VII. FORMULA EXPLAINED. 75 
by explanations reducible to words sufficiently few. It is not 
intended by this juxta-position of the three, to connect Faroe and 
Iceland as American Islands, equally with Greenland. The two 
former are usually held by geographers to belong to Europe; and 
they are European by their floras. This is not quite the case 
with Greenland. An elaborate attempt has been made lately, to 
show that the flora of Greenland is Scandinavian, not American ; 
also, that there is something very peculiar in it, at variance with 
the present climate and geographical position of Greenland itself. 
After full consideration of these views, and of the facts and 
arguments by which they are supposed to be proved, the writer of 
this volume must entirely dissent from them ; believing the views 
to be unsound in themselves, and looking upon the arguments 
as curiously weak and inconclusive. Nevertheless, it must be 
admitted, they were brought before the scientific public on very 
high authority ; while they have challenged denial by a bold con- 
fidence of assertion, barely short of authoritative dogmatism. 
The flora of Greenland appears to correspond remarkably well 
with the present climate and surface character of that gelid land, 
and with its intermediate position between Europe and America, 
more approximate to the latter. By far the greater number of the 
Greenland plants are species common to Europe and America; 
some few being European only; some few being American only. 
If an European botanist starts from the one-sided notion of the 
species common to Greenland and Europe being “ Scandinavian 
plants” specially, because found also in that part of Europe, he 
can of course make out a seemingly close affinity between the 
plants of Greenland and Scandinavia. On the other hand, if an 
American botanist as correctly calls most of them “ American 
plants,” because found elsewhere in America, he may then make 
out a like close floral relation between Greenland and America ; 
that is, by adding to the species found on both sides of the North 
Atlantic, those also which occur only on the American side; thus 
leaving only a score or so to be designated Europeans. On either 
side, this would simply be a mode of reasoning falsely or fal- 
laciously,—the usual style and manner of ratiocination performed 
