192 TIEWS OF NATURE. 



off the nature of the rock.' As the declivities of the Andes 

 and the mountainous parts of the Canaries, the Antilles, 

 and the Philippines, are all inhabited by races of Spanish 

 descent; and as the nature of the soil has there influ- 

 enced the mode of life of the inhabitants to a greater de- 

 gree than in other parts of the world, excepting perhaps in 

 the Himalaya and the Thibetian Highlands; so also the 

 designations expressive of the forms of mountains in trachytic, 

 basaltic, and porphyritic districts, as well as in schistose, 

 calcareous, and sandstone formations, have been happily 

 preserved in daily use. Under such circumstances, newly 

 formed words become incorporated with the common stock. 

 Speech acquires life from everything which bears the true im- 

 press of nature, whether it be by the definition of sensuous 

 impressions received from the external world, or by the expres- 

 sion of thoughts and feelings that emanate from our inner 

 being. 



In descriptions of natural phenomena, as well as in the 

 choice of the expressions employed, this truth to nature 

 should be especially kept in view. The object will be the 

 best attained by simplicity in the narration of whatever we 

 have ourselves observed and experienced, and by closely 

 examining the locality with which the subject-matter is con- 

 nected. Generalisation of physical views, and the enumera- 

 tion of results, belong principally to the study of the Cosmos, 

 which, indeed, must still be regarded as an inductive science ; 

 but the vivid delineation of organic forms (animals and 

 plants,) in their picturesque and local relations to the multi- 

 form surface of the earth, although limited to a small section 

 of terrestrial life, still affords materials for this study. It 

 acts as a stimulus to the mind wherever it is capable of 

 appreciating the great phenomena of nature in an eesthetic 

 point of view. 



To these phenomena belongs especially the boundless forest 

 district which, in the torrid zone of South America, con- 



