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    names that claim a place in its history ; and it is in the course of thug " that a German should have the honour of having created ^ the science of Physical Geography , which Earl Hitter must be allowed to have done . Every one familiar with philosophic speculation will be aware of the absolute importance of a pointof vieto—astandvunM , as theXrermans call it Though no sagacity will avail without well-grouped tacts , yet all the facts within reach of man are incompetent to tlie solution of a single problem- Facts are the materials of which Science is the Architect . It is because this simple truth is not sufficiently present to men ' s minds that so many Hodmen in our time pass as Architects . _ ¦ What was Bitter's point of view ? It was this : —Considering our planet as the theatre whereon the great drama of human life was acted , he asked

    himself , What are the fundamental conditions of the form of the surface of the globe most favourable to the progress of man and of human societies ? To answer that question , he restudied the facts , and discovered so many ud perceived relations , that he earned for himself the title of Father of Scientific Geography . . He showed that the lands are far more numerous in the north than in the south , and that if we draw a great circle through the coast of Peru an < f the south of Asia , the surface of the globe will be divided into two hemispheres . The land hemisphere contains the most extensive terrestrial masses , the nearest together and the most important ; the oceanic hemisphere contain only vast oceans , in which appear here and there the peninsular extremities of the principal lands narrowed and dispersed , with Australia the smallest and most isolated of the continents . 3 Sot without

    reason is London the great Mart of the World , for it is nearly in the centre of the land hemisphere , and its central position makes it a natural meeting point ! . ' " The second general fact with regard to the grouping of the lands , is that of their combination in two great masses , the Old World and the New World , the forms and structure of which make a striking contrast , and give to each a marked character of its own . " The point of contrast which strikes one most is , that the direction of their greatest extension is the inverse in the two worlds . The principal mass of the Old World stretches from east to west over one-half of the circumference of the

    globe ; while its width is much less , and occupies , in Asia , only a part of the space which separates the equator from the pole . In Europe it is not even equal to the sixth part of the earth ' s circumference . In America , oa the contrary , the greatest length extends from the north to the south . It embraces in that direction more than two-thirds of the circumference of the globe , and its width , which is very variable , never exceeds a fifth of that space . " The most remarkable consequence of this arrangement is , that Asia and Europe extend through similar climatic zones , while America traverses nearly all the climatic zones of the earth , an& presents in this relation a much greater variety of phenomena .

    " But the most important of the geographical relations of configuration ( that which Hitter jvas the first to bring prominently forward , and of which he has explained the importance with rare felicity ) is the difference which exists between the different continents with regard to the extension of the line of their contours . Some are deeply indented , furnished with peninsulas , gulfs , and inland seas , which give to the line of their coasts a great length . Others present a mass more compact ; their trunk is , as it were , deprived of members , and the line of the coasts , simple and without many inflections , is proportionally shorter . " Considered under this aspect , the three principal continents of the Old World form a striking 1 contrast .

    " Africa is by far the most simple in its form . Its mass is concentrated upon itself . It ^ rojects into the ocean no important peninsula , nor anywhere lets into its bosom the waters of the ocean . It seems to close itself against every influence from without . Thus the extension of the line of its coast is only 14 , 000 geographical miles ( of 60 to tlie degree ) for a surface of 8 , 720 , 000 square miles ; so that Africa has only one mile of coast for 623 miles of surface . " Asia , although bathed on three sides only by the ocean , is rich , especially on

    its eastern and southern coasts , in largo peninsulas , the chief of which are Arabia and the two Indies , Corea , and Kamtschatka . Whole countries push out into the ocean , as Manchouria and China . Nevertheless , the extent of this continent is such , that , in spito of the depth of the indentations , there yet remains at its centre a greatly preponderating mass of undivided land , which stands to the maritime regions in tlie relation of the body to the limbs . Asia is indebted ^ to this configuration for a line of coast of 30 , 800 miles , which is more than double' that of Africa , a continent only one-third smaller . Asia , therefore , possesses one mile of

    coast to 459 square miles of surface . " Of all the continents , Europe is the one of which the form of contour is most varied . Its principal mass is deeply cut in all parts , by the ocean and by inland 6 eas , and seems almost on the point of resolving itself into peninsulas . These peninsulas themselves , m Greece and Scandinavia , repeat to infinity the phenomena of the articulation and indentation of coasts , which are characteristic of the entire continent . The inland seas and the portions of the ocean which its outer limits enclose , form nearly half of its surface . Tlie line of its shores is thus extended to 17 , 200 miles , an enormous proportion compared with its small size ; for it is 3200 miles moro than the coast lino of Africa , which is nevertheless three times greater . Europe nan one mile of coast for every 156 square miles of surfucc . Henco it is the continent most ; open to tho sea for foreign connexions , at the same time that it is tho most individualized , and tho richest in tho variety of its districts .

    " In this respect there in , ns wo hco , a gradation between the three principal continents ) of tho Old World . Africa is the most simple ; it is a body without members , a tree without branches . Asia is a mighty trunk , the members of which mako only a fifth of itn mass . In Europo" tho mombors overrule the body , tho branches cover tho trunk ; tho peninsula ^ form almost a third of its entire surface . Africa is closed to tho ocean ; Asia opens only its marginH ; Europe surrenders entirely to it , and is in conHcquonco tho moHt accessible of all the continents . " Tho importance of theso discoveries will only bo estimated when tho student is advanced in his investigations of tho highcrqucBtiona of Goofrap hical Science , and trios to understand that magnificent subject—the . ifo of this Globe . For it . must not bo forgotten that Descriptive Geography furnishes us with tho facts wherewith to ascend higher , and to interrogate tho processes of nature in tho formation of this ' planet , past and present . Jsot by Chance was this World made ; not by accident arc

    its climates , its flora , its fauna , its human inhabitants , and their var ' histories , different among each other : the corelation of physical conditilv with organisms , which produces the differences between the tropical ^ 1 the arctic vegetation , also produces the differences we note In theYW ;«? of nations . As the land is , willthe race be ! destinies Perhaps the very phrase , The Lifeof our Globe , will startle you as if has startled and pained the editor of the admirable little work before us And yet the phrase must be usedj for it indicates a new conception of the wbrld , and one that for some years has been steadily expanding men ' s minds . Schellinff in his JErster JEntwurf ' cities Systems der' JSfatur Philosophic and after him Coleridge , ( who had no philosophic notion that was

    not pillaged from Schelling ) in his Theory of Life , set forth as a metaphysical truth that whatever is , lives . But as they stated it , the position seemed both anti-religious and trivial , and was not widely accepted . Organic chemistry , however , has in these latter days placed the idea on such * a broad basis of evidence , that repugnant though it be to current opinions it must , we believe , prevail . Beferring the student to Mulder ' s CPh ysiologischen Chemie fora thorough investigation of this point , let us here briefly notice a strange aberration of M . Guyot's in the-work under notice . He , who has stated with admirable lucidity the arguments which support the notion of The Life of our Globe , has nevertheless this remark : ¦—

    " But the term , tJte life of the globe , may perhaps require justification . I would be far from attempting to assimilate the general life of the globe to the individual life of tKe plant or the animal , as some unwise philosophers have done . I knowwell the wide distance which separates inorganic from organized nature . I believe that there is an impassable chasm between the mineral and the plant , between the plant and the animal , between the animal and man /' Upon this we maybe permitted to observe , that Organic Chemistry assuredly rejects the notion of an " impassable chasm" between the mineral and the plant , the plant and the animal . Every physiologist will tell him , that the line of demarcation between-.. the vegetable and the animal kingdom—broad and palpable as it is in the higher forms of animal Mfe— - is totally inappreciable in the lowest forms ; which , indeed , the term zoophyte or plant-animal sufficiently shows . But going deeper than that

    we say , that the ordinary notion of an " impassable chasm between the mineral and the plant , is a rash assumption unwarranted by evidence . Coal is called an organic substance because we know that it had originally vegetable existence ; but one might almost as well call flint an organic substance because it had originally insect existence ; and it would bedifficult to give a solid reason for not classing coals with minerals . At any rate we ask , Does coal live P KoP Yet from the lifeless coal we get oil , one of the organic elements ! Where then will you draw the line ? Where say , thus far stretches the lifeless inorganic world—here begins the living organic world ? Returning to our point , let us see how M . Guyot understands the life of the globe . Life he defines a mutual exchange of relations . There is at the foundation of the idea of life a difference between two or more

    individuals , which calls out an action and reaction of one upon the other , the incessant alternation of which constitutes the movement we call life . The student of German philosophy will recognise here an old friend with a new face , and may perhaps ask , with surprise , how M . Guyot , with such a definition of Life , can talk of a chasm between the mineral and the plant . Before going farther with M . Guyot ' s exposition , we will quote here Goethe ' s profound morphological aphorisms , which may be said to constitute the great texts that subsequent comparative anatomists have commonfaA nn . + Ti < vw will AnnWo tVifl vf * nAt > Y- Tnntt > thoronerhlv to understand mented on : they will enable the reader more thoroughlto understand

    y M . Guyot ' s view . Goethe says , " No living being is one , but many—not an individual , but a plurality . Even when it appears as an individual to us , it is but the reunion of Jiving independent beings . The more imperfect a being is , the more homogeneous it is , i . e ., the more its parts resemble each other and resemble the whole . The more perfect a being is , the more heterogeneous it is , i . e ., the more its parts differ from each other . In the first case , the whole resembles its parts ; in the latter , it does not resemble them . The more the parts resemble each other , the less are they subordinated to each other . Subordination indicates the more perfect being . "

    These are sentences which contain vast chapters , and may not therefore be appreciated at a glance ; but having read them with some thought , tho student may now turn to M . Guyot : <— * . " Let us see , first , how nature proceeds in the formation of the organic individual , tho animal . This subject has been admirably illustrated by my friend Professor Agossiz . # . . " Let us follow him , and begin with tho animal , considered in itself as an individual . In a liquid animal matter , without precise form , homogeneous , at least in distin

    appearance , a moss becomes outlined , takes determinate contours , and is - guished from tho rest j it is the egg . Soon , in the interior of the egg , the elements separate and diverging tendencies are established ; the matter accumulates and concentrates itself upon certain points ; these accumulations uesuino more distinct forms and more specific characters ; we nee organs traced , a head , an oyo , a heart , an alimentary canal . Hut this diversification does not go on indefinitely . Under tho influence of a special force , all tho diverse tendencies arc drawn together towards a single end ; tho distinct organs are united and coordinated ia one whole , and perform their functions in the interest nnd for tho service of tho individual

    which commands them . " Now in this process the point of departure is a unit , but a homogeneous unit , without internal differences ; a chaotic unit , Jf I mny venture to pay so ; for what itj a chaos but tho abaonce of organization in a mass , of which all tho parts arc alike ? " Tho progress is diversity , tho establishment of diflercnceH , the giving to forms nnd functions their special characters . . " Tho end is n now unit , the organic or harmonious unit ; for all tho individniu organs are not fortuitously assembled , but have ouch of them their place and thoir appointed functions . " Tho totality of those evolutions is what is ordinarily called development . ' * The progress , we have said , is diversification-, it is tho variety <> f organs » " « of functions . What , then , is tho condition of a greater amount of life , of a ^ " plotor growth for tho animal ? Is it not tho multiplicity and the variety of tl 10

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    • ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ . ¦ . ¦' ' ' ¦ ¦ ' ¦ . ¦¦• t '¦ . ¦ ¦ ¦ . ¦ . ' . . 302 THE LEADER . [ Saturday .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 27, 1852, page 302, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1928/page/18/