292 HABITATIONS OF PLANTS. 



porting animal life chiefly depends. By the action of light, 

 the carbon of the fixed air is interwoven with the texture of 

 the plants. The aromatic plants, the clovej cinnamon, and the 

 Peruvian bark, all owe their chief excellencies to the intense 

 light of the equatorial regions. 



Habitations of Plants. 



Plants are not thrown by chance over the surface of the 

 globe, but we perceive that the Creator has regulated their dis- 

 tribution according to certain fixed principles ; we find not only 

 a wonderful adaptation of plants to the physical necessities of 

 animals in general, but that they are also varied to correspond 

 to the peculiar wants of animals in different climates. 



First, we would notice the herbs which cover the surface of 

 the earth ; had their stems been hard and woody, the greater 

 part of the earth would have been inaccessible to the foot of 

 man, until the vegetation was first destroyed by fire, or by some 

 other means. Shall we suppose that the grass and herbs which 

 now afford a soft carpet for our feet, came by chance to grow 

 thus, rather than hard and woody like the trees ? Shall we sup- 

 pose, too, that by chance, the prevailing colour of vegetation is 

 green, that colour upon which, above all, the eye rests with the 

 most agreeable sensations ? Suppose the grass and herbs to 

 have been red or yellow, and with our present organs of sight, 

 how painful would be the sensations excited by these bright 

 colours ! Instead of beholding nature with delight, we should 

 turn from it, and vainly seek some object on which the eye 

 might repose. 



Woody shrubs occasionally alternate with herbs, but they are 

 so placed as not to offer obstructions to the foot of man ; they 

 often grow out of the clefts of rocks, affording a means of 

 climbing almost perpendicular precipices. Large trees are not 

 usually placed so near together as to prevent a passage be- 

 tween them ; their lowest branches are mostly at a height suf- 

 ficient to admit men and beasts under them, and thus, few fo- 

 rests are impenetrable. 



In cold countries, whether occasioned by distance from the 

 equator, or elevation by means of mountains and table lands, 

 we find the pine, fir, and cedar, and other resinous plants, which 

 furnish man, during the dreary season of winter, with light and 

 fuel. The leaves of these trees are mostly filiform, or long 

 and narrow, thus fitted for reverberating the heat, like the hair 

 of animals, and for resisting the impetuosity of winds, which 

 often prevail in those regions. 



In warm countries, trees present in their foliage a resource 



Habitations of Plants Herbs Woody shrubs Trees Trees of cold 

 countries Of warm countries. 



