62 COSMOS 



aJl organic germs, that has aione imparted the jDowerful at- 

 traction which in the present day is attached to the study of 

 all branches of natural science. This secret charm, excited 

 by a deep insight into organic life, is not limited to the trop- 

 ical world. Every portion of the earth offers to our view the 

 wonders of progressive formation and development, according 

 to ever-recurring or slightly-deviating types. Universal is the 

 awful rule of those natural powers which, amid the clouds that 

 iarken the canopy of heaven with storms, as well as in the 

 delicate tissues of organic substances, resolve the ancient strife 

 of the elements into accordant harmony. All portions of the 

 vast circuit of creation — from the equator to the coldest zones 

 — wherever the breath of spring unfolds a blossomj the mind 

 may rejoice in the inspiring power of nature. Our German 

 land is especially justified in cherishing such a belief, for where 

 is the southern nation who would not envy us the great mas- 

 ter of poesy, whose works are all pervaded by a profound vener- 

 ation for nature, which is alike discernible in The Sor?'Oic-s oj 

 IVcrther, in the Recollectio7is of Italy, in the Metamorphoses 

 of Plants, and in so many of his poems ? Who has more elo- 

 quently excited his cotemporaries to " solve the holy problem 

 of the universe," and to renew the bond which in the dawn 

 of mankind united together philosophy, physics, and poetry ? 

 Who has drawn others with a more powerful attraction to 

 that land, the home of his intellect, where, as he sings, 



Ein sanfter Wind vom blanem Himmel weht, 

 Die Myrte still, und hoch der Lorbeer steht ! 



1 ANDSCAPE PAINTING IN IT3 INFLUENCE ON THE STUDY OF NATURE 

 —GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION OF THE PHYSIOGNOMY OF PLANTS. 

 —THE CHARACTER AND ASPECT OF VEGETATION IN DIFFERENT 

 ZONES. 



Landscape painting, and fresh and vivid descriptions of 

 dature, alike conduce to heighten the charm emanating from 

 d study of the external world, which is shown us in all its di- 

 versity of form by both, while both are alike capable, in a 

 greater or lesser degree, according to the success of the at- 

 tempt, to combine the visible and invisible in our contempla- 

 tion of nature. The effort to connect these several elements 

 forms the last and noblest aim of delineative art, but the pres- 

 ent pages, from the scientific object to which they are devoted, 

 must be restricted to a different point of view. Landscape 

 painting can not, therefore, be noticed in any further relation 



