SUMMARY. [xi] 



VOL. II. 



GENEKAL SUMMAKY OP THE CONTENTS. 



A. Incitements to the Study of Nature. The image reflected by the 



external world on the imagination .... pp. 370--372 



I. Poetic delineation of nature. The feeling entertained for nature 



according to difference of times and races . pp. 372-439 



II. Landscape Painting. Graphical representation of the physio- 



gnomy of vegetation pp. 440-457 



III. Cultivation of exotic plants. Contrasted apposition of vegetable 

 forms pp. 458-465 



B. History of the physical contemplation of the universe. Principal 



momenta of the gradual development and extension of the idea of 

 the Cosmos as one natural whole .... pp. 466-479 



I. The Mediterranean the starting-point of the attempts at an advance 

 towards the north-east, (by the Argonauts), towards the south (to 

 Ophir), towards the west (by the Phoenicians and Colaeus of Samos). 

 Simultaneous reference to the earliest civilisation of the nations who 

 dwelt around the basin of the Mediterranean . . . pp. 480-517 



II. Campaigns of the Macedonians under Alexander the Great. 

 Fusion of the East and West. Hellenism furthers the blending of 

 nations from the Nile to the Euphrates, the Jaxartes and the Indus. 

 Sudden extension of the contemplation of the Universe by direct 

 observation, as well as by intercourse with anciently civilized industrial 

 nations pp. 517-536 



III. Increased contemplation of the universe under the Ptolemies. Mu- 

 seum at Serapeum. Encyclopaedic learning. Generalisation of natural 

 views regarding the earth and the regions of space. Increased maritime 

 trade towards the south pp. 536-546 



IY. Universal dominion of the Romans. Influence of a political 

 union on Cosmical views. Advance of geography by means of inland 

 trade. The development of Christianity generates and fosters the feel- 

 ing of the unity of the human race .... pp. 547-568 



Y. Irruption of the Arabian Races. Intellectual aptitude of this 

 branch of the Semitic races. Taste for the study of nature and its 

 forces. Medicine and chemistry. Extension of physical geography, 

 astronomy, and the mathematic sciences generally . . pp. 569-600 



VI. Period of Oceanic Discoveries. Opening of the western hemi- 

 sphere. America and the Pacific. The Scandinavians. Columbus, 

 Cabot, and Gama; Cabrillo, Mendafia, and Quiros. The greatest 

 abundance of materials now presented itself to the western nations of 

 Europe for the establishment of physical geography . pp. 601-680 



VII. Period of the great Discoveries in the Regions of Space. The 



