Philosophy of Botany. 243 



tion for a continued supply under the unchecked inroads of the 

 lumber trade, and the unparalleled facilities for internal trans- 

 portation by navigation. The importance of the forestry in- 

 terests have induced me to devote some pages to this depart- 

 ment of our national economy, and to notice the emotional 

 and BBsthetic impressions upon the human mind evoked by the 

 forest in the aspect of nature. 



It is interesting to observe the difference in the sentiment 

 and association of thought as it ever existed between the 

 southern and northern inhabitants of the old continent. 



The aspect of, or sojourn in, the woods filled the Greek as 

 well as the Roman with fear and dismay; he avoided them 

 as habitations of robbers and wild beasts. From Homer to 

 Tacitus poets and historians paint it in the darkest colors, as 

 the dark abode of demons and monsters, filled with entangling 

 thorns. " Subit aspera silva lappsegue tribulique " — " Here is 

 the dismal wood with thistles and tangles uncouth." (Virgil.) 



The German mythical folklore spins the finest threads of its 

 poetical mood under the deep shadows of beech and oak. 



Over the Rhine into the tanwood, where fir and pine thickly 

 ■crowd, storms the baneful chase of King Gunther ; on the 

 spring underneath the linden sinks the dying Siegfried into 

 a bed of flowers, pierced by the spear of Hagen; Genofeva 

 hides from the ire of her husband in i.he depth of the forest; 

 Hildebrand and Hugobrand, the greatest swordsmen of their 

 <iay, cross their swords in furious combat, until Hildebrand 

 recognizes from the weight of his strokes that his combatant 

 must be his son ; here gathers Cinderella blueberries, and fra- 

 grant woodruff for spicy May wine, and loiters the bard, spin- 

 ning the yarn for his songs with which he cheers the daunt- 

 less hearts of the champions when the mead-filled horn makes 

 the rounds. 



The poetically inspired naturalist covets a response from his 

 dear favorites. Flora's children, to his own love of them, and 

 is sore at heart and loath to believe that the graces of their 

 forms, splendor of coloring, and the sweet breath of their ex- 

 halations should delight and benefit creatures only far remote 

 in the scale of life from themselves, without any gratification 

 to their own selves ; that they should be without any partici- 



