340 COSMOS. 



of the mysterious and insoluble problems oi' origin and exist 

 ence. 



A cosmical history of the universe, resting upon facts as its 

 basis, has, from tlie nature and limitations of its sphere, neces- 

 sarily no connection Avith the obscure domain embraced by a 

 histonj of orgojiisms* if we understand the word history m 

 its broadest sense. It must, however, be remembered, that 

 \he inorganic crust of the Earth contains within it the same 

 elements that enter into the structure of animal and vegeta- 

 ble organs. A physical cosmography would therefore be in 



* The history cf plants, which Endlicher and Unger have described 

 in a most masterly manner {Gritndzuge der Botanik, 1843, s. 449-468). 

 I myself separated from the geography of plants half a centuiy ago 

 In the aphorisms appended to my Subterranean Flora, the following 

 passage occurs : " Geognosia naturara animantem et inanimam vel, ut 

 vocabulo minus apto, ex antiquitate saltem haud petito, utar, corpora 

 organica aeque ac inorgauica considerat. Sunt enim tria quibus absol 

 vitur capita : Geographia oryctologica quam simpUciter Geognosiam vel 

 Geologiara dicunt, virque acutissimus Weraerus egregie digessit ; Geo- 

 graphia zoologica, cujus doctrinaj fundamenta Zimmermannus et Tre- 

 viranus jecerunt; et Geographia plantarum quam sequales nostri diu in 

 lactam reliquerunt. Geographia plantarum vincula et cognationem 

 tradit, quibus omnia vegetabilia inter se connexa sint, terras tractus 

 quos teneant, in aerem atmosphiericum quae sit eorum vis osteudit, saxa 

 atque rupes quibus potissimum algarum primordiis radicibusque destru- 

 antur docet, et quo pacto in telluiis superficie humus nascatur, com- 

 memorat. Est itaque quod differat inter Geognosiam et Physiographiam, 

 historia naturalis perperam nuncupatam quum Zoognosia, Phytognosia, 

 et Oryctognosia, quae quidem omues in naturae investigatione versantur, 

 non uisi singulorum animalium, plantarum, rerum metallicanim vel 

 (venia sit verbo) fossiliura formas, anatomen, vires scrutantur. Historia 

 Telluris, Geognosiae magis quam Physiographiee affinis, nemini adhuc 

 tentata, plantarum animaliumque genera orbem inhabitantia primaevum, 

 migi'ationes eorum compluriumque interitum, ortum quem montes, 

 valles, saxorum strata et venee metalliferae ducunt, aerem, mutatis tem- 

 porum vicibus, mode purum, modo vitiatum, teiTas superficiem humo 

 plantisque paulatim obtectam, iluminum inundantium impetu denuo 

 nudatam, iterumque siccatam et gramine vestitam comraemorat. Igi- 

 tur Historia zoologica, Historia plantarum et Historia oryctologica, quae 

 non nisi pristinum orbis terrae statum indicant, a Geognosia jjrobe dis- 

 linguenda^" — Humboldt, Flora Friburgensis Subterranea, cui accediint 

 AphoHsmi ex Physiologia CherrJca Plantarum, 1793, p. ix.-x. Respect- 

 ing the " spontaneous motion," which is referred to in a subsequent 

 part of the text, see the remarkable passage in Aristotle, De Cailo, ii., 

 2, p. 284, Bekker, where the distinction between animate and inanimate 

 bodies is made to depend on the internal or external position of the 

 seat of the determining motion. " No movement," says the Stagirite, 

 " proceeds from the vegetable spirit, because plants are buried in a 

 Blill sleep, from which nothing can arouse them" (Aristotle, De Generat. 

 Animal., v. i., p. 778, Bekker) ; and again, " because plants have no 

 desires which ircite them to spontaneous motion." ( A.rist., Dc Somna 

 tt Vigil., cap. i., p. 455, Bekker.) 



