DISTRIBUTION OF PLANTS
AND ANIMALS.
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w o u l d have b e c o m e i m p o r t a n t objects o f trade, i f E u r o p e , at t h e period o f t h e discovery o f t h e N e w W o r l d , had n o t already been accustomed t o the spices and aromatics o f India. T h e c i n n a m o n o f the O r i n o c o , a n d that o f t h e A n d a q u i e s missions, a r e , however, less aromatic than t h e cinnamon o f C e y l o n , and w o u l d still b e so even i f dried and prepared by similar processes. E v e r y hemisphere produces plants o f a different species ; and it is n o t by the diversity o f climates that we can attempt t o explain w h y equinoctial A f r i c a has n o laurels, and the N e w W o r l d n o heaths ; w h y calceolariĂŚ are f o u n d wild o n l y in t h e southern hemisphere ; w h y t h e birds o f the East Indies g l o w with colours less splendid than those o f the h o t parts o f A m e r i c a ; finally, w h y the t i g e r is peculiar t o A s i a , and the o r n i t h o r y n c h u s t o Australia. I n the vegetable as well as in the animal k i n g d o m , the causes o f the distribution o f the species are a m o n g the mysteries which natural philosophy cannot solve. The attempts made t o explain the distribution o f various species o n the g l o b e b y the solo influence o f climate, take their date from a period when physical g e o graphy was still in its infancy ; w h e n , recurring incessantly to pretended contrasts b e t w e e n t h e t w o worlds, it was imagined that the whole o f A f r i c a and o f A m e r i c a resembled the deserts o f E g y p t and the marshes of C a y e n n e . A t present, when m e n j u d g e o f t h e state o f things n o t from o n e t y p e arbitrarily chosen, b u t from positive knowledge, if is ascertained that the t w o c o n t i n e n t s , in their i m m e n s e e x t e n t , c o n tain countries that are altogether analagous. T h e r e are regions o f A m e r i c a as barren and b u r n i n g as the interior of Africa. T h o s e islands which p r o d u c e the spices o f India are scarcely remarkable f o r their d r y n e s s ; and it is n o t o n a c c o u n t o f the humidity o f the climate, as has been affirmed in recent works, that the N e w Continent, is deprived o f those fine species of lauriniĂŚ and myristicĂŚ, which are found united in one little c o r n e r o f the earth in the archipelago o f I n d i a . For some years past, cinnamon has been cultivated with success i n several parts o f t h e N e w C o n t i n e n t ; and a z o n e that p r o d u c e s t h e c o u m a r o u n a , the vanilla, the pucheri, t h e pine-apple, the p i m e n t o , the balsam o f tolu, the M y r o x y l o n peruvianum, the c r o t o n , the citroma, the pejoa, the incienso