more appropriately situated? Where could the delightful vistas, and pleasant walks, and refreshing arbours, of the many-trunked Banian-tree, be better placed? Where could that numerous host of natural umbrellas, the family of the palms, which overshadow, with their luxuriant and projecting foliage, almost every island, rock, and sand-bank, between the tropics, display their cooling shades with better effect? Where, in short, could that wonderful exuberance of the earth's bounty, the Bread-fruit-tree, by which, in the words of Captain Cook, "if a man plant but ten trees in his whole lifetime" (and that he may do in an hour), " he will as completely fulfil his duty to his own, and to future generations, as the natives of our less temperate climate can do, by ploughing in the winter's cold, and reaping in the summer's heat, as often as these seasons return :" where, I say, can this exuberance be more beneficially manifested, than in those regions, where "the same glowing beams of the sun, that raise the plant into a shrub, and the shrub into a tree,” render the gloom of the forest, and the intervening screen of the overhanging foliage, so desirable,-where the least exertion becomes oppressive, and coolness and ease may be said to constitute the principal wants of the inhabitants? And where, it may be further inquired, could those immense fields, upon which are raised our various crops of corn, be better made to expand their extensive surfaces, and lay open their treasures to the influence of the sun, than in those temperate regions of the globe, where, instead of being hurtful, a moderate degree of labour is conducive to health, and the agricultural labourer goes forth to his work in the morning, and returnsin theevening, rather invigorated, than exhausted, by the ordinary occupations of the day? If we extend our views much farther to the north, we may in vain look for the spontaneous luxuriance of the torrid zone, or the golden-coloured fields of the intervening climates: but here we shall find, what is at once more suitable to the climate and the wants of its inhabitants, a plentiful supply of the Rein-deer-lichen, which, being formed by nature to vegetate beneath the snow, is there found out, in requisite abundance, by that useful creature, whose

name it bears, and which is of itself a treasure to the inhabitants of those regions. The esculent properties of the Iceland-moss are now beginning to be better understood; and in what part of the habitable world could this singularly nutritious vegetable have been more judiciously and mercifully made to abound, than in that island of wonderful contrasts, where the variable climate is often so unfavourable to vegetation of a larger growth, and the hopes of the husbandman are so repeatedly disappointed by unwelcome visitants, in the form of icy particles floating in the air? The pitcherplant of the eastern, and the milk or cow tree of the western world, may each of them be reckoned among Nature's wonderful contrivances, and be justly regarded as evidences of the wisdom and goodness of the Being, who knows so well how to proportionate the acts of his bounty to the necessities and wants of his creatures. The singular appendages, which form the extremities of the pitcher-plant, are so many urns, containing a clear, wholesome, and well-tasted water. In the morning the lid is closed, but it opens during the day, when a portion of the water evaporates: this, however, is replenished in the night, and each morning the vessel is full, and the lid shut. As this plant grows in sultry climates, and is found in the island of Java, in the most stony and arid situations, how welcome and exhilarating must the sight of it be often to the weary traveller; and, from the marks of teeth upon the vessel, it has been narrated, that "it is evident that beasts often supply their wants at the same plenteous source." The milk-tree or cow-tree, so called on account of the resemblance its singular juice bears to the milk of animals, in the place of which M. Humboldt has seen it used for every domestic purpose, is thus described by that enterprising traveller: "I confess that, among the great number of curious phenomena I have observed, in the course of my travels, there are few, which have made a stronger impression on my mind, than the cow-tree. On the barren declivities of a rock grows a tree, whose leaves are dry and coriaceous; its thick ligneous roots scarcely enter the rock; for several months in the year, rain scarcely waters its fan-shaped

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leaves; the branches appear dry and dead; but, when an incision is made in the trunk, a sweet and nutritious milk flows from it. It is at the rising of the sun that the vegetable liquid runs most abundantly-then the natives and negroes are seen to come from all parts, provided with vessels to receive the milk, which becomes yellow, and thickens at the surface. Some empty their vessels under the same tree; others carry them home to their children. It is like a shepherd distributing to his family the milk of his flock. If those, who possess these precious trees near their habitation, drink with so much pleasure their beneficent juice, with what delight will the traveller, who penetrates in these mountains, appease with it his hunger and thirst! Thus we have seen, on the road from Patito to Puerto Cabello, all these trees full of incisions, made by the traveller, who seeks them with anxiety." The few instances here recorded may serve as general specimens of that wise ordination, universally to be observed, if duly attended to, in the geographical arrangement and distribution of vegetables. Popular Philosophy.

ON THE PLANTS WHICH FORM THE LINK BETWEEN THE VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL KINGDOMS.

WHAT a near approach do some plants make to that superior order of creation immediately above them in the scale of existence ! The sensitive plant, when slightly touched, evinces something like the timidity of our harmless animals. The Hedysarum gyrans, or moving plant of the east, exhibits an incessant and spontaneous movement of its leaves during the day, in warm and clear weather; but in the night season, and in the absence of light and heat, its motions cease, and it remains as it were in a state of quiescence. The American Venus fly-trap, like an animal of prey, seems to lie in wait to catch the unwary insect. The leaves of this plant are jointed, and furnished with two rows of prickles. Their surfaces are covered with a number of minute glands, which secrete a sweet li

quor, and allure the approach of flies. When these parts are touched by the legs of a fly, the two lobes of the leaf instantly rise up, the rows of prickles lock themselves fast together, and squeeze the unwary animal to death. The American cowslip, also, is said to hang down its head, to guard the tender stamina from being injured by rain. When a pole is placed at a considerable distance from an unsupported vine, the branches of which are proceeding in a contrary direction from that of the pole, in a short time (says Smellie) it alters its course, and stops not till it clings round the pole. A hop-plant, turning round a pole, follows the course of the sun, and soon dies if forced into an opposite direction; and, when the straight branches of a honey-suckle can no longer support themselves, they gather strength by becoming spiral. The convolvulus is known to roll itself up at an early hour. The radiated flowers are observed to close their petals, as the beautiful orb, whose form they bear, sinks beneath the horizon: and, amongst the number, the little modest mountain-daisy is seen to draw together its crimson tips into one point, and consign itself, as it were, to a temporary repose. Nature, it is said, has provided us with various substitutes for watches besides the sun-flower, which follows the dazzling orb of day, many others opening and shutting their petals at certain hours; thus constituting what Linnæus calls the horologe or watch of Flora. There is also another description of flowers, denominated meteorous, which less accurately observe the hour of unfolding, but expand sooner or later, according to the state of the weather, or cloudiness, moisture, or pressure of the atmosphere. These may be called vegetable-barometers, and among the number the African marigold, which, in dry weather, expands at six or seven in the morning, and shuts at four in the afternoon: it affords a sure indication that rain will fall in the course of the day, when it continues shut after the usual hour of opening. These are wonderful properties of the vegetable creation, and serve as links to connect it with the order of animals, and preserve unbroken the most minute gradations in nature's universal chain.

Popular Philosophy.

ON THE VARIOUS USES OF TREES AND PLANTS.

TREES, those stupendous specimens of creative art, spread not their wide-extended roots, nor lift their lofty heads in vain. Beneath their cooling shades our flocks and herds find a comfortable asylum, from the scorching rays of the summer sun. The wild stragglers of the forest have a place of refuge among their woods and thickets, whilst the feathery songsters of the grove build their little dwellings in security, and sing among their branches: "as for the stork, the fir-trees are her house." But in what a variety of respects, besides affording the inhabitants of warm climates an agreeable shelter from the mid-day heat, do these, and the different members of the shrubby race, yield their services, or are made subservient to the use of man! The bread-fruit-tree of the Pacific Ocean; the date-palms, which wave along the coasts of the Mediterranean; the calabash of the West Indies, and the cocoa-nut-tree of the East Indies; the cabbage-tree of East Florida, and the magney or mati-tree of New Spain; and the accommodating pawpaw, which grows in tropical climates both of the Western and Eastern world, are each rendered remarkable for the number of other useful properties they possess, besides contributing their services, in the way of most suitable food, to the inhabitants of those climes, in which they severally grow. During a considerable portion of the year, the bread-fruit-tree affords the chief sustenance of the Society Islanders, it being in season eight months of the year. The natives of these islands collect it without the smallest trouble; they have only to climb the tree to gather its fruit. A kind of cloth is fabricated from the bark, the leaves are converted into towels and wrappers, the wood is made into boats and houses, and a kind of cement is prepared by boiling the juice in cocoa-nutoil. Nearly every part of the date-tree may be converted to some useful purpose. A considerable part of the inhabitants of Egypt, of Arabia, and Persia, subsist almost entirely on its fruit, and it is also esteemed for its medicinal virtues. From the leaves,