THE MAGAZINE 



OF 



NATURAL HISTORY 



APRIL, 1838. 



Art. I. The Influence of the nature of the soil upon the distribu- 

 tion of Vegetables ; demonstrated by the Vegetation of the Western 

 Tyrol. By Dr. F. Unger.* 



Called to reside in the town of Kitzbiihel, in the Tyrol, as 

 district physician, the author has had the skill to turn to ac- 

 count every moment of leisure allowed by an extensive prac- 

 tice ; and at the end of four years he has been able to place 

 before the scientific world a complete history of the country, 

 embracing its geology, botany, and meteorological phenome- 

 na. It so rarely happens that We are presented with a work 

 in which nature is displayed as a whole, — in which the seve- 

 ral departments of science, like the links of a chain, are treat- 

 ed of in connection, and in which, along with the description 

 of a plant, is that of the soil in which it grows, of the air it 

 breathes, and the different degrees of temperature to which it 

 is exposed, — that we deem it right to give such a detailed 

 analysis of the one before us, as will cause the richness of its 

 materials and the extent of philosophical knowledge which 

 distinguish it, to be fully appreciated. 



The territory of Kitzbiihel presents a surface of nineteen 

 square German miles ; it is bounded on the east, south, and 

 north-east, by the country of Salzbourg ; and on the north by 

 Bavaria ; while on the west it extends to the river Inn, in a 

 line parallel with the course of the Wiedau. The town itself 

 is situated in latitude 47° 27', and longitude 30° 4' From 

 File de Fer to an elevation of 2350 feet above the level of the 



*"Ueber den Einfluss des Bodens auf die Vertlieilung der Gewaechse, 

 nachgwiesen in der Vegetation des nordcestlichen Tyrols, Sec. &c.' 1 vol. 

 8vo. Vienna, 1836. For this abstract of the work, we are indebted to the 

 friendship of Dr. Martins." — Ed. Annates des Sci. Nat. August, 1837. 



Vol. II.— No. 16. n. s. p 



