xix 



lightened mind. These results comprise in 

 one view the climate, and it's influence on 

 organized beings, the aspect of the country, 

 varied according to the nature of the soil 

 and it's vegetable covering, the direction of 

 the mountains, and the rivers which sepa- 

 rate the races of men as well as the tribes 

 of vegetables ; and finally, those modifica- 

 tions, which the state of nations, placed in 

 different latitudes, and in circumstances 

 more or less favorable to the display of 

 their faculties undergoes. I am not afraid 

 of having too much enlarged on objects so 

 worthy of attention : one of the noblest 

 privileges, which distinguish modern civili- 

 zation from that of remoter times, is the hav- 

 ing enlarged the mass of our conceptions, 

 having rendered us more capable of per- 

 ceiving the connection between the physical 

 and intellectual world, and having thrown 

 a more general interest over objects, which 

 heretofore occupied only a small number of 

 scientific men, because these objects were 

 contemplated separately, and from a nar- 

 rower point of view. 



It is probable that the volumes, which I 

 am now about to publish, will fix the atten- 



c °2 



