6 COSMOS. 



by the physical world, since the character of the landscape, and 

 of every imposing scene in nature, depends so materially upon 

 the mutual relation of the ideas and sentiments simultaneously 

 excited in the mind of the observer. 



The powerful effect exercised by nat ire springs, as it were, 

 from the connection and unity of the impressions and emotions 

 produced ; and we can only trace their diiferent sources by 

 analysing the individuality of objects, and the diversity of 

 forces. 



The richest and most varied elements for pursuing an 

 analysis of this nature present themselves to the eyes of 

 the traveller in the scenery of Southern Asia, in the Great 

 Indian Archipelago, and more especially, too, in the New 

 Continent, where the summits of the lofty Cordilleras pene- 

 trate the confines of the aerial ocean surrounding our globe, 

 and where the same subterranean forces that once raised these 

 mountain chains, still shake them to their foundation and 

 threaten their downfall. 



Graphic delineations of nature, arranged according to sys- 

 tematic views, are not only suited to please the imagination, 

 but may also, when properly considered, indicate the grades 

 of the impressions of which I have spoken, from the uni- 

 formity of the sea-shore, or the barren steppes of Siberia, to 

 the inexhaustible fertility of the torrid zone. If we were 

 even to picture to ourselves Mount Pilatus placed on the 

 Schreckhorn,* or the Schneekoppe of Silesia on Mont Blanc, 



* These comparisons are only approximative. The several elevations 

 above the level of the sea are, in accurate numbers, as follows : 



The Schneekoppe or Riesenkoppe, in Silesia, about 5,270 feet, accord- 

 ing to Hallaschka. The Righi 5,902 feet, taking the height of the Lake 

 of Lucerne at 1426 feet, according to Eschman. (See Compte Rendu des 

 Mesures Trigonometriques en Suisse, 1840, p. 230.) Mount Athos 6,775 

 feet, according to Captain Gaultier; Mount Pilatus 7,546 feet; Mount 

 Etna 10,871 feet, according to Captain Smyth; or 10,874 feet, according 

 to the barometrical measurement made by Sir John Herschel, and com- 

 municated to me in writing in 1825, and 10,899 feet, according to 

 angles of altitude taken by Cacciatore at Palermo (calculated, by assuming 

 the terrestrial refraction to be 0'076); the Schreckhorn 12,383 feet; the 

 Jungfrau 13,720 feet, according to Tralles ; Mont Blanc 15,775 feet, 

 according to the different measurements considered by Roger (BibL 

 Univ., May, 1828, pp. 24 53), 15,733 feet, according to the measurements 

 taken from Mount Columbier by Carlini, in 1821, and 15,748 feet, as 

 measured by the Austrian engineers from Trelod and the Glacier d'Ambin- 



