6S 
CHINESE CONTRASTS. 
It appears strange that so ornamental a 
stem as that of Sigillaria should be only 
found in ^fossil state. None amidst exist¬ 
ing forms is comparable to it in its beauti¬ 
fully carved flutings^ and seal-like spots in 
regular relief. 
How inconceivably opulent is creation, 
seeing that it can thus as it were afford to 
bury its myriads of specimens, to entomb 
whole races, and yet to produce by forms 
totally different, the same picture of varied 
beauty! 
Geographers, in describing the manners 
and customs of the Chinese, frequently 
sketch the contrast which subsists between 
them and the people of the western world, 
in order to give interest to their narrative 
by the opposite characters of the two 
delineations. 
Geologists, in depicting the past, may often 
offer such contrasts to the observer; but as 
in the one case we do not thiidt of thereby 
concluding that the laws of human nature, or 
its properties, or its Creator, are different; 
so neither in the other are any such conclu¬ 
sions respecting animal or vegetable nature 
admissible. 
