no proof that they exifted ; and that
the greateft part of beings are in a flate of non-
existence with refpect to us, in as much as they
excite in us fimple fenfations merely, of forms, of
colours, and of movements, without any reference
to thought. Befides, the refults of human thought
having been frequently employed, from their ver-
fatility, to fuggeft doubts refpe&ing the exiftence
of God, and even of our own, as was the cafe with
the fceptic Pyrrho ; this reafoning, like all the ope-
rations of the human underftanding, falls under
well-grounded fufpicion.

I fubftitute, therefore, in place of the argument
of Defcartes, that which follows, as it appears to
me both more fimple and more general : / feel,
therefore I exift. It extends to all our phyfical fen-
fations, which admonifli us much more frequently
of our exiftence than thought does. It has for it's
moving principle an unknown faculty of the foul,
which I call fentiment, or mental feeling, to which

thought

STUDY XII. 37I

thought itfelf muft refer; for the evidence to which
we attempt to fubject all the operations of our rea-
fon, is itfelf fimply fentiment.

I fhall, firft, make it appear, that this myfteriou*
faculty differs effentially from phyfical fenfations,
and from the relations prefented to us by reafon,
and that it blends itfelf in a manner confiant and
invariable in every thing that we do ; fo that it is,
if I may be allowed the expreffion, human inftinct.

As to the difference of fentiment from phyfical
fenfation, it is evident, that Iphigenia at the altar
gives us an impreffion of a very different nature
from that produced by the tafte of a fruit, or by
the perfume of a flower ; and as to that which di-
ftinguifhes it from a procefs of the underftanding,
it is certain that the tears and the defpair of Cly-
iemnejlra excite in us emotions of a very different
kind from thofe fuggefted by a fatyr, a comedy,
or even, if you will, by a mathematical demon-
(t ration.

Not but that reafon may fometimes iffue in fen-
timent, when it prefents itfelf with evidence; but
the one is only, with relation to the other, what the
eye is with relation to the body, that is, an intellec-
tual virion ; befides, mental feeling appears to me

b b 2 to

37^ STUDIES OF NATURE.

to be the refult of Laws of Nature, as reafoii is
the refult of political Laws.

I fhall give no farther definition of this obfcure
principle, but I fhall render it fufficiently intelli-
gible, if I am fo happy as to make it felt. And
here 1 flatter myfelf with fuccefs, by firft dating an
oppofkion between it and reafon. It is very re-
markable that women, who are always nearer to
Nature, from their very irregularities, than men
with their pretended wifdom, never confound thefe
two faculties, and diftinguifti the firft by the name
of fenfibility, or fentiment, by way of excellence,
becaufe it is, in truth, the fource of our moft deli-
cious affections. They are continually on their
guard againfl confounding, as moft men do, the
underftanding and the heart, reafon and fentiment.
The one, as we have feen, is frequently our work 5
the other is always the work of Nature. They
differ fo efTentially from each other, that if you
wifh to annihilate the intereft of a Work which
abounds in fentiment, you have only to introduce
an infufion of reafoning.

This is a fault which the moft celebrated Wri-
ters have committed, in all the ages in which So-
ciety completes it's feparation from Nature. Rea-
fon produces many men of intelligence in ages

pretendedly

study xii. 373

pretendedly poliflhed ; and fentiment, men of ge-
nius, in ages pretendedly barbarous. Reafon varies
from age to age, and fentiment is always the fame.
The errors of reafon are local and changeable, but
the truths of fentiment are invariable and univer-
fal. Reafon makes the I Greek, the I EngliuV
man, the I Turk ; and fentiment, the I Man, and
the I Divine. We ftand in need, at this day, of
commentaries, in order to underftand the books
of antiquity, which are the works of reafon, fuch
as thofe of mod: Hiftorians, and Poets, fatyrical
and comic, as Martial, Plautus, Juvenal, and
even thofe of the paft age, as Boileau and Mo-
lière; but none will ever be neceflary, in order
to be moved by the fupplications of Priam at the
feet of Achilles, by the defpair of Dido, by the tra-
gedies of Racine, and the lively fables of La Fon-
taine. We frequently ftand in need of many com-
binations, for the purpofe of bringing to light
fome concealed reafon of Nature ; but the fimple
and pure fentiments of repofe, of peace, of gentle
melancholy, which {Tie infpires, come to us with-
out effort.

Reafon, I grant, procures for us pleafures of a
certain kind , but if fhe difcovers to us fome fmall
portion of the order of the Univerfe, fhe exhibits
to us, at the fame time, our own deftruclion, at-
tached to the Laws of it's prefervation ; (he pre-

b b 3 Cents

374 STUDIES OF NATURE.

fents to us, at once, the evils which are paft, and
thofe which are to come ; fhe furnifhes arms to
our parlions, at the very time when fhe is demon-
flrating to us their infufficiency. The farther that
fhe carries us, the more are the proofs which fhe
accumulates, when we come back to ourfelves, of
our own nothingnefs ; and, fo far from foothing
our pains by her refearches, (he frequently aggra-
vates them bitterly by the difcoveries which fhe
makes. Sentiment, on the contrary, blind in it's
defires, embraces the monuments of all countries,
and of all ages ; it is foothed to a delicious com-
placency, in the midft of ruins, of combats, and
of death itfelf, in contemplating an undefcribable
eternal exigence ; it purfues, in all it's appetites,
the attributes of Deity, infinity, extenfion, dura-
tion, power, grandeur, and glory ; it mingles the
ardent defires of thefe with all our parlions ; it
thus communicates to them a certain fublime im-
pulfe j and, by fubduing our reafon, itfelf becomes
the mofl noble, and the moft delicious inftinct of
human life.

Sentiment demonftrates to us, much better than
reafon, the fpirituality of the foul; for reafon fre-
quently propofes to us, as an end, the gratification
of our groffeft parlions*, whereas fentiment is ever

* Liften to the voice of reafon, is the inceflant admonition of
our moral Philofophers. But do they not perceive that they are

putting

study xii. 375

pure in it's propenfities. Befides, a great many
natural effects which efcape the one, are under the
control of the other ; fuch is, as has been obferv-
ed, evidence itfelf, which is merely a matter of
feeling, and over which refleftion exercifes no
constraint ; fuch, too, is our own existence. The
proof of it is not in the province of reafon ; for,
why is it that I exift ? where is the reafon of it ?
But I feel that I exift, and this fentiment is fuffi-
cient to produce conviction.

This being laid down, I proceed to demonftrate,
that there are two powers * in Man, the one ani-
mal,

putting us into the hand of our greateft enemy ? Has not every
paffion a reafon at command ?

* It is from want of attention to thofe two powers, that fo
many celebrated performances, on the fubjecl of Man, prefent a
falfe colouring. Their Authors fometimes reprefent him to us
as a metaphyseal objeel;. You would be tempted to think that
the phyficai wants, which ftagger even the Saints, are only feeble
acceffories of human life. They compofe it merely of monads,
of abftra&ions, and of moralities. Others difcern nothing in
man but an animal, and diftinguifh in him only the coarfeft
groflhefs of fenfe. They never ftudy him without the differing
knife in their hand, and when he is dead, that is to fay, when he
is man no longer. Others know him only as a political indi-
vidual : they perceive him only through the medium of the cor-
refpondencies of ambition. It is not Man that interefts them ;
it is a Frenchman, an Englifhman, a Prelate, a Gentleman.
Hsmer is the only Writer, with whom I am acquainted, who has

tb 4 painted

376 STUDIES OF NATURE.

mal, and the other intellectual, both of an oppofite
nature, and vvhich, by their union, conftitute hu-
man life ; juft as the harmony of every thing on
the Earth is compofed of two contraries.

Certain

painted Man complete t all others, the beft not excepted, pre-
fent nothing but a fkeleton of him. The Iliad of Homer, if I
may be allowed to judge, is the painting of every Man, as it is
that of all Nature. All the pallions are there, with their con-
trails and their (hades, the molt intellectually refined, and the
moft fenfually grofs. Achilles lings the praifes of the Gods to the
found of his lyre, and tends the cookery of a leg of mutton in a
kettle. This laft trait has given grievous offence to our thea-
trical writers, who deal in the compofition of artificial heroes,
namely, fuch as difguife and conceal their, firft wants, as their
authors themfelves difguife their own to Society, All the paffions
of the human breaft are to be found in the Iliad : furious wrath
in Achille,, haughty ambition in Agamemnon, patriotic valour in
Heclor ; in Nejlor, unimpafiioned wifdom ; in Ulyjfes, crafty
prudence ; calumny in Tberfites ; voluptuoufnefs in Paris ;
faithlefs love in Helen ; conjugal love in Andromache ; paternal
affection in Priam ; friendfhip in Patroclus ; and fo on : and
befides all this, a multitude of intermediate fhades of all thefe
paffions, fuch as the inconfiderate courage of Diomedcs, and that
of Ajax, who dared to challenge theGods themfelves to the com-
bat : then the oppofitions of fituation and of fortune which de-
tach thofe characters ; fuch as a wedding, and a country feftival,
depicted on the formidable buckler of Achilles ; the remorfe of
Helen, and the reftlefs folicitude of Andromache ; the flight of
Heeler, on the point of perifhing under the walls of his native
city, in the fight of his people, whofe only defender he was ; and
the peaceful objects prefented to him at that tremendous moment,
fuch as the grove of trees, and the fountain to which the Trojan

young

study xii. 377

Certain Philofophers have taken pleafure in
painting Man as a God. His attitude, they tell
us, is that of command. But, in order to his

having

young women were accuftomed to relort, to warn their robes,
and where they loved to affemble in, happier days.

This divine Genius, having appropriated to his heroes a lead-
ing paffion of the human heart, and having put it in a&ion in
the moft remarkable phafes of human life, has allotted, in like
manner, the attributes of God to a variety of Divinities, and
has affigned to them the different kingdoms of Nature ; to Nep-
tune, the Ocean : to Pluto, the infernal regions ; to Juno, the
air ; to Vulcan, the fire ; to Diana, the forefts ; to Pan, the
flocks ; in a word, the Nymphs, the Naïads, nay, the very
Hours, have all a certain department on the Earth. There is
not a tingle flower but what is committed to the fuperintendance
of fome Deity. It is thus that he has contrived to render the
habitation of Man celeftial. His Work is the moft fublime of
Encyclopedias. All the characters of it are fo exactly in the hu-
man heart, and in Nature, that the names by which he has de-
signed them have become immortal. Add to the majefiy of his
plans a truth of expreffion, which is not to be afcribed alone to
the beauty of his language, as certain Grammarians pretend, but
to the vaft extent of his obfervation of Nature. It is thus, for
example, that he calls the Sea impurpled, at the moment that the
Sun is fetting ; becaufe that then the reflexes of the Sun in the
Horizon render it of that colour, as I myfelf have frequently re-
marked. Virgil, who has imitated him clofely, abounds in thefe
beauties of obfervation, to which Commentators pay very little,
if any, attention. In the Georgics, lor inftance, Virgil gives to
the Spring the epithet of blujblng ; vere nibenti, fays he. As his
Tranflators and Commentators have taken no pains to convey
this, any more than a multitude of fimilar touches, I was long

impreffed

$jS STUDIES OF NATURE.

having the air of command, it is neceflary that
other men mould have that of fubmiffion, without
which he would find an enemy in every one of his
equals. The natural empire of Man extends only
to animals ; and in the wars which he wages with
them, or in the care which he exercifes over them,
he is frequently conftrained to drop his attitude
of emperor, and to affume that of a Have.

Others reprefent Man as the perpetual object of*
vengeance to angry Heaven, and have accumu-
lated on his exiftence, all the miferies which can
Tender it odious to him. This is not painting
Man. He is not formed of a fimple nature, like
other animals, each fpecies of which invariably
preferves it's proper character j but of two oppo-
site natures, each of which is itfelf farther fubdi-
vided into feveral parlions, which form a contraft.
In virtue of one of thefe natures, he unites in him-
felf all the wants, and all the parlions of animals ;
and in virtue of the other, the ineffable fentiments
of the Deity. It is to this laft inftinct, much

imprefied with the belief <fhat this epithet was introduced merely
to fill up the meafure of the verfe : but having remarked that,
early in Spring, the flioots and buds of molt trees affumed a
ruddy appearance, previoufly to throwing out their leaves, I
thence was enabled to comprehend what was the precife moment
of the feafon which the Poet intended to defcribe by were rubcnti.

more

STUDY XII. 379

more than to his reflective powers, that he is in-
debted for the conviction which he has of the ex-
iftence of God; for I fuppofe, that having, by-
means of his reafon, the faculty of perceiving the
correfpondencies which exift between the objects
of Nature, he found out the relations which fubfift
between an ifland and a tree, a tree and a fruit, a
fruit and his own wants ; he would readily feel
himfelf determined, on feeing an ifland, to look
for food upon it : but his reafon, in (hewing him
the links of four natural harmonies, would not re-
fer the caufe of them to an invifible Author,
unlefs he had the fentiment of it deeply imprefled
on his heart. Tt would flop fhort at the point
where his perceptions flopped, and where thofe of
animals terminate. A wolf which fhould fwim
over a river, in order to reach an ifland on which
he perceived grafs growing, in the hope of there
finding fheep likewife, has an equal conception of
the links which conned: the four natural relations
of the ifland, the grafs, the fheep, and his own
appetite : but he falls not down proflrate before
the intelligent Being who has eftablifhed them.

Confidering Man as an animal, I know of no
one to be compared with him in refpect of wretch-
ednefs. Firfl of all, he is naked, expofed to in-
fects, to the wind, to the rain, to the heat, to the
cold, and laid under the neceffity, in all countries,

of

380 STUDIES OF NATURE.

of finding himfelf clothing. If his fkin acquires,
in time, fufficient hardnefs to refill the attacks of
the elements, it is not till after cruel experiments,
which fometimes flay him from top to toe. He
knows nothing naturally, as other animals do. If
he wants to crofs a river, he rauft firft learn to
fwim ; nay, he muft, in his infancy, be taught to
walk and to fpeak *. There is no country fo
happily fuuated, in which he is not obliged to pre-
pare his food with considerable care and trouble.
The banana and the bread-fruit tree give him be-
tween the Tropics, provisions all the year round ;
but then he rauft plant thofe trees, he muft en-
clofe them within thorny fences, to preferve them
from the beafts i he muft dry part of the fruitsa
for a fupply during the hurricane feafon ; and muft
build repositories in which to lay them up. Be-
fides, thofe ufeful vegetables are referved for cer-
tain privileged iflands alone ; for over the reft of
the Earth, the culture cf alimentary grains and
roots requires a great multitude of arts and prepa-
rations. Suppofe him to have collected around
him every bleffing his heart can defire, the love
and the pleafure which flow from abundance, ava-
rice, thieves, the incurfions of the enemy, difturb
his enjoyment. He muft have Laws, Judges,

* The very name of infant is derived from the Latin word
itifansj that is to fay, one who cannot fpeak.

magazines,

STUDY Xlî. 3S1

magazines, fortreffes, confederacies, and regi-
ments, to protect from without, and from within,
his ill-fated corn-field. Finally, when it is in his
power to enjoy with all the tranquility of a fage,
languor takes pofleffion of his mind ; he mufl
have comedies, balls, mafquerades, amufements to
prevent him from reafoning with himfelf.

It is impomble to conceive how a Nation could
exift with the animal parlions fimply. The fenti-
ments of natural juflice, which are the bafis of le-
giilation, are not the refults of our mutual wants,
as has been by fome pretended. Our parlions are
not retrogreffive ; they have ourfelves alone for
their centre. A family of favages, living in the
midft of plenty, would be no more concerned about
the mifery of their neighbours perifhing for want,
than we concern ourfelves at Paris, that our fugar
and coffee are cofting Africa rivers of tears.

o

Reafon itfelf, united to the parlions, would only
flimulate their ferocity ; for it would fupply them
with new arguments, long after their defires were
gratified. It is, in mod men, nothing more than
the relation between beings and their wants, that
is, their perfonal intereft. Let us examine the
effeft of it, combined with love and ambition, the
two tyrants of human life,

Let

332 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Let us firfl fuppofe a ftate entirely governed by
Love, fuch as that on the banks of the Lignon,
imagined by the ingenious cTUrfeius. I beg leave
to afk, Who would be at the trouble of building
houfes there, and of labouring the ground ? Muft
we not fuppofe, that fuch a country would eon-
tain fervant?, whofe induftry fhould compenfate
the idlenefs of their matters ? Will not thefe fer-
vants be reduced to the neceffity of abftaining
from making love, in order that their mailers may
be inceffantly employed in it ? Befides, In what
manner are the old people of both fexes to pals
their time ? A fine fpe&acle for them truly, to
behold their children always indulging in the dal-
liance of the tender paffion ! Would not fuch a
fpectacle become to them a perpetual fource of re-
gret, of ill-humour, of jealoufy, as it is among
thofe of our own country ? Such a government,
in truth, were it even in the iflands of the South-
Sea, under the groves of the cocoa and bread-fruit
trees, where there was nothing to do but to eat
and make love, would foon be torn with difcord,
and oppreffed with languor.

But, on the fuppofition that the principle of
focial reafon were to oblige every family to labour
each for it's own fupport, and to introduce more
variety into their way of living, by inviting to it
our arts and fciences -, it would quickly accelerate

their

STtTDY XII. 383

their deftruction. We mud by no means depend
on ever hearing there any of thofe affecting dia-
logues which cTUrfeius puts into the mouth of
Ajlrtea and Celadon ; they are dictated neither by
animal love, nor by enlightened reafon. Both of
thefe employ a very different logic. When a lover,
illuminated there with the fcience which he had
borrowed of us, wifhed to infpire his miftrefs with
a mutual paffion, if, however, it were needful to
employ difcourfe in order to accomplish this, he
would talk to her of fprings, of mafles, of attrac-
tions, of fermentations, of the electric fpark, and
of the other phyfical caufes which determine, ac-
cording to our modern fyftems, the propenfities of
the two fexes, and the movements of the parlions.
Political reafons would interpofe, and affix the feal
to their union, by ftipulating, in the melancholy
and mercenary language of our contracts, for dow-
ries, maintenances, redemptions, pin-monies, ponS
obits. But the perfonal reafon of each contracting
party would quickly feparate them. As foon as a
man faw his wife overtaken with difeafe, he would
fay to her : (i My temperament calls for a wife
*f who enjoys health, and conftrains me to abandon
" you." She would anfwer him, undoubtedly,
in order to preferve confiftency : " You do well
" to obey the dictates of Nature. I fliould, in
" like manner, have looked out for another huf-
*{ band, had you been in my place." A fon would

fay

3&4 STUDIES OF NATURE.

fay to his aged and declining father : cf You begot
" me for your pleafure, it is time that I mould live
c* for mine." Where mould we find citizens dif-
pofed to unite for maintaining the laws of fuch a
Society ; the foldiers difpofed to meet death in
defence of it, and the magiftrate who would un-
dertake to govern it ? I fay nothing of an infinite
number of other diforders, which follow in the
train of that blind and headftrong paffion, even
when directed by cool and difpaflionate reafon.

If, on the other hand, a Nation were under the
dominion of ambition folely, it would come ftill
fooner to deftru&ion ; either from external ene-
mies, or by means of it's own citizens. It is, firft,
difficult to imagine how it could be reduced to
form, under the authority of one Legislator , for,
how can we conceive the poffibility of ambitious
men voluntarily fubmitting to another man ? Thofe
who have united them, as Romulus, Mahomet, and
all founders of Nations, have commanded atten-
tion and obedience only by fpeaking in the name
of the Deity. But fuppofing this union, by
whatever means, accomplifhed, could fuch an af-
fociation ever be happy ? Let Hiftorians extol
conquering Rome ever fo highly, Is it credible
that her citizens then deferved the appellation of
fortunate ? While they were fpreading terror over
the Globe, and caufing floods of tears to flow,

were

STUDY XII. 385

were there at Rome no hearts opprefled with ter-
ror, and no eye overflowing, for the lofs of a fon,
of a father, of a hufband, of a lover ? Were the
flaves, who conftituted by far the greateft part of
her inhabitants, were they happy ? Was the Ge-
neral of the Roman army himfelf happy, crowned
with laurels as he was, and mounted on a trium-
phal car, around which, in conformity to a mili-
tary Law, his own foldiers were finging fongs, in
which his faults were expofed, to prevent his
waxing proud, and forgetting himfelf? And when
Providence permitted Paulus Emilius to triumph
over a King of the Macedonians, and his poor
children, who (Iretched out their little hands to
the Roman People, to excite companion, it was
fo ordered, that the conqueror mould, at that very
ieafon, fuffer the lofs of his own children, that no
one man might be allowed to triumph with impu-
nitv over the tears of Mankind.

J

This very People, however, fb difpofed to pur-
fue their own glory, through the calamities of
others, were obliged, in order to diffemble the hor-
ror of it, to veil the tears of the Nations with the
intereft of the Gods, as we difguife with fire the
flefn of the animals which is to ferve us for food.
Rome, following the order of deftiny, was to be-
come, at length, the capital of the World. She
armed her ambition with a ceieflial reafon, in order

vol. in. c c to

386 STUDIES OK NATURE,

to render her victorious over powers the mod for-
midable, and to curb by means of it the ferocity
of her own citizens, by inuring them to the prac-
tice of fublime virtue. What would they have
become, had they given themfelves up, without
reftraint to that furious inftinct? They would have
refembled the favages of America, who burn their
enemies alive, and devour their flefh ftill dreaming
with blood. This Rome at laft experienced, when
her Religion prefented no longer any thing to her
enlightened inhabitants, except unmeaning ima-
gery. Then were feen the two parlions natural to
the heart of Man, ambition and love, inviting to
a refidence within her walls, the luxury of Afia,
the corruptive arts of Greece, profcriptions, mur-
ders, poifonings, conflagrations, and giving her
up a prey to barbarous Nations. The Theutatès
of the Gauls then ifluing from the forefts of the
North, and arriving at the Capitol, made the Ro*
man Jupiter to tremble in his turn.

Our reafons of fiat e are, in modern times, lefs fu-
blime, but are not for that lefs fatal to the repofe
of Mankind, of which a judgment may be formed
by the wars of Europe, which are continually di-
flurbing that of the Globe. A Nation delivered
up to it's parlions, and to fimple reafons of Jlatet
would fpeedily accumulate upon itfelf all the mi-
feries incident to humanity ; but Providence has

implanted

STUDY XII. 387

implanted in the breaft of Man a fentiment which
ferves as a counterbalance to the weight of thefe,
by directing his defires far beyond the objects of
this World; the fentiment I mean is that of the
exiftence of the Deity. Man is not Man, be-
caufe he is a reafoning animal, but becaufe he is a
religious animal.

It is remarked by Cicero and P/ntarch, that there
was not a fingle People known up to their time,
among whom there were no traces of religion to
be found. The fentiment of Deity is natural to
Man. It is that illumination which St. John de-
nominates the true Light, which lighteth every Man
that cometh into the World. I find great fault with
certain modern Authors, and even fome of them
Miflîonaries, for having afTerted, that certain Na-
tions were deftitute of all fenfe of Deity. This
is, in my apprehenfion, the blackeft of calumnies
with which a Nation can be branded, becaufe it,
of courfe, entirely (trips them of the exiftence of
every virtue ; and if fuch a Nation betrays any ap-
pearance of virtue, it can be only under the im-
pulfe of the mod abominable of vices, which is
hypocrify : for there can be no virtue diftinct from
Religion. But there is not a fingle one of thofe
inconfiderate Writers, who does not, at the fame
dme, himfelf furnim the means of refuting his
own imputation ; for fome of them acknowledge,

c c 2 that

jSS STUDIES OF NATURE.

that thefe very atheiftical Nations, on certain days,
prefent homage to the Moon ; or that they retire
into the woods, to perform certain ceremonies,
the knowledge of which they carefully conceal
from flrangers.

Father Gob'ien, among others, in his Hiftory of
the Mariannes Iflands, after having affirmed, that
their inhabitants had no knowledge of any Deity,
and difcovered not the flighted idea of Religion,
tells us immediately after, that they practife in-
vocation of the dead, to whom they give the ap-
pellation of anitis, whofe fkulls they preferve in
their houfes, and to which they afcribe the power
of controlling the elements, of changing the fea-
fons, and of restoring health : that they are per-
fuaded of the immortality of the foul, and ac-
knowledge a Paradife and a Hell. Such opinions
clearly demonftrate that they have ideas of Deity.

. All Nations have the fentiment of the exiftence
of God i not that they all raife themfelves to Him,
after the manner of a Newton and a Socrates, in
contemplation of the general harmony of his
Works, but by dwelling on thofe of his benefits
which intereft them the raoft. The Indian of
Peru worfhips the Sun ; he of Bengal, the Ganges,
which fertilizes his plains; the black Iolof, the
Ocean, which cools his mores : the Samoïède of

the

STUDY XII. 389

the North, the rein-deer which feeds him. The
wandering Iroquois demands of the Spirits, which
prelide over the lakes and the forefts, plentiful
fifhing and hunting feafons. Many Nations wor-
ship their Kings. There is not one of them which,
in order to render more dear to men thofe auguft
difpenfers of their felicity, have not called in the
intervention of fome Divinity for the purpofe of
confecrating their origin. Such are, in general,
the Gods of the Nations : but when the parlions
interpole, and darken among them this divine
inftinct, and blend with it either the madnefs
of ambition, or the feduclion of voluptuoufnefs,
you behold them proftrating themfelves before fer-
pents, crocodiles, and other gods, too abominable
to be mentioned. You behold them offering in
iacrifîce, the blood of their enemies and the virgi-
nity of their daughters. Such as is the character
of a People, fuch is it's religion. Man is carried
along by this celeftial impulie fo irrefiftibly, that,
when he ceafes to take the Deity for his model,
he never fails to make one after his own image.

There are, therefore, two powers in Man, the
one animal, the other divine. The firft is incef-
fantly giving him the fentiment of his wretched-
néfs; the fécond, conftantly awakening in him
that of his own excellence : and from their con-
c c z fiicts

3$0 STUDIES OF NATURE.

flids are produced the varieties and the contra-
dictions of human life.

By means of the fentiment of our wretchednefs
it is, that we become alive to every thing which
prefents to us the idea of afylum and protection,
of eale and accommodation. Hence it is that
mod men cherifli the thought of calm retreats, of
abundance, and of all the bleffings which bounti-
ful Nature has provided, on the Earth, to fupply
our wants. It is this fentiment which gave to
Love the chains of Hymen, in order that man
might one day find the companion of his pains in
that of his pleafures ; and that children might be
enlured of the aiîiftance of their parents. It is
this which renders the warm and eafy tradefman fo
eager after relations of court-intrigues, of battles,
and defcriptions of tempefts, becaufe dangers exter-
nal and diftant increafe internal happinefs and fe-
curity. This fentiment frequently mingles with
the moral affections : it looks forfupport in friend-
fhip, and for encouragement in commendation.
It is this which renders us attentive to the pro-
mifes of the ambitious man, when we are eager to
follow him, like flaves, feduced by the ideas of
protection with which he amufes us. Thus the
fentiment of our wretchednefs is one of the moft
powerful bonds of political fociety, though it at-
taches us to the Earth,

The

STUDY XII. 391

The fentiment of Deity impels us in a contrary
direction *. It was this which conducted Love
to the altar, and dictated to the lips of the Lover
the firft vows of fidelity ; it devoted the firft chil-
dren to Heaven, while as yet there was no fuch
thing as political Law ; it rendered Love fublime,
and Friendfhip generous ; with one hand it fuc-
coured the miferable, and oppofed the other to
tyrants ; it became the moving principle of gene-
rofity, and of every virtue. Satisfied with the con-
fcioufnefs of having deferved well of'Mankind, it
nobly difdained the recompence of applaufe. When
it fhewed itfelf in arts and fciences, it became the
ineffable charm which tranfported us in contem-
plating them: the moment it withdrew from them,
languor fucceeded. It is this fentiment which

* Whenever any one has loft this firft of harmonies, all the;
others follow it. Does it not well deferve to be remarked, that
all the Writings of Atheifts are infufferably dry and unintereft-
ing ? They fometimes fill you with aftonifhment, but never do
they touch the heart. They exhibit caricatures only, or gigantic
ideas. They are totally deftitute of order, of proportion, of fen-
fibility. I do not exempt from this cenfure any one, except the
poem of Lucretius. But this very exception, as has been faid be-
fore, only confirms the truth of my obfervation ; for when this
Poet wiflied to pleafe, he found himfelf under the necefiity of
introducing Deity, as is evident from his exordium, which com-
mences with that beautiful apoftrophe ; Alma Ftnus, &c. Every
where elfe, when he fets about a difplay of the Philofophy of
Epicurus, his infipidity becomes abfolutely infupportable.

c c 4 confers

392 STUDIES OF NATCJKE.

confers immortality on the men of genius who
difcover to us, in Nature, new relations of intel-
ligence.

When thefe two fentiments happen to crofs
e.ich other, that is, when we attach the divine in-
ftincr. to perifhable objects, and the animal inftinc^
to things divine, our life becomes agitated by con-
tradictory paffions. This is the caufe of thofe in-
numerable frivolous hopes and fears with which
men are tormented. My fortune is made, fays
one, I have enough to laft me for ever ; and to-
morrow he drops into the grave. How wretched
ami! fays another, I am undone for ever; and
death is at the door to deliver him from all his
•woes. We are bound down to life, faid Michael
Montaigne^ by the mereft toys ; by a glafs : yes,
and wherefore? Becaufe the fentiment of immor-
tality is imprefTed on that glafs. If life and death
frequently appear infupportable to men, it is be-
caufe they affociate the fentiment of their end with
that of death, and the fentiment of infinity with
that of life. Mortals, if you wifli to live happy,
and to die in compofure, do not let your Laws
offer violence to thofe of Nature. Confider, that,
at death, all the troubles of the animal come to a
period ; the cravings of the body-, difeafes, perfe-
ctions, calumnies, flavery of every kind, the rude
combats of a man's paffions with himfelf, and witl>

others.

study xii. 393

others. ConGder, that, at death, all the enjoy-
ments of a moral being commence ; the rewards
of virtue, and of the flighteft acts of juftice and
of humanity, undervalued, perhaps, or defpifed.
by the World, but which have, in fome meafure,
brought us nearer, while we were upon the Earth,
to a Being righteous and eternal.

When thefe two inftincts unite, in the fame
place, they confer upon us the higheft pleafure of
which our nature is fufceptible ; for, in that cafe,
our two natures, if I may thus exprefs myfelf, en-
joy at once *. I am going to trace a flight fketch
of the combination of their harmonies ; after which
we mail purfue the track of the celeftial fentiment
which is natural to us, as manifefted in our moll
ordinary fenfations.

Let me fuppofe you then, Reader, difgufled,
and wearied out with the diforders of Society, in
fearch of fome happy fpot toward the extremity of
Africa, on which the foot of European never

* To thefe two inftincts may be referred all the fenfations of
life, which frequently feem to be contradictory. For example,
if habit and novelty be agreeable to us, it is that habit gives us
confidence refpe&ing our phyfical relations, which are always
the fame; and novelty promifes new points of view to our di-
rine inftinét, which i» ever aiming at the extenfion of it's enjoy-
ments. ' I

alighted.

394 STUDIES OF NATURE.

alighted. Sailing along the Mediterranean, your
vefTel is toffed by the violence of the tempeft, and
fhipwrecked upon* a rock, juft as it is beginning
to grow dark. Through the favour of Heaven,
you fcrambie fafe to land : you flee for fhelter to
a grotto, rendered vifible by the glare of the light-
ning, at the bottom of a little valley. There, re-
tired to the covert of this afylum, you hear, all
night long, the thunder roaring, and the rain de-
scending in torrents. At day-break, you difcover
behind you an amphitheatre of enormous rocks,
perpendicularly fteep as a wall. From their bafes,
here and there, ftart out clumps of fig-trees, co-
vered over with white and purple fruit, and tufts
of carobs loaded with brown pods; their fummits
are crowned with pines, wild olive-trees, and cy-
prefles bending under the violence of the winds.
The echos of thefe rocks repeat, in the air, the
confufeJ howling of the tempeft, and the hoarfe
noife of the raging Sea, perceptible to the eye at a
diflance. But the little valley where you are, is
the abode of tranquillity and repofe. In it's mofly
declivities the fea-lark builds her neft, and on
thefe folitary ftrands the mavis expects the ceafmg
of the ftorm.

By this time the firft fires of Aurora are length-
ening over the flowery ftachys, and the violet beds
of thyme which clothe the fwelling hillocks. The

brightening

study xii. 395

brightening rays difclofe to view, on the fummit
of an adjoining eminence, a cottage overfhadowed
with trees. Out of it iflue a fhepherd, his wife,
and his daughter, who take the path that leads to
the grotto, with vafes and bafkets on their heads.
It is the fpectacle of your diftrefs which attra&s
thefe good people toward you. They are pro-
vided with fire, fruits, bread, wine, clothing, for
your relief. They vie with each other in rendering
you the offices of hofpitality. The wants of the
body being fatisfied, thofe of the mind begin to
call for gratification. Your eye eagerly wanders
along the furface of the deep, and you are en-
quiring within yourfelf, " On what part of the
** World am I thrown ?" The fhepherd perceives
your anxiety, and removes it, addreffing you in
thefe words : " That diftant ifland which you fee
" to the North, is Mycone. There is Delos, a
" little to the left, and Paros directly in front.
" That in which we are is Naxos ; you are on
" that very part of the ifland where Ariadne was
'< formerly abandoned by Thefeus. It was on that
" long bank of white fand, which projects below
tc into the Sea, that (lie pafled the days, with her
" eyes rivetted on that point of the Horizon where
" the veffel of her faithlefs lover at length ceafed
" to be vifible ; and into this very grotto, where
" you now are, fhe retired, at night, to mourn
fj over his departure. To the right, between thefe,

" two

396 STUDIES OF NATURE.

" two little hills, on the top of which you behold
t£ fome confufed ruins, ftood a flourifhing city,
" named Naxos. * It's female inhabitants, touched
" with the misfortunes of the daughter of Minos,
" reforted hither, to look for her, and to comfort
tf her. They endeavoured, at full, to divert her
" attention by amufing converfation ; but nothing
" could give her pleafure, but the name, and the
" recollection, of her beloved Tbefeus. Thefe dam-
" fels then counterfeited letters from that Hero,
" breathing the tenderer! affection, and add relied
" to Ariadne. They flew to deliver them to her,
" and faid, Take comfort, beautiful Ariadne.
" Tbefeus will foon return : tbefeus thinks of no-
" thing but you. Ariadne, in an extafy of delight,
" read the letters, and, with a trembling hand,
t( haftened to anfwer them. The Naxian girls
" took charge of her anfwers, and promifed to
" have them fpeedily conveyed to Thefeus. In
" this manner they amufed her grief. But when
Ci they perceived that the fight of the Sea plunged
*{ her more and more into melancholy, they decoyed
" her into thofe extenfive groves which you obferve
'* below in the plain. There they invented every
" fpecies of feflivity, that could lull her fond re-
" gret to reft. Sometimes they formed around her
" choral dances, and reprefented, by the linking
te of their hands, the various windings of the la-
(( byrinth of Crete, out of which, by her aid,

i( efcaped

study xii. 397

** e leaped the happy Thefens : fomctimes they af-
" fecled to put to death the terrible Minotaur,
*' The heart of Ariadne expanded to the percep-
" tion of joy, at the fight of reprefentations which
" called to her remembrance the power of her fa-
** ther, the glory of her lover, and the triumph of
*' her own charms, which had repaired the deftiny
" of Athens : but when the winds conveyed to
*' her ear, through the mufic of the tabor and of
" the flute, the diftant noife of the billows break -
" ins; on the fhore from which fhe law the cruel
te Thcfens take his departure, fhe turned her face
<( toward the Sea, and began to weep. Thus the
iC Naxians were made fenfible, that unfortunate
il love can find, in the very lap of gaiety, the
*' means of embittering; it's anguiih ; and that the
t( recollection of pain is to be loft, only by lofing
il that of pleafure. They endeavoured, therefore,
" to remove Ariadne from fcenes and founds
" which were continually recalling the idea of her
*{ lover. They perfuaded her to vifit their city,
tl where they provided for her magnificent ban-
" quets, in fuperb apartments, raifed on columns
" of granite. Into thefe, no male was permitted
" to enter, and no noife from without could make
" itfelf heard. They had taken care to cover the
" pavement, the walls, the doors, and the win-
<£ dows, with the richeft tapeftry, on which were
" reprefented meadows, vineyards, and enchanting

" iblitudes.

39^ STtJDIES OF NATURE.

" folitudes. A thoufand lamps and torches daz-
ft zled the eye. They made Ariadne feat herfelf
" in the midft of them on cufhions; they placed
" a coronet of ivy, with it's black clufters, upon
" her flaxen hair, and around her pale forehead;
" then they arranged, at her feet, urns of alabafter
i( replenished with the choicefl wines; they poured
" them out into cups of gold, which they pre-
" fented to her, faying; Drink, lovely daughter
" of Minos ; this ifland produces the richeft pre-
" fents of Bacchus. Drink, wine diffipates care.
" Ariadne, with a fmile, fuffered herfelf to be per-
" fuaded. In a little time, the rofes of health
" re- appeared on her countenance, and a report
" was immediately fpread over Naxos, that Bac-
i( chus was come to the relief of the miftrefs of
i( Thefeus. The inhabitants, tranfported with joy,
" reared a temple to that God, of which you ftill
" fee fome columns and the frontifpiece, on that
" rock, in the midft of the waves. But wine only
i( added fuel to the love of Ariadne. She gradu-
<c ally pined away, a victim to her fad regrets, and
cC even to her fond hopes. See there, at the ex-
" tremity of this valley, on a little hillock, co-
" vered with marine-wormwood, is her tomb, and
" her ftatue ftill looking toward the Sea. You
" can fcarcely now diftinguifh in it the figure of a
*« female ; but there is even now difcernible in it
" the reftlcfs attitude of a lover. This monument,

"as

STUDY XII, 3$9

" as well as every other of the country, have been
" mutilated by time, and dill more by the hand
" of barbarians ; but the memory of fufTering vir-
te tue is not, on the Earth, at the mercy of tyrants.
" The tomb of Ariadne is in poflerlion of the
" Turks, and her crown is planted among the
" ftars. As for us, efcaped from the notice of the
" powers of this World, by means of our very
" obfeurity, we have, through the goodnefs of
" Heaven, found liberty at a diftance from the
" Great, and happinefs in a defert. Stranger, if
u you are ftill capable of being affected by the
" bleffings of Nature, it is in your power to (hare
(i them with us."

At this recital, the gentle tears of humanity
trickle down the cheeks of his fpoufe, and of his
youthful daughter, as fhe breathes a figh to the
memory of Ariadne ; and I greatly doubt, whether
an Atheifl: himfelf, who acknowledges nothing
elfe in Nature but the Laws of matter and of mo-
tion, could be infenfible to thofe prefent corre-
fpondencies, and thofe ancient recollections.

Voluptuous men ! Greece alone, you tell me,
prefents fcenes and points of view fo tenderly af-
fecting. Ariadne, accordingly, has a place in
every garden; Ariadne prefents herfelf to view in
every collection of painting. From the turret of

your

4-0O STUDIES OF NATUR2>-

your own caflle, throw your eye over the plains
below. As the profpecr. gradually extends, it
terminates in a Horizon much more beautiful than
thofe of defolated Greece. Your apartment is
more commodious than a grotto, and your fophas
much fofter than the turf. The undulation, and
the murmuring found of your flowery meadows
are more grateful to the fenfe than thofe of the
billows of the Mediterranean. Your money and
your own gardens can fupply you with greater va-
riety of the choiceft wines and fruits than all the
iilands of the Archipelago could produce. Would
you blend with thefe delights that of Deity ? Be-
hold on yonder hill, that fmall pari(h-church, en-
circled by aged elms. Among the young women
who there affemble, under it's ruftic portico, there
may be, undoubtedly, fome forlorn Ariadne, be-
trayed by a faithlefs lover *. She is not made of

marble.

* There are, in our own plains, young females much more re-
fpe&able than Ariadne, to whom our Hiftorians, who make fuch
a parade of virtue, pay no manner of attention. A perfon of my
acquaintance obferved one Sunday, at the gate of a country-
church, a young woman at prayer, quite alone, while they were
chanting vefpers within. As he remained fome time in the
place, he obferved, for feveral Sundays fucceflively, that fame
young woman, who never once entered the church during the
fervice. Being mightily ftruck with this Angularity of beha-
viour, he enquired into the meaning of it at fome others of the
female peafants, who anfwered him, that it muft be her own

will

STUDY XII. 401

marble, but of living flefh and blood; fhe is not
a Greek, but a French-woman ; (he is not com-
forted, but infulted by her companions. Vifit her
humble abode, and foothe her anguifh. Do good
in this life, which is paffing away with the rapidity
of a torrent. Do good, not out of oftentation, and
by the hands of a flranger ; but for the fake of
Heaven, and with your own hand. The fruit of
virtue lofes it's flavour, when gathered by another,
and not yourfelf. Ah! if you would, in perfon,
fpeak an encouraging word to her, under that load
of depreffion ; if, by your fympathy, you raife her
in her own efteem, you will perceive how, under a
fenfe of your goodnefs, her forehead is overfpread
with a blufh, her eyes fuffufed with tears, her convul-
five lips move without fpeaking, and her heart, long
oppreifed with fliame, expand to the approach of
a comforter, as to the fentiment of the Deity.

will merely that determined her to flop at the porch, as they
knew of nothing that fhould prevent her going in, adding, that
they had frequently urged her to accompany them, but in vain.
At laft, defirous of having the folution of this myflery, he ad*
dreffed himfelf to the young woman herfelf, whofe conduct ap-
peared to him fo very extraordinary. She appeared, at firft,
fomewhat difconcerted, but prefently collecting courage, " Sir,"
faid fhe, " I had a lover who took advantage of my frailtv. I
*' became pregnant, and my lover falling fick, died, without
" making me his wife. It is my defire, that a voluntary exclu-
" fion from church for life fhould ferve as fome atonement for
u my fault, and as a warning to my companions,"

vol. in. d d You

402 STUDIES OF NATURE.

You will then perceive, in the human figure,
touches far beyond the reach of the chifels of
Greece, and the pencil of a Van Dyk. The feli-
city of an unfortunate young woman will coll you
much le(s than the ftatue of Ariadne: and inftead
of giving celebrity to the name of an artift in your
hotel, for a few years, this will immortalize your
own, and caufe it to laft, long after you are gone
from hence, every time (lie fays to her companions
and to her children : " It was a God, who came to
" fuccour me in the day of my diftrefs."

We now proceed to trace the inftinct of Divi-
nity in our phyfical fenfations, and fhall conclude
this Study, by the fentiments of the foul which are
purely intellectual. Thus we fhall attempt to con-
vey a faint idea of the nature of Man.

OF PHYSICAL SENSATIONS.

All the phyfical fenfations are, in themfelves, f<$
many teftimonies cf our mifeiy. If Man isfofenfible
to the pleafure of the touch, it is becaufe he is nak-
ed all his body over. He is under the neceifitv, in
order to clothe himfelf, of dripping the quadruped,
the plant, and the worm. If almoft all vegetables
and animals are laid under contribution to fupply
him with food, it is becaufe he is obliged to em-

p'oy

STUDY XII. 4O3,

£>loy a great deal of cookery, and many combina-
tions, in preparing his aliments. Nature has treated
him with much fe verity ; for he is the only one of
animals, for the wants of which (he has made no
immediate provifion. Our .philofophers have not
fufflciently reflected on this perplexing diflinction.
How ! a worm provided with it's auger or it's file;
he enters into life in the midft of a profufion of
fruit proper for his fubfiftence ; he, by and by,
finds in himfelf the means of fpinning and weaving
his own garment ; after that, he transforms himfelf
into a gaudy butterfly, who ranges uncontroled,
abandoning himfelf to all the delights of love, and
re- perpetuating his fpecies without anxiety, and
without remorfej whereas the fon of a King is
born completely naked, amidft tears and groans,
(landing in need, all his life long, of the affiftance
of another, under the neceflity of maintaining an
unremitting conflict with his own fpecies, from
within, or from without, and frequently finding
in himfelf his mod formidable enemy ! Of a truth,
unlefs we are all the children of duft, it would be
a thoufand times better to enter upon existence
under the form of an infect, than under that of an
Emperor. But Man has been abandoned to the
mod abject mifery, only that he may have uninter-
rupted recourfe to the fir ft of Powers.

d d 2 Of

404 STUDIES OF NATURE»

Of the Senfe of Tajling.

There is no one phyfical fenfation but what
awakens in Man fome fentiment of the Deity.

To begin with the groffeft of all our fenfes,
that which relates to eating and drinking ; all Na-
tions, in the favage ftate, have entertained the be-
lief that the Divinity had need to fupport his
life, by the fame means that men do : hence, in all
religions, the origin of facrifice. Hence, alfo, has
farther proceeded, in many Nations, the cuftom
of placing viands on the tombs of the dead. The
wives of the American favages extend this mark
of folicitude even to infants who die upon the
breaft. After having beftowed upon them the
rights of fepulture, they come once a day, for fe-
veral weeks, and prefs from the nipple a few drops
of milk upon the grave of the departed fuckling*.
This is politively affirmed by the Jefuic Charlevoix t
who was frequently an eye-witnefs of the fact.
Thus the fentiment of Deity, and that of the im-
mortality of the foul, are interwoven with our af-
fections the mod completely animal, and efpecially
with maternal tendernefs.

* See Father Charlevoix, his Travels through America.

But

STUDY XII. 405

But Man has not fatisfied himfelf with admitting
intellectual beings to a fhare of his repaft, and, in
Come meafure, with inviting them to his table ; he
has found the means of elevating himfelf to their
rank, by the phyfical effecls of thofe very aliments.
It is Angularly remarkable, that feveral favage
Nations have been difcovered, who fcarcely pof-
feffed induftry fufficient to procure food for them-
felves ; but not one who had not invented the
means of getting drunk. Man is the only animal
who is fenfible to that pleafure. Other animals
are content to remain in their fphere. Man is
making perpetual efforts to get out of his. Intoxi-
cation elevates the mind. All religious feftivals
among Savages, and even among polimed Na-
tions, end in feafting, in which men drink till
reafon is gone : they begin, it is true, with fading,
but intoxication clofes the fcene. Man renounces
human reafon, that he may excite in himfelf
emotions that are divine. The effect of intoxica-
tion is to convey the foul into the bofom of fome
deity. You always hear topers celebrating, in their
fongs, Bacchus, Mars, Venus, or the God of Love.
It is farther very remarkable, that men do not
abandon themfelves to blafphemy till they arrive
at a (late of intoxication j for it is an inftinct as
ufual to the foul, to cleave to the Deity, when it
is in it's natural ftate, as to abjure Him when it is
corrupted by vice.

Dd 3 Of

-406 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Of the Sen Je of Smelling.

The pleafures of fmell are peculiar tti Mari'j
for I do not comprehend under it the olfactory
emanations by which he forms a judgment of his
aliments, and which are common to him with mod
animals. Man alone is fenfible to perfumes, and
employs them to give more energy to his paflions.
Mahomet faid, that they elevated his foul to Heaven.
Whatever may be in this, the ufe of them has been
introduced into all the religious ceremonies, and
into the political alTemblies,of many Nations. The
BraMlians, as well as all the Savages of Norths
America, never deliberate on any object of im-
portance, without fmoking tobacco in a calumet.
Jt is from this practice that the calumet is become,
among all thofe Nations, the fymbol of peace, of
war, of alliance, according to the accefibries with
"which it is accompanied.

It is, undoubedly, from the fame cuftom of
fmoking, which was common to the Scythians, as
Herodotus relates, that the caduceus of Mercury^
which has a linking refemblance to the calumet
of the Americans, and which appears, like it, to
have been nothing but a pipe, became the fymbol
of commerce. Tobacco increafes, in fome mea-

fure.

STUDY XII. 4O7

fure, the powers of the underfhinding, by pro-
ducing a fpecies of intoxication in the nerves of
the brain. Levy tells us, that the Brafilians frnoke
tobacco till it makes them drunk. It is to be
obferved, that thofe nations have found out the
mod cephalic plant of the whole vegetable king-
dom, and that the ufe of it is the mod univerfally
diffuftd of all thofe which exift on the Globe, the
vine and the corn-plants not excepted. 1 have
{een it cultivated in Finland, beyond Viburg, in
about the fixty firft degree of North Latitude.
The habit of ufing it becomes fo powerful, that a
perfon who has acquired it, will rather forego
bread, fora day, than his tobacco. This plant is,
neverthelefs, a real poifon ; it affects, at length, the
olfactory nerves, and fometirnes the fight. But
Man is ever difpofed to impair his phyfical con-
ftitution, provided he can Strengthen in himfelf
the intellectual fentiment. :

Of the Se rife of Seeing.

Every thing that has been faid, in detailing cer-
tain general Laws of Nature, harmonies, confor-
mities, contrafts, and oppositions, refers princi-
pally to the (enfe of feeing. I do not fpeak of
adaptation, or correfpondence ; for this belongs to
the fentiment of reafon, and is entirely distinct
from matter. The other relations are, in truth,
d d 4 founded

\

40S STUDIES OF NATURE.

founded on the reafon itfelf of Nature, which
communicates delight to us by means of colours
and forms generative and generated, and infpires
melancholy by thofe which announce decompo-
fition and deftruclion. But, without entering upon
that vaft and inexhauftible fubject, I fhall, at pre-
fent, confine myfelf to certain optical effects, which
involuntarily excite in us thefentiment of fome of
the attributes of Deity.

One of the moft obvious caufes of the p^eafure
which we derive from the fight of a great tree,
arifes from the fentiment of infinity kindled in us,
by it's pyramidical form. The decreafe of it's
different tiers of branches, and tints of verdure,
which are always lighter at the extremities of the
tree, than in the reft of it's foliage, give it an ap-
parent elevation, which never terminates. We ex-
perience the fame fenfations in the horizontal plan
of landfcapes, in which we frequently perceive fe-
veral fucceffive hilly elevations flying away one be-
hind another, till the laft melt away into the Hea-
vens. Nature produces the fame effect in vaft
plains, by means of the vapours which rife from
the banks of the lakes, or from the channels of the
brooks and rivers that wander through them; their
contours are multiplied in proportion to the ex*
tent of the plain, as I have many a time remarked.
Thofe vapours prefent themfelves on different

plans;

STUDY XII. 409

plans ; fometimes they ftand flill, like curtains
drawn along the fkirts of the forefts ; fometimes
they mount into columns over the brooks which
meander through the meadows : fometimes they
are quite gray ; at other times they are illumined
and penetrated by the rays of the Sun. Under all
thefe afpects, they difplay to us, if I may venture
to ufe the exprefiion, feveral perfpectives of infi-
nity in infinity itfelf.

I fay nothing of the delightful fpectacle which
the Heavens fometimes prefent to us, in the difpo-
fition of the clouds. I do not know of any Phi-
lofopher who has fo much as fufpected that their
beauties were fubjected to Law. One thing is
certain, namely, that no one animal, which lives
in the light, is infenfible to their effects. 1 have
fpoken, in another place, fomewhat of their cha-
racters of amability or terror, which are the fame
with thofe of amiable or dangerous animals and
vegetables, conformably to thofe of the days and
of the feafons which they announce. The Laws
of them which I have fketehed, will fuggeft deli-
cious fubjects of meditation to any perfon difpofed
to ftudy them, excepting thofe who are determined
to apply the mechanical medium of barometers
and thermometers. Thefe inftruments are good
for nothing but the regulation of the atmofphere
of our chambers. They too frequently conceal

from

4ÎO STUDIES OF NATURE.

from us the action of Nature; they announce, in
mod inftances, the fame temperatures to the days
which fet the birds a-finging, and to thofe which
reduce them to filence. The harmonies of Hea-
ven are to be felt only by the heart of Man. All
Nations, ftruck by their ineffable language, raife
their hands and their eyes to Heaven, in the invo-
luntary emotions of joy or of grief.

Reafon, however, tells them that God is every
■where. How comes it that no one ftretches out
his arms toward the Earth, or to the Horizon, in
the attitude of invocation ? Whence comes the
fentiment which whifpers to them, God is in Hea-
ven? Is it becaufe Heaven is the place where light
dwells ? Is it becaufe the light itfelf, which dif-
clofes all objects to us, not being, like our ter-
reftrial fubftances, liable to be divided, corrupted,
deftroyed, and confined, feems to prefent fome-
thing ecleftial in it's fubftance ?

It is to the fentiment of infinity, which the fight
of the Heavens infpires, that we mult afcribe the
tafte of all Nations, for building temples on the
fummit of a mountain, and the invincible propen-
fity which the Jews felt, like other Nations, to
worfhip upon high places. There is not a moun-
tain, all over the iflands of the Archipelago, but
what has it's church ; nor a hill, in China, but

what

STUDY XII. 4-II

what has it's pagoda. If, as fome Philofophers
•pretend, we never form a judgment of the nature
of things, but from the mechanical refuks of a
comparifon with ourfelves, the elevation of moun-
tains ought to humiliate our infignificance. But the
truth is, that thefe fublime objecls, by elevating
us toward Heaven, elevate thither the foul of Man,
by the fentiment of infinity ; and, disjoining us
from things terreftrial, waft us to the enjoyment
of beauties of much longer duration.

The works of Nature frequently prefent to us
feveral kinds of infinity at once : thus, for example,
a great tree, the trunk of which is cavernous, and
covered with mofs, conveys to us the fentiment
of infinity as to time, as well as that of infinity
in point of elevation. It exhibits a monument of
ages when we did not exift. If to this is added
infinity of extenfion, as when we perceive through
it's folemn branches, objects prodigioufly remote,
our veneration increafes. Go on, and add to all
' thefe, the different ridges of it's mafs, in contraft
with the profundity of the valleys, and with the
level of the plains; it's venerable half-lights, which
oppofe themfelves to, and play with, the azure of the
Heavens ; and the fentiment of our own wretch-
ednefs, which it relieves, by the ideas of the pro-
tection which it affords in the thicknefs of it's
£runk, immoveable as the rock, and in it's auguft

fummit,

412 STUDIES OF NATURE,

iummit, agitated by the winds, the majeftic mur-
murs of which feem to fympathize with our.di-
ftrefs. A tree, with all thefe harmonies, feems to
infpirean inexpreffible religious awe. Pliny fays, in
conformity to this idea, that the trees were the firft
temples of the Gods.

The fublime impreffion which they produce, be-
comes ftill more profound, when they recal to us
fome fentiment of virtue, fuch as the recollection
of the great men who planted them, or of thofe
whofe tombs they (hade. Of this kind were the
oaks of lulus at Troy. It is from an effect of
this fentiment, that the mountains of Greece and
Italy appear to us more refpectable than thofe of
the reft of Europe, though they are of no higher
antiquity on the Globe, becaufe their monuments,
in ruins as they are, call to our remembrance the
virtues of the peifons who inhabited them. But
this fubject belongs not to the prefent article.

In general, the different fenfations of infinity
increafe by the contrafts of the phyfical objects
which produce them. Our Painters are not fuffi-
ciently attentive to the choice of thofe which they
introduce into the fore-ground of their pictures.
They would give a much more powerful effect to
their back-ground fcenery, if they oppofed to it
the frontifpiece, not only in colours and forms, as

they

STUDY XII. 413

they fome time do, but in nature. Thus, for ex-
ample, if the Artift wifhed to communicate an
affecting intereft to a cheerful and fmiling land-
fcape, he would do well to prefent it through a
magnificent triumphal arch, crumbling into ruin
by length of time. On the contrary, a city filled
with Tufcan and Egyptian monuments, would
have a flill greater air of antiquity, when viewed
from under a bower of verdure and flowers. We
ought to imitate Nature, who never produces the
mod lovely plants, in all their beauty, fuch as
mofles, violets, and rofes, but at the foot of ruftic
rocks.

Not that confonances do not likewife produce a
very powerful effect, efpecially when they feem to
unite objects which are diftinc"t from each other.
It is thus, for inftance, that the cupola of the Col-
lege of the Four Nations, prefents a magnificent
point of view, when feen from the middle of the
court of the Louvre, through the arcade of that
palace which is oppofite, for then you view it com-
plete, with a portion of the Heaven under the arch,
as if it were a part of the Louvre. But in this
very confonance, which gives fuch an extent to our
vifion, there is likewife a contrail in the concave
form of the arcade, with the convex form of the
cupola»

The

4^4 STUDIES OF NATURE.

The great art of moving is to oppofe fenfibic
objects to intellectual. The foul, in that cafe,
rakes a daring (oar. It paffes from the vifible to
the inviiible, and enjoys, if I may be allowed the
expreffion, in it's own way, by extending itfelf
into the unbounded fields of fentiment and of in-
telligence. Among certain Tartar Tribes, when a
great man dies, his groom, after the interment,
leads out the horfe which his mailer was accuf-
tomed to ride, places the clothes which he wore
on the horfe's back, and walks him, in profound
iilence, before the aflembly, who, by that fpec-
tacle are melted into tears.

When the fuppreffed circumftances multiply,
and unite themfelves to feme virtuous affection,,
the emotions of the foul are greatly heightened*
Thus when, in the iEneid, lulus is promifing to
make prefents to Nifns and Euryalus, who are
going in queft of his father to Palanteum, he fays
to Nifus :

Bina dabo argento perfecta atque afpera fignis
Pocula, devictà genitor quae cepit Ariibâ ;
Et tripodes gémi nos, auri duo magna talenta,
Cratera antiquum quern dat Sidonia Dido.

JEneid, Lib. IX. <V. 263,

Two filver cups, embofsM with niceft art,

I'll give, ot-wailik-e fpods my Father's part,

When fam'd Anfba tell ; two tripods old j

A double talent, too, of pureft gold ; \ '

Sidonian Dido's gift fliall crown the reft,

A bowl antique, of generous love the teft.

" I win

STUDY XII. 41.5

c< I will prefent yon with two filver cups of ex-
*c quifite workmanlhip, with curious figures in
" alto-relievo. They became my father's pro-
'-' perty at the capture of Arifba. To thefe I will
" add a pair of twin tripods ; two talents of matTy
ic gold ; and an ancient goblet, a token of afTec-
" tion from Queen Dido."

He promifes to the two youthful friends, united
to each other in the tendered bonds, double pre-
fents, two cups, two tripods to ferve as (lands for
them, after the manner of the ancients, two ta-
lents of gold to replenifh them with wine, but
only one bowl from which they might drink to-
gether. And then, what a bowl! he boafts neither
of the materials of which it is compofed, nor of
the workmanfhip, as in the cafe of the other pre-
fents; he connects it with moral qualities infinitely
more interefting to the heart of friendlhip. It is
antique ; it was not the prize of violence, but the
gift of love. lulus, no doubt, received it as a
mark of affection from Dido, when Hie confidered
herfelf to be the wife of Mneas.

In all the fcenes of paffîon, where the intention
is to produce ftrong emotions, the more that the
principal object is circumfenbed, the more ex-
tended is the intellectual fentiment refuking from
it. Several reafons might be affigned for this, the

moft

4l6 STUDIES OF NATURE.

moft important of which is, that the acceflbry ccn-
trafts, as thofe of littlenefs and greatnefs, of weak-
nefs and ftrength, of finite and infinite, concur in
heightening the contrail of the fubject. When
PouJJin conceived the idea of a picture of the
univerfal deluge, he confined it to the reprefenta-
tion of a fingle family. There you fee an old man
on horfeback, on the point of drowning; and in a
boat, a man, who is perhaps his fon, prefents to
his wife, who has made fhift to fcramble up a
rock, a little child dreffed in a red petticoat, who,
on it's part, is making every effort, with it's little
feet, to get upon the rock. The back-ground of
the landfcape is frightful from it's black melan-
choly. The herbage and the trees are foaked in
water, the Earth itfelf is penetrated by it, which
is rendered vifible by that long ferpent, in eager
hade to quit it's hole. The torrents are gufhing
down on every fide ; the Sun appears in the Hea-
vens like an eye thruft out of it's focket : but the
moft powerful intereft in the piece bears upon the
feebleft object : a father and a mother, ready
themfelves to perifh, are wholly engroffed in the
prefervation of their infant. Every feeling is ex-
tinguifhed on the Earth, but maternal tendernefs
is flill alive. The human race is deftroyed be-
caufe of it's crimes, and innocence is going to be
[involved in the punilhment. Thefe unreftrained
torrents, that deluged Earth, that lurid Atmo-

fphere,

STUDY XII. 417

fphere, that extinguished Sun, thofe defolated fo-
litudes, that fugitive family, all the effects of that
univerfal ruin of the World, are wholly concen-
trated in an infant. There is no one, however, who,
on viewing the fmall group of perfonages which
furround it, would not exclaim : " There's the
Univerfal Deluge !" Such is the nature of the hu-
man foul ; fo far from being material, it lays hold
only of correfpondencies. The lefs you difplay to
it phyfical objects, the more you awaken in it in-
tellectual feelings.

Of the Senfe of Heating.

Plato calls hearing and feeing the fenfes of the
foul. 1 fuppofe he qualifies them particularly by
this name, becaufe virion is affe&ed by light,
which is not, properly fpeaking, a fubftance; and
hearing,, by the modulations of the air, which are
not of themfelves bodies. Belides, thefe two fenfes
convey to us only the fentiment of correfponden-
cies and harmonies, without involving us in mat-
ter, as fmelling does, which is affected only by
the emanations from bodies, tailing by their flu-
idity, and touching by their folidity, by their foft-
nefs, by their heat, and by their other phyfical
qualities. Though hearing and feeing- be the di-
rect fenfes of the foul, we ought nor, however,

vol. in. e e thence

418 STUDIES OF NATURE.

thence to conclude, that a man born deaf and blind
muft be an idiot, as fome have pretended. The foul
fees and hears by all the fenfes. This has been
demonstrated in the cafe of the blind Princes of
Per fia, whofe fingers, according to Chardin s re-
port, are fo aftonifhingly intelligent, that they can
trace, and calculate, all the figures of Geometry on
tablets. Such are, likewife, the deaf and the
dumb, whom the Abbé de l'Epée, is teaching to
converfe together.

I have no occafion to be diffufe on the fubject
of the intellectual relations of hearing. This fenfe
is the immediate organ of intelligence ; it is that
which is adapted to the reception of fpeech, a fa-
culty peculiar to Man, and which, by it's infinite
modulations, is the expreffion of all the correfpon-
dencies of Nature, and of all the feelings of the
human heart. But there is another language,
which feems to appertain ftill more particularly to
this firft principle of ourfelves, to which we have
given the name àifentiwènt : I mean mufic.

I fhall not dwell on the incomprehenfible power
which it pofîefles of roufing and quieting the paf-
ficms, in a manner independent of reafon, and of
kindling fubli me affections, difengaged from all in-
tellectual perception : it's effects are fufHciently
known. I (hall only obferve, that it is fo natural

to

STUDY XII. 419

to Man, that the firft prayers addreffed to the
Deity, and the original Laws among all Nations,
were fet to mufic. Man lofes a tafte for it only in
polifhed fociety, the very languages of which, at
length, lofe their accentuation. The fact is, that a
multitude^offocial relations deftroy, in a Hate of re-
finement, the correfpondencies of Nature. In that
(late, we reafon much, but fcarcely feel any longer.

The Author of Nature has deemed the har-
mony of founds to be fo necefiary to Man, that
there is not a fituation upon the Earth but what has
it's ringing bird. The linnet of the Canaries ufu-
ally frequents, in thofe iflands, the flinty gutters
of the mountains. The goldfinch delights in fandy
downs, the lark in the meadows, the nightingale
in woods by the fide of a brook, the bullfinch,
whofe note is fo fweet, in the white thorn : the
thrum, the yellowhammer, the greenfinch, and all
other finging birds, have their favourite pod. It
is very remarkable, that all over the Globe they
difcover an inninct which attracts them to the ha-
bitation of Man. If there be but a fingle hut in a
foreft, all the fong-birds of the vicinity come and
fettle around it. Nay, none are to be found ex-
cept in places which ,are inhabited. I have tra-
velled more than fix hundred leagues, through the
forefts of Ruffia, but never met with fmall birds
except in the neighbourhood of villages. On mak-

e e 2 ing

420 STUDIES OF NATURE.

irig the tour of the fortified places of Ruffian Fin-
land, with the General Officers of the Corps of
Engineers, in which I ferved, we travelled fome-
times at the rate of twenty leagues a day, without
feeing on the road either village or bird. But when
we perceived the fparrows fluttering about, we
concluded that we mufl be drawing near fome in-
habited place. In this indication we were never
once deceived. I relate it with the more fatisfac»
tion, that it may fometimes be of fervice to perfons
who have loft their way in the woods.

Garcillafo de la Vega informs us, that his father
having been detached from Peru, with a company
of Spaniards, to make difcoveries beyond the Cor-
deliers, was in danger of perifhing with hunger in
the midft of their uninhabited valleys and quag-
mires. He never could have got. out, had he not
perceived in the air a flight of paroquets, which
iuggefted a hope that there might be fome place
of habitation at no great diftance. He directed
his march to that point of the compafs which the
paroquets had purfued, and arrived, after incredi-
ble fatigue, at a colony of Indians, v.ho cultivated
fields of maize.

It is to be obferved, that Nature has not given
a mufical voice to any one fea or river bird, be-
caufe it would have been loft in the noife of the

waters,

STUDY XII. 421

waters, and becaufe the human ear could not have
enjoyed it at the diftance which they are deftined
to live from the land. If there are fwans which fing,
as has been alleged by fome, their fong muft con-
fift of but very few modulations, with fome refem-
blance to the uncouth founds uttered by the duck
and the goofe. That of the wild fwans, which came
lately and fettled at Chantilly, has only four or
five notes. Aquatic birds have (hrill and piercing
cries, by means of which they can make themfelves
heard in the regions of wind and tempeft where
they inhabit, and are in perfect correfpondence
with their noify fituations, and their melancholy
folitudes.

The melodies of fong-birds have fimilar rela-
tions to the fîtes which they occupy, and even to
the diftances at which they live from our habita-
tions. The lark, who neftles among our corn, and
delights in foaring perpendicularly till we lofe
fight of him, makes his voice to be heard in the
air, after he is no longer perceptible to the eye.
The fwallow, who grazes the walls of our houfes
as he flies, and repofes on our chimneys, has a
fmall gentle chirping voice, which does not ftun
the ear, as that of the fongfters of the grove would
do; but the folitary nightingale makes himfelf
heard at the diilance of more than half a league.
He miftruils the vicinity of man ; and, neverthe-

e e 3 lefs,

422 STUDIES OF NATURE,

Jefs, always places himfelf within fight of his ha-
bitation, and within the reach of his ear. He
choofes, for this effect, places which are the beft
conductors of found, in order that their echoing
may give more a&ion to his voice. Having fta-
tioned himfelf in his orcheftra, he warbles an un-
known drama, which has it's exordium, it's expo-
fition, it's recitative, it's cataftrophe, intermingled
fometimes with the moft extravagant burfts of joy,
fometimes with bitter and plaintive notes of recol-
lection, which he exprefles by long and deep
fighs. He raifes his fong at the commencement
of that feafon which renews the face of Nature,
and feems to prefent Man with a reprefentation of
the refllefs career which lies before him.

Every bird has a voice adapted to the times and
the flations of it's deftination, and relative to the
wants of Man. The loud clarion of the cock calls
him up to labour at the dawn of day. The brifk
and lively fong of the lark, in the meadow, invites
the fwains and fhepherdefles to the dance ; the vo-
racious thrufh, which appears only in Autumn,
fummons the ruftic vine-dreifer to the vinrage.
Man alone, on his part, is attentive to the accents
of the feathered race. Never will the deer, who
fheds tears copioufly over his own misfortunes,
figh over thofe of the complaining Philomel. Ne-
ver did the laborious ox, when led to the flaughter,

after

STUDY XIÎ, 423

after all his painful fervices, turn his head toward
her, and fay : (t Solitary bird, behold in what
" manner Man rewards his fervants !"

Nature has diffufed thefe diffractions, and thefe
confonances of fortune, over volatile beings, in
order that our foul, fufceptible as it is of every
wo, finding every where occafions of extending
that fufceptibility, might every where be enabled
to alleviate the preffure. She has rendered infen-
fible bodies themfelves capable of thefe communi-
cations. She prefents to us, frequently, in the
midft of fcenes which pain the eye, other fcenes
which delight the ear, and foothe the mind with
interefting recollections. It is thus that from the
bofom of forefts, fhe tranfports us to the brink of
the waters, by the ruftling of the afpins and of the
poplars. At other times fhe conveys to us, when
we are by the fide of the brook, the noife of the
Sea, and the manœuvres of navigation, in the
murmuring of reeds (haken by the wind. When
(he can no longer feduce our reafon by foreign
imagery, fhe lulls it to reft by the charm of fenti-
ment : (lie calls forth from the bofom of the fo-
refts, of the meadows, and of the valleys, founds
ineffable, which excite in us pleating reveries, and
plunge us into profound fleep.

Of

424 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Of the Senje of Touching.

I (hall make but a few reflections on the fenfe
of touching. It is the moft obtufe of all our fenfes,
and, neverthelefs, it is, in fome fort, the feal of
our intelligence. To no purpofe is an object ex-
pofed to the examination of the eye, in every pof-
fible pofition ; we cannot be perfuaded that we
know it, unlefs we are permitted to put it to the
touch. This inftinct proceeds, perhaps, from our
weaknefs, which feeks in thefe approximations
points of protection. Whatever may be in this,
the fenfe in queftion, blunt as it is, may be made
the channel of communicating intelligence, as is
evident from the example adduced by Chardin,
of the blind men of Perfia, who traced geometrical
figures with their fingers, and formed a very accu-
rate judgment of the goodnefs of a watch, by
handling the parts of the movement.

Wife Nature has placed the principal organs of
this fenfe, which is diffufed over the whole furface
of our (kin, in our hands and feet, which are the
members the bed adapted to judge of the quality
pf bodies. But in order that they might not be
expofed to the lofs of their fenfibility, by frequent
(hocks, (he has bellowed, on them a great degree

of

STUDY XII. 425

ot pliancy, by dividing them into feveral fingers
and toes, and thefe again into feveral joints ; far-
ther, (he has furnifhed them, on the points of con-
tact, with eladic half pincers, which prefent, at
once, refiftance in their callous and prominent
parts, and an exquifite fenfibility in the retreating
parts.

It is matter of aflonifhment to me, however, that
Nature mould have diffufed the fenfe of touching
over the whole furface of the human body, which
becomes thence expofed to variety of fuffering,
while no considerable benefit feems to refuk fiom
it. Man is the only animal laid under the necef-
fityof clothing himfelf. There are, indeed, fome in-
fects which make cafes for themfelvcs, fuch as the
moth ; but they are produced in places where their
clothing is, if I may fay fo, ready made. This
necefficy, which is become one of the mod inex-
hauftible fources of human vanity, is, in my opi-
nion, one of the mod humiliating proofs of our
wretchednefs. Man is the only being who is
afhamed of appearing naked. This is a feeling of
which I do not difcern the reafon in Nature, nor
the fimilitude in the inftinct of other animals. Be-
fides, independently of all fenfe of fhame, he is
conftrained., by powerful neceflity, to clothe him-
felf, in every variety of climate.

Certain

426 STUDIES OF NATURE.

Certain Philosophers, wrapped up in good warm
cloaks, and who never ftir beyond the precincts
of our great cities, have figured to themfelves a
natural Man on the Earth, like a ftatue of bronze
in the middle of one of our fquares-. But to fay
nothing of the innumerable inconveniencies which
muft, in fuch a ftate, opprefs his miferable exift-
ence from without, as the cold, the heat, the wind,
the rain, I fhall in lift only on one inconvenience,
which is but ilightly felt in our commodious apart-
ments, though it would be abfolutely infupportable
to a naked man, in the moft genial of tempera-
tures; I mean the flies.- I fhall quote, to this pur-
pofe, the teftimony of a man whofe fkin ought to>
have been proof againft this attack : it is that of
the free-booter Raveneau de Lujjan, who, in the
year 1688, crofled the ifthmus of Panama, on his
return from the South Seas. Hear what he fays,
fpeaking of the Indians of Cape de Gracias a
Dios : " When they are overtaken with an inclU
" nation to go to ileep, they dig a hole in the
** fand, in which they lay themfelves along, and
" then cover themfelves all over with the fand
" which they had dug out ; this they do to fhelter
" themfelves from the attack of the mufquitos,
<c with which the air is frequently loaded. They
*' are a kind of little flies, that are rather felt than
*' feen, and are armed with a fting fo keen, and fo

" venemous

STUDY XII. 427

st venemous, that when they fix on any one, they
" feem to dart a (haft of fire into the blood.

" The poor wretches arefo grievoufly tormented
" with thofe formidable infe&s, when it does not
*c blow, that they become like lepers ; and I can
" affirm it as a ferious truth, for I know it from
** my own experience, that it is no flight evil to
iC be attacked by them ; for, befides their pre*
ct venting all reft in the night-time, when we were
ic obliged to trudge along, with our backs naked
" for want of fnïrts, the unceafing perfecution of
" thofe mercilefs little animals drove us almoft to
u madnefs and defpair *.

It is, I am difpofed to believe, on account of
the troublefomenefs of the flies, which are very
common, and very neceflary, in the marfhy and
humid places of hot countries, that Nature has
placed but few quadrupeds with hair, on their
mores, but quadrupeds with fcales, as the tatou,
the armadillo, the tortoife, the lizard, the crocodile,
the cayman, the land-crab, bernard-the-hermit,
and other fcaly reptiles, fuch as ferpents, upon
which the flies have not the means of fattening. It
is, perhaps, for this reafon, likewife, that hogs and
wild-boars, which take pleafure in frequenting

* Journal of a Voyage to the South-Sea in 1688.

fuch

428 STUDIES OF NATURE.

fuch places, are/urnifhed with hair long, ftiff, and
briftly, which keep volatile infects at a diftance.

Once more, Nature has not employed, in this
refpect, any one precaution in behalf of Man. Of
a truth, on contemplating the beauty of his forms,
and his complete nakednefs, it is impoffible for me
not to admit the ancient tradition of our origin.
Nature, in placing him on the Earth, faid to him:
*.' Go, degraded creature, animal defhitute of cloth-
" ing, intelligence without light ; go, and provide
" for thy own wants ; it (hall not be in thy power
|™ to enlighten thy blinded reafon, but by directing
" it continually toward Heaven, nor to fuftain thy
" miferable life, without the afliftance of beings
" like thyfelf." And thus, out of the mifery of
Man, fprung up the two commandments of the
Law.

END OF THE THIRD VOLUME»

h