92 FOOTNOTES FROM 



also that it is more densely covered with shaggy lichens, 

 so as to afford considerable warmth and protection. The 

 colder the climate, and the farther north we proceed, 

 the more densely clothed with this picturesque garment 

 of nature's providing do we find the trees and shrubs, 

 on the same principle, one would imagine, as the hyper- 

 borean animals are covered with thick furs. Indeed, so 

 universally are lichens and mosses produced on the north 

 side of trees, that the American backwoods-man, and the 

 Norwegian woodcutter, whose faculties of observation 

 have been keenly educated by nature herself, often em- 

 ploy them as a rude but safe compass to guide them 

 through the intricacies and tangled labyrinths of the 

 primeval forests. 



Such are some of the most obvious purposes which 

 these humble plants serve in the economy of nature ; 

 let us now direct our attention to a few of the uses to 

 which man has applied them. This is the only point of 

 importance connected with them in the estimation of 

 many especially of those who gauge the works of the 

 Almighty by a dry utilitarian law and see no beauty or 

 interest in any object, except in so far as they can find 

 some real or manifest utility in its existence. Judged by 

 this standard, and weighed in the balance with pounds, 

 shillings, and pence, the lichens will not be found want- 

 ing. On account of the large quantity of starchy matter 

 which they contain, they often considerably contribute 

 to, and sometimes even entirely form, the diet of man 

 and animals, in those dreary inhospitable regions where 

 the wintry rigour, or the scorching heat of the climate, 

 forbid all other kinds of vegetation to grow. Every one 



