X PREFACE. 



perceive than amend, let me hope that these " Views " may 

 afford the reader, at least some portion of that enjoyment 

 which a sensitive mind receives from the immediate contem- 

 plation of nature. As this enjoyment is heightened by an 

 insight into the connection of the occult forces, I have sub- 

 joined to each treatise scientific illustrations and additions. 



Everywhere the reader's attention is directed to the per- 

 petual influence which physical nature exercises on the moral 

 condition and on the destiny of man. It is to minds 

 oppressed with care that these pages are especially con- 

 secrated. He who has escaped from the stormy waves of 

 life will joyfully follow me into the depths of the forests, over 

 the boundless steppes and prairies, ana to the lofty summits 

 of the Andes. To him are addressed the words of the chorus 

 who preside over the destinies of mankind : 



On the mountains is freedom ! the breath of decay 



Never sullies the fresh flowing air ; 

 Oh! nature is perfect wherever we stray; 



'Tis man that deforms it with care.* 



* Hese lines are from Schiller's Bride of Messina, as translated by A Lod<e, Esq. 

 See Schiller's works (Bonn's ed.) vol. iii. p. 509. 



