154 COSMOS. 



that portion of the delineation of nature wh'ch inCiU.de 7 > the 

 sphere of telluric phenomena, shown generally in what manner 

 the consideration of the form of the Earth and the incessant 

 action of electro-magnetism and subterranean heat may enable 

 us to embrace in one view the relations of horizontal expan- 

 sion and elevation on the Earth's surface, the geognostic type 

 of formations, the domain of the ocean, (of the liquid portions 

 of the Earth,) the atmosphere with its meteorological pro- 

 cesses, the geographical distribution of plants and animals, 

 and finally, the physical gradations of the human race, which 

 is, exclusively and everywhere, susceptible of intellectual cul- 

 ture. This unity of contemplation presupposes a connexion of 

 phenomena according to their internal combination. A mere 

 tabular arrangement of these facts would not fulfil the object 

 I have proposed to myself, and would not satisfy that require- 

 ment for cosmical presentation awakened in me by the aspect 

 of nature in my jom-neyings by sea and land, by the careful 

 study of forms and forces, and by a vivid impression of the 

 unity of nature in the midst of the most varied portions of 

 the Earth. In the rapid advance of all branches of physical 

 science much that is deficient in this attempt will, perhaps, 

 at no remote period, be corrected, and rendered more perfect, 

 for it belongs to the history of the development of knowledge 

 that portions which have long stood isolated become gradually 

 connected, and subject to higher laws. I only indicate the 

 empirical path, in which I and many others of similar pur- 

 suits with myself, are advancing, full of expectation that, as 

 Plato tells us Socrates once desired, " Nature may be inter- 

 preted by reason alone."* 



The delineation of the principal characteristics of telluric 

 phenomena must begin with the form of our planet, and its 

 relations in space. Here, too, we may say that it is not only 

 the mineralogical character of rocks, whether they are crys- 

 talline, granular, or densely-fossiliferous, but the geometrical 

 form of the Earth itself which indicates the mode of its origin, 

 and is, in fact, its history. An elliptical spheroid of revolu- 

 tion gives evidence of having once been a soft or fluid mass. 

 Thus, the Earth's compression constitutes one of the most 



* Plato, Phcpflo, p. 97. (Arist. Metaph., p. 985.) Compare Hfgel, 

 Phitosophie der GencJnchte, 1840, s. 1G. 



