HARMONIES OF VEGETATION. 279 



11. The configuration or shape of plants, is not only 

 instanced in their relation to the protection and com- 

 forts of man ; but even their internal properties corres- 

 pond to his requisites and desires. 



From the luxurious reed of the sugar-plant, is derived a valuable 

 domestic article ; from the juice of the grape, an enervating wine ; 

 and from the substance of the apple, a delicious beverage in the 

 form of cider. From the body of the fir is distilled immense supplies 

 of tar ; from the bark of the oak, an active principle for tanning ; and 

 from the leaves of most herbs, peculiar extracts for the cure and 

 treatment of diseases. In this way has nature made plants as well 

 as animals, subservient to the use of man. 



12. Plants also appear very singularly adapted to 

 the climate or situation in which they are destined to 

 grow. 



In the regions of the north, and on the summit of cold mountains, 

 grow the pine, the fir, the cedar, and most of the resinous trees, 

 which shelter man from the snows by the thickness of their foilage, 

 and furnish him, during winter with torches andfuel. In the south, 

 on the contrary, the leaves appear to increase in proportion as WB 

 approach to the line, evidently intended to harmonize with the 

 heat of the climate by affording shelter from a vertical sun. 



13. Nature has placed in humid and watery situa- 

 tions, such plants as best correspond to the necessities 

 of the inhabitants in those places. 



By the sides of water grow the plants and trees which are the 

 the dryest, the lightest, and consequently the most proper for cross- 

 ing them. Such are the reeds which are hollow, and the rushes 

 filled with inflammable pith. 



14. In contra-wise to the supply of dry and light 

 vegetables to moist situations, Providence has given 



