8 COSMOS. 



isms of the present world, and sometimes even from the relics 

 of extinct species. =^. Marvelous flowers and trees spring from 

 this mythic soil, as the giant ash of the Edda-Songg, the 

 world-tree Yggdrasil, whose branches tower ahove the heav- 

 ens, while one of its triple roots penetrates to the *' foaming 

 caldron springs" of the lower world. f Thus the cloud-re- 

 gion of physical myths is filled with pleasing or with fearful 

 terms, according to the diversity of character in nations and 

 climates ; and these forms are preserved for centuries in the 

 intellectual domain of successive generations. 



If the present work does not fully bear out its title, the 

 adoption of which I have myself designated as bold and in- 

 considerate, the charge of incompleteness applies especially 

 to that portion of the Cosmos which treats of spiritual life ; 

 that is, the image reflected by external nature on the inner 

 w^orld of thought and feeling. In this portion of my Avork I 

 have contented myself with dwelling more especially upon, 

 those objects which lie in the direction of long-cherished 

 studies ; on the manifestation of a more or less lively appre- 

 ciation of nature m classical antiquity and in modern times ; 

 on the fragments of poetical descriptions of nature, the col 

 oring of which has been so essentially influenced by individ- 

 uality of national character, and the religious monotheistic 

 view of creation ; on the fascinating charm of landscape 

 painting ; and on the history of the contemplation of the 

 physical universe, that is, the history of the recognition of 

 the universe as a whole, and of the unity of phenomena — a 

 recognition gradually developed during the course of two 

 thousand years. 



In a work of so comprehensive a character, the object of 

 which is to give a scientific, and, at the same time, an ani- 

 mated description of nature, a first imperfect attempt must 

 rather lay claim to the merit of inciting than to that of sat- 

 isfying inquiry. A Book of Natui'e, worthy of its exalted 

 title, can ne^? er be accomplished until the physical sciences, 

 notwithstanding their inherent imperfectibihty, shall, by theij 



* M. vou Olfer's TJeherresti vortreltlicher Riescnthiere in Bezieliung auj 

 Ostasialische Sagen in the Abh. der Berl. Akad., 1832, s. 51. On tlie 

 opinion advanced by Empedocles regarding the cause of the extinction 

 of the earliest animal forms, see Hegel's Geschichte der Philosopkie, 

 bd. ii., s. 344. 



t See, for the world-tree Yggdrasil, and the rushing (foaming) cal 

 dron-spring Hvergelmir, the Deutsche Mi/ihologie of Jacob Grimm, 1844, 

 B. 530, 756; also Mallet's Northern Antiquities (Bohn's edition), 1847 

 p. 410, 489, and 492, and frontispiece to ditto. 



