142 



tion, and thereby for inhaling nutritious juices 

 from the atmosphere." 



66 Yes," said Miss P., " Saussure found that a 

 single leaf of the cactus opuntia inhaled four cubic 

 inches of oxygen in the course of a night from 

 the atmospheric air in a glass vessel, in which he 

 inclosed it ; and we may, therefore, consider 

 those tribes, and the yuccse, and lychnophorse, 

 which flourish in a dry sandy soil, as the pioneers 

 of vegetation, and intended by Nature to inhabit 

 the rude wastes of a new world." 



After some further conversation on this subject 

 my uncle said, " As the delicate parts of any 

 vegetable substances would be entirely destroyed 

 if transported to a great distance by floods, it is 

 evident, that those plants, whose remains are 

 found well preserved in a fossil state, must have 

 been inhabitants of the countries where the 

 strata were formed. This consideration has 

 given rise to many interesting speculations on 

 the former climate of Europe, and its apparent 

 changes ; but if mammoths and elephants were 

 clothed with fur to enable them to endure 

 a Siberian winter, why may we not suppose that 

 there were also species of palms and tree ferns 

 suited to our temperate regions ? Another cu- 

 rious inference may be drawn from the examina- 

 tion of vegetable remains : those found in what 

 the German mineralogists call brown coal, ex- 

 hibit in their wood, in their fruit, and their leaves, 



