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North America as in Europe and Northern Asia, 

 under similar circumstances; when we find again 

 representatives of the same family, with totally 

 different features, mingling, so to say, under low 

 latitudes, with palm trees, and all the luxuriant 

 vegetation of the tropics; when we truly behold 

 such scenes, and have penetrated their full meaning, 

 as naturalists, then we are placed in a position 

 similar to that of the antiquarian who visits 

 ancient monuments. He recognises at once the 

 workings of intelligence in the remains of an 

 ancient civilization; he may fail to ascertain 

 their age correctly, he may remain doubtful as 

 to the order in which they were successively 

 constructed, but the character of the, whole 

 tells him that they are works of art, and that 

 men like himself originated these relics of by- 

 gone ages. So shall the intelligent naturalist 

 read at once in the pictures which nature pre- 

 sents to him, the works of a higher intelligence; 

 he shall recognise in the minute perforated cells 

 of the conifers, which differ so ivonderfully from 

 those of other plants, the hieroglyphics of a pe- 

 culiar age ; in their needle-like leaves the escutcheon 

 of a peculiar dynasty; in their repeated appear- 

 ance, under the most diversified circumstances, a 

 thoughtful and thought-eliciting adaptation. He 

 beholds, indeed, the works of a being thinking 

 like himself, but he feels at the same time that 

 he stands as much below the Supreme Intelli- 

 gence in wisdom, power, and goodness, as the 

 works of art are inferior to the wonders of 



