414 



Notes on the Injlaence 



[No. 36, 



dieular drops, as if they liad been poured tliroiigh a Bicve ; others 

 driven by violent winds, were hurled liorizontaUy against the sides 

 of the hills : others descended in torrents, like those which, nine 

 months in the year inundate the island of Gorgona, situated in the 

 heart of the torrid zone in the burning gulf of Panama. Some 

 piled themselves in mountains of snow on the inaccessible summits 

 of the Andes to cool by their waters the continent of South Ame- 

 rica and by theii' frigid atmosphere the vast Pacific Ocean. Lastly, 

 - mighty rivers flowed through regions in which it never rains and 

 the Nile watered the plains of Egypt. 



God then said " Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yield- 

 ing seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose 

 seed is in itself upon the earth." At the words of the Almighty the 

 vegetables appeared with organs fitted to coUect the blessings of 

 heaven. The ehn arose on the mountains that skirt the Tanais 

 covered with leaves in the form of a tongue : the tufted box issued 

 from the brow of the alps ; and the thorny caper tree from the 

 rocks of Africa, with leaves scooped out into spoons. The pines 

 of the sandy mountains of Norway attracted the vapors floating 

 in the air with their taper foliage, arranged like a hair pencil : the 

 verbascum extended its broad leaves over the parched sands ; 

 and the fern presented on the hills, its fan shaped foliage to the 

 rainy and horizontal winds. A multitude of other plants from 

 the bosom of the rock, from beds of flint, nay even from mar- 

 ble incrustations, received the waters of heaven in cornets, in 

 cups, in cruets. Prom the cedar of Lebanon to the violet that 

 skirts the grove there was not one but what presented its ample 

 bowl, or its diminutive cup, conformably to its necessities or its 

 situation. 



This adaptation of the leaves of the plants of elevated situations 

 to receive the rain, is varied without end, but their character is 

 in general perceptible not only in their concave forms, but like- 

 wise in a small hoUow channel on the stalk by which they adhere 

 to the branches.' It is somewhat similar to that which nature has 

 traced on the upper lip of man 'to receive the humours which des- 

 cend from the brain. It may be observed in particular on the 

 leaves of thistles, which delight in dry and sandy situations. They 

 have besides collateral awnings to prevent the iosu of ajiy portion 



