vegetable world have been in constant request for the most common purposes of life. The simplest dwellings, not only of the uninstructed savage, but of the peasantry of many parts of modern Europe, are constructed almost entirely of wood; the simplest implements of husbandry, the plough, the spade, and the hoe, could hardly be employed without the aid of a wooden frame-worker handle: and the same observation holds good with reference to the tools of the most necessary arts of life How great would be the inconvenience, and how increased would be the labour of the carpenter, or the smith, or the mason, if, instead of wood, the handles of his implements were of iron! Nor are substances of vegetable origin of less importance, or less generally employed, in many of the higher arts of life. Examine the structure of a man of war-its hulk, of oak; its masts, of fir; its sails and ropes, of flax; its calking, of tow and of tar. All is of vegetable origin from the top-mast head to the keel itself. With the exception indeed of the iron which is occasionally used in the construction, no metallic substance is necessarily employed; for the copper sheating, though highly useful, is certainly not necessary.

How

It would require volumes to describe all the economical uses to which vegetables are applied. How many important trades arise from this source. many families, now existing in opulence, originally derived their surnames from their occupation, and that occupation connected with vegetable materials; for instance, Cooper, Capenter, Dyer, Tanuer, Turner, Wheeler Weaver, Barker, Hayward, Gardener, Cartwright, Miller, Fletcher, Bowyer!

And then, to answer the various purposes to which they are to be applied, how widely do the qualities of different vegetable productions differ from each other? How well the rigid fibre and compact texture of the oak enable the bulky vessel to resist the buffeting of the waves? The ash, the beech, the fir, the yew, each has those appropriate qualities which make

it individually preferable to the rest. The flexibility of the hemp and flax renders them capable of being woven and formed into sails and cordage; and, exposed as the sails and riging are to the vicissitudes of the weather, how well are they protected by being covered over with tar, itself of vegetable origin!

Some woods very readily split with that regularity of surface which we observe in common laths, and of the utility of that kind of material in almost every kind of building no one can well be ignorant. Other woods, as the willow, very readily bend, with a considerable degree of elasticity, in every direction; and hence are of value in the fabrication of what is known under the general name of wicker-work.*

In this department, again, though not to the same extent as in the case of some of the metals, is seen the effect of human labour in advancing the value of the original material. Compare, for instance, the mercantile value of a piece of fine lace with the original value of the material of which it is made.

There are many plants, which, though they neither produce fruit of any value nor are capable of being applied to any of the common purposes of the arts, are yet of the highest value as a natural defence to cultivated lands against the incursions of cattle; and sometimes even against the attacks of disciplined troops.

The quickset of our common hedges is an instance of the former application; and of its utility in this country no one can doubt, unless he happen to live exclusively in those districts, as in certain parts of

*The art of making wicker-work is often successfully cultivated at a very early period of civilization. Thus, in the neighbourhood of California, some of Captain Beechey's officers were supplied with "water brought to them in baskets, which the Indians weave so close, that, when wet, they become excellent substitutes for bowls." (Beechey's Voyage, p. 385.) And we know that, not long after the conquest of Britain by Cæsar, the ornamental wicker-work of the natives was highly prized at Rome.

the Cotswold and similar ranges of hills, where stone supplies a more ready material for a fence. Of the extent of its application, it would not be easy to make a correct estimate: but, when we consider how many public roads, and how many private enclosures are bounded by a fence of quickset, it becomes probable that the linear extent of hedges of this kind is, in England alone, equal to many times the circumference of the whole earth. In describing one of the most important fortresses in the Deccan, captain Seely, in his account of the temples of Ellora, states that the town, which stands about one thousand and twenty yards from the fort, is surrounded by a hedge of prickly pear, nearly eighteen feet high, and thick in proportion. This natural defence around the towns and villages on the western side of India is very common; and it offers to a predatory body of horse or foot a formidable barrier; for the sharp and long thorns, which project from the stem and leaf, not only act as an immediate defence; but, if broken off, they exude a liquid which often produces severe inflammation*

In a part of Normandy, lying between Caen and Falaise, is a district called "Le Bocage," (petit bois,) which "derives its name from the high and bushy hedges with which it abounds; and which are designed to afford shelter from the stormy winds of the Atlantic. There are but few trees in those parts; but the hedges, being from eight to ten feet in height, are sufficient to protect the crops from the boisterous sea breezes: and they thence bear the name of brisevent."t

The last point in the history of vegetables which I propose to consider is their application as fuel; and many nations entirely derive their supply of fuel, for culinary and other domestic purposes, from the vegetable kingdom alone; and even where such a sup

* P 522.

t Conversations on Vegetable Physiology, vol. ii; p. 232.

ply is in a great measure needless, on account of the abundance of coal, yet, for many purposes, various forms of wood, either in a recent or a charred state, are preferred, on account of the injurious effects arising from the sulphur with which coal is usually contaminated; in the heating of bakers' ovens, for instance, in the drying of malt, and in numerous processes of the arts. Around the shores of the Arctic Ocean, where scarcely any traces for native vegetation are observable, the inhabitants are amply supplied by drift-wood. (Sauer's Account of Billing's Expedition, p. 104-259.) And captain Beechey says, that drift-wood is to the Esquimaux what forests are to us; being in such abundance and variety that the inhabitants have the choice of several sorts of trees. All this drift-wood about the mouths of rivers, on the north coast of America, appears to be brought down by those rivers from the interior of America: but from the occurrence of many floating trees to the southward of Kamchatka, and from other circumstances, it is probable that much of the drift-wood, found at a distance from the mouths of rivers, comes very far from the southward. (P. 575— 580.)

Nor does the benefit, arising from vegetable forms of fuel, terminate with their consumption. The residuary ashes are useful, as a manure for the land, on account of the alkaline matter which they contain: and that alkaline matter is also to many a poor peasant a substitute for soap; the lixivium, or ley, which may be obtained by filtering water through the ashes, owing its detergent quality to the alkali which it has dissolved in its passage. In those parts of the world indeed, as in North America, for instance, where it is requisite to clear the land of wood, for the purpose of bringing it into cultivation, the ashes of the forests, which are necessarily burned for this purpose, afford an enormous quantity of alkaline residuum; and this is the source of much of that alkali of commerce, which, from having been obtained by evaporation of

its solution in iron pans or pots, is commonly known under the name of potash.

That other alkali of commerce, called soda is derived from a similar, though indeed a much more humble source; for, in this case, the alkali does not result from the combustion of stately and aboriginal forests, but from the combustion of heaps of seaweed; which, in various parts of the coast of Europe, has been collected from the surfaces of the adjoining rocks.*

CHAPTER IX.

ADAPTATION OF ANIMALS TO THE PHYSICAL CONDITION OF MAN.

SECTION I.

General Observations on the Animal Kingdom

THE same remark may be made with regard to the general utility of animals, which has been made in the case of vegetables: for we have sufficient reason for believing, that, among the myriads of species of animals which exist upon the face of the earth, there is not one which does not act an important part in the economy of nature. And yet, if it

* In some instances loose stones are intentionally placed on the sea beach for the purpose of affording a substratum for the growth of various sea plants, which attach themselves to the stones so placed

It is the opinion of Mr. Scoresby, (Account of the Arctic Regions, vol. i. p. 179, 180,) that the olive green colour of the water, observable in many parts of the Greenland sea, is owing to the presence of numberless quantities of very small medusæ and other minute animals. "These small animals," he says, "apparently afford nourishment to the sepiæ, actiniæ, and other