THE UNIVERSE. OCEANIC DISCOVERIES. 275 



their inhabitants alone is it given, to behold at once all the 

 stars of heaven, and almost all the families of forms of the 

 vegetable world; but to behold is not necessarily to 

 observe, viz. to compare, and to combine. 



Although in Columbus, as I think I have shewn in 

 another work, notwithstanding the entire absence of any pre- 

 liminary knowledge of natural history, the mere contact with 

 great natural phenomena, developed in' a remarkable and 

 varied manner the perceptions and faculties required for 

 accurate observation, yet we must by no means assume a 

 similar development in those who composed the rude and 

 warlike mass of the Conquistadores. That which Europe 

 unquestionably owes to the discovery of America, in the 

 gradual enrichment of the physical knowledge of the con- 

 stitution of the atmosphere, and its effects on human orga- 

 nization, the distribution of climates on the declivities of 

 the Cordilleras, the elevation of the snow-line in different de- 

 grees of latitude in the two hemispheres, the arrangement of 

 volcanoes in chains, the circumscribed area of the circle of 

 commotion in earthquakes, the laws of magnetism, the 

 direction of the currents of the ocean, and the gradations of 

 new forms of plants and animals, it owes to a different and 

 more peaceful class of travellers, and to a small number of 

 distinguished men among municipal functionaries, ecclesias- 

 tics, and physicians. These men dwelling in old Indian 

 towns, some of which are upwards of twelve thousand feet 

 above the level of the sea, could observe with their own eyes, 

 and could test and combine that which others had seen, with 

 the superior advantage of long residence ; and could collect, 

 describe, and send to their European friends, the natural 

 productions of the country. It is sufficient here to 



