Universal geography; or, A description of all the parts of the world, on a new plan, according to the great natural divisions of the globe Improved ... derived from various sources accompanied

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1827 edition. Excerpt: ...of the cryptogamic class even ramify upon the dark vaults of mines, and upon the walls of the deepest caverns. The course which vegetation pursues in its conquests over inorganic matter, presents remarkable gradations. " Let a volcano," says M. Humboldt, " raise up from the bottom of the sea, all at once above the boiling waves, a rock covered with scoria; or, to refer to a less dreadful phenomenon, suppose the nereides, with united industry, continue to elevate their cellular abodes for thousands of years, till, finding themselves above the level of the sea, they die, after having in this way formed a flattened isle of coral; organic force is instantly ready to produce vegetation upon this rock: yet who can have brought there so suddenly the seeds of plants? Is it the birds, or the winds, or the waves of the sea? It is the great distance from the coasts which renders it difficult to decide this question. But scarcely has the air come in contact with the naked rock, when in the northern climates there is formed upon its surfac Hamilton's Works, p. 33. Brydone's Tour, vol. i. p. 116. f Senebier, Encyl. Method. Veget. PhysioL roL i. t Schrader, deux Mtmoires couronncs sur la nature des parties terreusea des plantes, Berlin, 1800. (in Germ.) 4 Experiences dc Fourcrny de Giobert, &c. Encycl. Nat Fhysiol. Veget. vol. i. p. 376. I Lampadius, Samlung praktischer Abhandl., iii. p. 187. Davy, Nicholson, vol. ii. No. 27. p. 56. Macie and Russet, Philosoph. Transact, vol. Ixxx. and Ixxxi. 1 Humboldt, Aphorism, p. 1Q5,106. Jjonxus, Am«nitat, »c»d. vol. ir. p. 64 Progress of To getation. a net-work of tufted threads, which appear to the unassisted eye like coloured spots. Some of them are bordered by lines bending outwards,...