THE NORTHERN VEGETATION COMPARED, ETC. 145 



of science, in that form. In these studies evidence must rest upon 

 direct observation and induction, just as fully as mathematics claims 

 the right to settle all questions about measurable things. There 

 will be no scientific evidence of God's working in nature until na- 

 turalists have shown that the whole Creation is the expression of a 

 thought, and not the product of physical agents. Now what stronger 

 evidence of thoughtful adaptation can there be, than the various 

 combinations of similar, though specifically different assemblages of 

 animals and plants repeated all over the world, under the most 

 uniform and the most diversified circumstances ? When we meet 

 with pine trees, so remarkable for their peculiarities, both morpholo- 

 gical and anatomical, combined with beeches, birches, oaks, maples, 

 &c., as well in North America as in Europe and Northern Asia, 

 under most similar circumstances ; when we find again representa- 

 tives of the same family with totally different features, mingling so 

 to say under low latitudes with palm trees and all the luxuriant 

 vegetation of the tropics ; when we truly behold such scenes and 

 have penetrated their full meaning as naturalists, then we are placed 

 in a position similar to that of the antiquarian who visits ancient 

 monuments. He recognizes at once the workings of intelligence 

 in the remains of an ancient civilization ; he may fail to ascertain 

 their age correctly, he may remain doubtful as to the order in 

 which they were successively constructed, but the character of the 

 whole tells him that they are works of art, and that men, like him- 

 self, originated these relics of by-gone ages. So shall the intel- 

 ligent naturalist read at once in the pictures which nature presents 

 to him, the works of a higher Intelligence ; he shall recognize in the 

 minute perforated cells of the Coniferoe, which differ so wonderfully 

 from those of other plants, the hieroglyphics of a peculiar age ; in 

 their needle-like leaves, the escutcheon of a peculiar dynasty ; in their 

 repeated appearance under most diversified circumstances, a thought- 

 ful and thought-eliciting adaptation. He beholds indeed the works 

 of a being thinking like himself, but he feels at the same time that 

 he stands as much below the Supreme Intelligence in wisdom, power 

 and goodness, as the works of art are inferior to the wonders of 

 nature. Let naturalists look at the world under such impressions 



