of the Surface of the Earth. 121 



change in the direction and strength of currents of the sea, 

 without an actual diminution of water, and without a gene- 

 ral depression of the whole ocean. We must be very care- 

 ful in our interpretation of the information which has re- 

 cently been obtained respecting these complicated pheno- 

 mena; for it is easy to ascribe to water, one of the "an- 

 cient elements," what belongs to two others, viz., earth and 

 air. 



In the same manner as the configuration of continents, 

 which we have hitherto been delineating iu its horizontal 

 extension, exercises, by means of the varied form of its out- 

 line, (ciussere Gliederung^ i.e., by the indentations and pro- 

 jections of its coasts, a beneficial influence on climate, com- 

 merce, and the progress of cultivation ; so there is also a 

 kind of internal division of parts, by means of perpendicular 

 elevation of the surface, (mountain chains and table-lands,) 

 which has produced not less important results. 



Every thing which has produced alternation of forms and 

 variety of physiognomy [Polymorphy') on the surface of our 

 planet (in addition to mountain chains, we here refer also 

 to great lakes, grassy steppes, and even to deserts surround- 

 ed by woody regions which may be compared to coasts), im- 

 presses a peculiar character on the social condition of the 

 population. Elevated tracts of country, covered by snow, 

 prevent intercourse ; but a mixture of lower detached tnoun- 

 tain masses'^- and low lands, as we see exemplified in so 

 favourable a manner in the south of Europe, multiplies 

 meteorological processes, as well as the productions of the 

 vegetable kingdom ; and, as different degrees of cultivation 

 then belong to each tract of country, even in the same lati- 

 tude, necessities are created, in order to satisfy which, the 

 activity of the inhabitants is stimulated. Thus, the dread- 

 ful convulsions, which, in consequence of the action of the 

 interior on the exterior, have caused the rising up of vast 



* Humboldt, Rd. Hist., t. iii. p. 233-234. Compare also the acute 

 observations on the confij^uration and position of mountain chains, 

 in Albrccht von Roon's Grundziigcn dcr Erd-Volker-und-Slaaknkxindc, 

 vol. i., 1837, pp. 158, 270, and 276. 



