340 COSMOS. 



of the mysterious and insoluble problems of origin aiwl exist- 

 ence. 



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

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

 sarily no connection with the obscure domain embraced by a 

 history of organisms* if we understand the word history in 

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

 Uie 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 (Grundziige der Botanik, 1843, s. 449-468), 

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

 la the aphorisms appended to my Subterranean Flora, the following 

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

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

 organica a?quo ac inorganica considerat. Sunt enim tria quibus absol 

 vitur capita : Geographia oryctologica quam simpliciter Geognosiam vel 

 Geologiam dicunt, virque acutissimus Wemeras egregie digessit ; Geo- 

 graphia zoologica, cujus doctrinse fundameuta Zimmermannus et Tre- 

 viranus jecerunt; et Geographia plantarum quam sequales nostri diu in 

 tactam reliquerunt. Geographia plantarum vincula et cognationem 

 tradit, quibus omnia vegetabilia inter se connexa sint, terra) tractus 

 quos teueant, in aerem atmospheericum quae sit eorum vis ostendit, saxa 

 utque rupes quibus potissimum algarum primordiis radicibusque destru- 

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

 memorat. Est itaque quod differat inter Geognosiam et Physiographiam, 

 historia naturalis perperam nuncupatam quum Zoognosia, Phytognosia, 

 rt Oryctognosia, quoe quidem omnes in naturaB investigatione versantur, 

 nou uisi singulorum animalium, plantarum, rerum rnetallicarum vel 

 (vejiia sit verbo) fossilium formas, anatomen, vires scrutantur. Historia 

 Telluris, Geognosiae magis quam Physiographic affinis, nemini adhuc 

 tentata, plantarum animaliumque geiiera orbem inhabitantia primaevum, 

 migrationes eorum compluriumque interitum, ortum quern monies, 

 valles, saxorum strata et vena) metalliferae ducunt, aerem, mutatis tem- 

 porum vicibus, modo purum, modo vitiatum, terras superficiem hurnr> 

 plantisque paulatim obtectam, flumiuum inundantium impetu denuo 

 nudatam, iterumque siccatam et gramine vestitam comraemorat. Igi- 

 tur Historia zoologica, Historia plautarum et Historia oryctologica, qua? 

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

 linguendift." Humboldt, Flora Friburgensis Subterranea, cut accedunt 

 Aphorismi ex Physiologia Chcmica 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 Ccclo, 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 

 mill sleep, from which nothing can arouse them" (Aristotle, De General. 

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

 desires which ircite them to spontaneous motion." ( A.rist., De Sumna 

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



