798 
THE STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
whole earth should be covered with plants; therefore, that no place 
should be without some, he gave to each of them such a nature as 
might be chiefly accommodated to their own climate. Some are 
formed to bear the intense heat of the torrid zone, whilst others flou¬ 
rish in the colds of the arctic regions, amid almost perpetual frosts. 
Some plants delight in dry ground, some in moist, some are aquatic, 
whilst others spread their foliage over rocks and precipices, and by 
their luxuriant verdure, render pleasing the rugged features of moun¬ 
tain scenery. Grasses, the most common of all plants, can bear al¬ 
most any temperature of air; in this the good providence of the 
Creator particularly appears; for all over the globe they are neces¬ 
sary for the nourishment of cattle, &c. The vegetable creation is 
endued with the power of multiplying itself by seeds, slips, &c. : it 
contains in itself all the rudiments of the future plants, through their 
endless generations. The celebrated Linnaeus, in an “ oration con¬ 
cerning the augmentation of the habitable earth,” which proceeds on 
the supposition of a sexual system in the vegetable world, shows how 
from one plant of each species, the immense number of individuals 
now existing might arise. He gives some instances of the surprising 
fertility of certain plants, as of the elecampane (Corvisartia Heleni- 
um,) one plant of which produces three thousand seeds; of the pop¬ 
py (Papaver) three thousand two hundred; of the sun-flower, (He- 
lianthus) four thousand; of tobacco, (Nicotiana) forty thousand 
three hundred and twenty: and one grain of turkey corn produces 
two thousand others ! But supposing an annual plant producing 
yearly only two seeds, even of these after twenty years, there would 
be 1,048,576 individuals. For it is evident, the increase would be 
according to the geometrical series, 2 , 4 , 8 , 16 , 32 , &c. the 
twentieth term of which is 1,048,576. If we connect the vast fecun¬ 
dity of vegetables with their number, how bountiful will the great 
Author of Nature appear. In the present advanced state of Botani¬ 
cal Science, we are presented with a catalogue of nearly fifty thou¬ 
sand species of plants. Messrs. Humbolt and Borpland, the cele¬ 
brated travellers, collected in their five years’ travels through South 
America, three thousand eight hundred species of plants; of which 
upwards of three thousand were new, and altogether unknown before 
to the botanists of Europe. We are indebted to the exertions of 
such enterprising and indefatigable naturalists, as graced the last 
and present centuries, for the many valuable acquisitions, which the 
science of botany has obtained. The knowledge which the ancients 
possessed on this subject was very limited, for the whole number of 
plants mentioned by the Greeks, Romans, and Arabians does not 
