382 PRINCIPLES OF BOTANY, ETC. 
our globe changed its situation towards the sun, o# 
that the axis of the earth was changed to its oppo- 
site point; these are all the speculations of a fanciful 
genius. But we need not torment our minds with 
hypotheses, formed in the study, and refuted almost 
by every newly found petrefaction. Perhaps nature 
herself, as we see her now, after many changes and 
revolutions, will throw light upon those inexplicable 
facts. Perhaps we may some time be able to see the 
order in which these revolutions happened, though 
not to fix their precise periods, which probably far 
exceed our received chronology. | 
In plains, which contain a number of sea produc- 
tions, and in floetz mountains, which have the pe- 
trefactions of the continent, and of the Seas of va- 
rious zones, we meet with plants, which bear seeds, 
and send their roots deep into the ground, as if they 
had grown therefor ages. But experience tells us, that 
they could not have originally grown at those spots. 
In the primitive mountains only, we may suspect 
that every thing remains unaltered, as their founda- 
tions never suffered from the gnawing tooth of time. 
We find that mountainous countries are richer in 
plants than flat countries, and that in primitive moun- 
tains the number of plants exceeds that of the floetz 
mountains. A country consisting of primitive rocks 
has plants which other mountainous countries do 
not possess. In all plains of the same latitude, how- 
ever far they may extend, the same plants always 
occur, only with some little varieties, which depend 
on the difference of the soil. In primitive rocks, 
and at their foot, we again meet with all the plants 
of 
