234 PHYSIOGNOMY OF PLANTS. 



re-awakening of nature at the first breath, of the mild air of spring. 

 Each zone, besides its own peculiar advantages, has its own distinc- 

 tive character. Primeval laws of organization, notwithstanding a 

 certain degree of freedom in the abnormal development of single 

 parts, bind all animal and vegetable forms to fixed ever-recurring 

 types. As we recognize in distinct organic beings a determinate 

 physiognomy, and as descriptive botany and zoology, in the restricted 

 sense of the terms, consist in a detailed analysis of animal and 

 vegetable forms, so each region of the earth has a natural physiog- 

 nomy peculiar to itself. The idea indicated by the painter by 

 expressions such as "Swiss nature," "Italian sky," &c., rests on a 

 partial perception of this local character in the aspect of nature. 

 The azure of the sky, the lights and shadows, the haze resting on 

 the distance, the forms of animals, the succulency of the plants and 

 herbage, the brightness of the foliage, the outline of the mountains, 

 are all elements which determine the total impression characteristic 

 of each district or region. It is true that in every zone the same 

 kinds of rocks, trachyte, basalt, porphyritic schists, and dolomite, 

 form groups having the same physiognomy and aspect. The green- 

 stone precipices of South America and Mexico resemble those of 

 the Fichtel-Glebirge of G-ermany, just as among animals the form 

 of the Allco, or native race of dogs of the New Continent, corre- 

 sponds perfectly with that of the European race. For the inorganic 

 crust of the globe shows itself independent of climatic influences; 

 whether it be that differences of climate depending on differences 

 of latitude were more recent than the formation of the rocks, or 

 that the mass of the earth in solidifying and parting with its heat 

 regulated its own temperature, ( 10 ) instead of receiving it from 

 without. Thus all the kinds of rock with which we are acquainted 

 may be met with in all parts of the globe, and everywhere affect 

 the same characteristic forms. Everywhere basalt rises in twin 

 mountains and truncated cones; everywhere the porphyritic trap 

 appears in grotesquely arranged masses, and granite in rounded 

 summits. Also similar forms of trees pines and oaks adorn the 

 declivities of the mountains of Sweden, and those of the most 

 southern part of Mexico. (") Yet, notwithstanding thpse corre- 

 spondences of form ; and this similarity of outline in the component 





