206 PHYSIOGNOMY OP PLANTS. 



aware, for the fi; st time, of the close and intimate connection 

 between the subjects which have been treated of in the 

 foregoing pages. We are here conducted into a field which has 

 been as yet but little cultivated. I have ventured to follow 

 the method first employed with such brilliant results in the 

 Zoological works of Aristotle, and which is especially suited 

 to lay the foundation of scientific confidence, a method 

 which, whilst it continually aims at generality of conception, 

 seeks, at the same time, to penetrate the specialities of phe- 

 nomena by the consideration of particular instances. 



The enumeration of forms according to physiognomic 

 diversity is, from the nature of the case, not susceptible of 

 any strict classification. Here, as everywhere else, in the 

 consideration of external conformation, there are certain 

 leading forms which present the most striking contrasts : 

 such are the groups of arborescent grasses, plants of the 

 aloe form, the different species of Cactus and of Palms, of 

 Coniferse, Mimosese, and Musacese. "Even a few scattered 

 individuals of these groups are sufficient to determine the 

 character of a district, and to produce on a non-scientific 

 but sensitive beholder a permanent impression. Other 

 forms, though perhaps much more numerous and prepon- 

 derating in mass, may not be calculated either by the outline 

 and arrangement of the foliage, or by the relation of the stem 

 to the branches, by luxuriant vigour of vegetation, by 

 cheerful grace, or, on the other hand, by cheerless con- 

 traction of the appendicular organs, to produce any such 

 characteristic impressions. < 



As, therefore, a "physiognomic classification," or a divi- 



