456 COSMOS. 



the greatest contraction of the leaf vessels. Firs, Thujas, and 

 Cypresses constitute a northern flora which is very uncom- 

 mon in the plains of the tropics. Their ever- verdant green 

 enlivens the dreary winter landscape, and proclaims to the 

 inhabitants of the north, that even when snow and ice have 

 covered the ground, the inner life of vegetation, like Prome- 

 thean fire, is never extinguished on our planet. 



Every zone of vegetation has, besides its own attractions, a 

 peculiar character, which calls forth in us special impressions. 

 Referring here only to our own native plants, I would ask r 

 who does not feel himself variously affected beneath the, 

 sombre shade of the beech, on hills crowned with scattered 

 pines, or in the midst of grassy plains, where the wind 

 rustles among the trembling leaves of the birch ? As in dif- , 

 ferent organic beings we recognise a distinct physiognomy r 

 and as descriptive botany and zoology are, in the strict defi- 

 nition of the words, merely analytic classifications of animal, 

 and vegetable forms ; so there is also a certain physiognomy 01 

 nature exclusively peculiar to each portion of the earth. The 

 idea which the artist wishes to indicate by the expressions,. 

 " Swiss nature," or "Italian skies," is based on a vague sense 

 of some local characteristic. The azure of the sky, the form, 

 of the clouds, the vapoury mist resting in the distance, the 

 luxuriant development of plants, the beauty of the foliage, and 

 the outline of the mountains, are the elements which deter- 

 mine the total impression produced by the aspect of any 

 particular region. To apprehend these characteristics, and to- 

 reproduce them visibly, is the province of landscape painting; 

 while it is permitted to the artist, by analysing the various- 

 groups, to resolve beneath his touch the great enchantment 

 of nature if I may venture on so metaphorical an expression, 

 as the written words of men are resolved into a few simple 

 characters. 



But even in the present imperfect condition of pictorial deli- 

 neations of landscapes, the engravings which accompany, and too- 

 often disfigure, our books of travels, have, however, contributed 

 considerably towards a knowledge of the physiognomy of 

 distant regions, to the taste for voyages in the tropical zones, 

 and to a more active study of nature. The improvements in, 

 landscape painting on a large scale, (as decorative paintings,, 

 panoramas, dioramas and neoramas,) have also increased the 

 generality and force of these impressions. The representations, 



