and Natiom on the extent and situation of Forests. 239 



Hence it follows that forests deserve to become an object of 

 careful examination, not only in a politico-economical and 

 financial point of view, but also, and more particularly, in a 

 geographical point of view, whether they be considered in 

 reference to the one or the other section of political geo- 

 graphy. 



This subject having still failed to attract the proper atten- 

 tion, it is our intention to dedicate the following pages to the 

 support of the above assertions, and to direct the thoughts 

 of the students to whom geography and its problems form 

 an object of interest, to the examination of a geographical 

 element, which is of the last importance for the study of geo- 

 graphical relations, whether they refer to the physical aspect 

 of countries, or to the population and all its interests. No 

 person, at all familiar with our subject, will deny the truth 

 of the following propositions : 1. The more simple the form 

 which the coasts of a continent exhibit, the more simple are 

 all its internal relations : 2. The more developed the former, 

 the more developed are all the geographical relations of the 

 continent, and of its individual countries and population, as 

 regards the physical, intellectual, and moral, as well as the 

 economical, political, and social condition of the latter: 

 3. The nature and the physical character of a country exert 

 a powerful influence on nations : 4. The climate in particular 

 controls the whole being of man, as far as he is an object of 

 geography ; in illustration of which, compare the inhabitants 

 of the polar and equatorial regions with those of the tem- 

 perate zones, observing, that the mind and body of the latter 

 are not, as is the case with the former, arrested in their on- 

 ward progress of successful development by a heat, which 

 enervates the body, or by a cold, which causes it to shrink and 

 to contract : 5. The capabilities of cultivation of the ground 

 accelerate the development of the bodily and mental faculties : 

 6. The particular shape of a country powerfully influences 

 the character and civilization of the people ; for example, 

 mountain plains are chiefly tenanted by nomadic tribes, who, 

 from time to time, invade the lowlands, subjugate the natives, 

 and inspire them with new vigour and activity ; whilst the 



