96 Mr. R. B. Hinds on Geographic Botany. 



affinities assume activity, and the inorganic kingdom claims the 

 rest : this is now the magazine whence future plants are to draw 

 their food, and derive vigour to pursue their functions. 



With regard to the chemical effects it is capable of producing, 

 these are perhaps but slight. Vegetation has a salutary influence 

 over the atmosphere by the removal of carbon ; this agency is 

 confined to the green organs, those parts coloured giving it out, 

 but not in the same proportion. A positive prejudicial action is 

 sometimes exerted over the health of man : the rank luxuriance 

 of the vegetation of warm climates, where there is abundant 

 moisture, creates a malarious atmosphere which fully balances 

 its otherwise good effects. It cannot be concealed that some 

 countries are so extremely fatal to human life, as to make them 

 almost uninhabitable. When the vegetation of an unhealthy spot 

 is removed, and the soil exposed for a time to the sun^s heat, it 

 becomes comparatively healthy, as has been the case at Sierra 

 Leone. 



Man has without doubt been powerfully affected by the nature 

 of the vegetation. It is so often combined with climate that it 

 is not easy to estimate the power of each separately, and yet there 

 is a wide difference between the herbivorous man of the South 

 who scarcely ever touches animal food, and the carnivorous being 

 of the North, whose fi'ame requires the stimulus of a large pro- 

 portion of meat. The Indian of the Pampas lives on horse-flesh, 

 and sometimes beef; his disposition is as untameable as his food 

 is gross. The Hindoo is usually content with vegetable food, and 

 presents in every respect a strong contrast of character. The 

 pastoral habits of the tribes of Asia Minor, the adjacent countries, 

 and of some portions of North America, are forced on them by 

 the nature of the vegetation. To prevent the chances of starva- 

 tion for themselves and their flocks and herds, they traverse the 

 plains in pursuit of vegetation. But how much does this imply ! 

 every circumstance around them must be adapted to their migra- 

 tory habits — limited personal property, hardihood, patient en- 

 durance, skilfulness in resources, and a recklessness which emi- 

 nently fits them for the vicissitudes of their checkered life. 



We shall now conclude by referring briefly to some of those 

 external characters of vegetation which contribute towards its 

 physiognomy. 



The surface of the globe presents a great diversity in its fea- 

 tures, attributable to the extremely irregular physical distribu- 

 tion of its parts, and its unequal exposure to the heavenly bodies, 

 especially the sun. Throughout the kingdoms of nature this 

 variety is distinctly marked, and the general impression conveyed 

 is so universally acknowledged, that any person, totally unac- 

 quainted with the principles of natural history, feels no hesitation 



