i.] OF THE ANCIENTS. 3 



ported from the East ; and more certainly the 

 Apple, the Pear, the Plum, and the Sorbus ; of 

 which latter Pliny enumerates four varieties, one of 

 which with fruits round like the apple, may be the 

 Sorbus domes fica of modern botanists a tree which, 

 though not common, is considered as indigenous 

 even in the northern parts of Europe, and yields 

 a fruit somewhat resembling the Medlar. 



As to the other fruits, they appear, like domestic 

 animals, to have followed man in all his migrations ; 

 and it becomes a problem, for those who maintain 

 the late introduction of our species upon the earth, 

 to account for so many useful vegetable produc- 

 tions being known already at the period of the 

 earliest historical records, considering that now, 

 when the whole earth has been ransacked by 

 modern travellers, only the Maize, the Potato, and 

 the Tobacco amongst herbaceous plants, and the 

 Tea and Coffee amongst shrubby ones, have been 

 added to the list of articles of daily consumption 

 since the date of the discovery of America. 



Yet when we consider, that out of the 200,000 

 species of plants supposed to exist upon the earth's 

 surface, not more than a few hundreds are calcu- 

 lated to afford to the human race useful products, 

 (except indeed as timber-trees or for fuel, which 

 could not be easily transported from one country 

 to another,) it is contrary to the doctrine of chances, 

 that many of those trees which minister to man's 

 wants or luxuries, should have been found growing 

 in any one of the countries in which he was in- 



B 2 



