their distribution on the globe might be made more distinct: at present,
each of the ten groups into which they are arranged, contains too many,
so that not one of the groups belongs exclusively to any one zone. Some,
however, may be regarded as tropical, and some as chiefly inhabiting the
temperate climates. The variation of the grasses in the different
continents is still less perceptible; there is scarcely any difference
between those of North America and those of the temperate regions of the
European continent. Between the two temperate zones also the distinction
is inconsiderable. Of thirty-six species from the Cape, thirty occur in
the northern hemisphere; while in other tribes of plants, Southern
Africa has many that are peculiar to itself. I may mention _poa_ as
being one of the most extensively distributed genera; some of its
species are found in every part of the world, from Spitsbergen to New
Holland.”
“We may say then,” said Mary, “that latitude has but little influence on
these plants.”
“Yes, it has a decided influence,” said Miss Perceval, “on their
vegetation; the tropical grasses acquire a much greater height, and
almost assume the appearance of trees. Some species of the bamboo, which
you know belongs to this tribe, are fifty feet high. The leaves too are
broader, and approach more in form to the leaves of the other families
of plants.”
I then asked Miss P. to give me some idea of the distribution of those
grasses which are cultivated.
“The cultivated grasses,” she said, “which extend farthest to the north
in Europe, are barley and oats. These, which in milder climates are not
generally used for bread, afford the inhabitants of Norway, Sweden, and
Scotland, their chief vegetable nourishment. Rye comes next to these; it
is the prevailing grain along the borders of the Baltic, and in part of
Siberia. Next follows a zone including Europe and a large part of
Western Asia, where rye disappears, and wheat almost exclusively
furnishes bread.
“The next district extends across Barbary, Egypt, Persia, and the
countries of the East, where, though wheat abounds, rice and maize are
extensively cultivated; and in some of those countries the sorghum,
which yields a grain resembling millet, and the poa Abyssinica, are
largely used by the inhabitants. In the eastern parts of the temperate
zone, including China and Japan, rice predominates over all other
grains. Between the tropics, maize prevails in America, rice in Asia,
and both in nearly equal quantities in Africa; probably because Asia is
the native country of rice, and America of maize. The native country of
wheat has not yet been ascertained, but there are few places into which
it has not been introduced. Several other grains and plants that supply
food, are cultivated in the torrid zone, but we cannot touch on them
now, as they are not grasses.
“In the Highlands of South America, there is a distribution similar to
that arising from difference of latitude. Maize is not found beyond the
height of six thousand feet, from thence to nine thousand feet the
European grains abound, advancing upwards in this order; wheat, then
rye, and then barley. The larger esculent seeds of the grasses were
named, by Linnæus, Cerealia, from Ceres: he included rice, wheat, rye,
barley, oats, millet, and maize.”
This morning we were talking over all we had learned yesterday from Miss
P. about the grasses, when my uncle invited us to his study, and showed
us some dried specimens of feather-grass which grows in Europe, and is
larger and more curious than the pretty little species that you have in
Brazil. The feather is six inches long, with a kind of a spiral form at
the lower end, which twists or untwists according to the degree of
dampness in the atmosphere. We held a piece of it over the urn at tea,
by which it was instantly put in motion, so that it would make a very
nice hygrometer. I wish I was acquainted with Harry and Lucy, and I
would send them the bit my uncle gave me. Miss P. says that, as the seed
ripens, the flower closes over it into a sharp point, and that as the
stalk is slightly barbed, it works its way into the ground by the effect
of damp acting on the twisted part.
_21st, Sunday._--I asked my uncle this morning to explain what he meant
by the Levitical dispensation, and by the New dispensation, to which he
has so frequently alluded.
“I will with pleasure, Bertha,” said he. “It gives me great satisfaction
to perceive that you reflect on what you are told. Never allow yourself
to be contented with half knowledge.
“You know that, in consequence of the fall of man, a system of divine
grace for his redemption was promised by the Almighty; and that it
commenced with the mysterious promise that the seed of the woman should
bruise the head of the serpent. But as things in the natural world are
only permitted to reach perfection gradually, rising from infancy to
maturity, so it is, likewise, in the moral world: and this gracious
scheme of mercy, instead of being at once displayed in its full extent,
was gradually unfolded at different periods, until the promised seed was
at length manifested in Jesus Christ. These successive communications
have been called dispensations, because the knowledge of God and of his
merciful intentions were _dispensed_ or revealed by them. There have
been three of these dispensations, the patriarchal, the Levitical, and
the Christian; but they belong to the one system of Providence, and are
all linked together, the redemption of the human race being the
beginning and the end of the whole. The proper modes of worship were at
the same time distinctly ordained; and, however different the
institutions which were severally dispensed may appear to us, we may
feel assured that each of them was peculiarly adapted to the moral
state of the world when it was promulgated.
“During the term of the patriarchal dispensation, which comes first in
order, it pleased God to make known such a portion of his will, and to
dispense throughout the world such a degree of knowledge of his
purposes, as would have been abundantly sufficient to have conducted
mankind to heaven, if they had not wilfully resisted the benevolent
offers that were made to them, and turned aside from the easy path of
duty that was prescribed. The patriarchal dispensation was evidently
intended to be _universal_ in its offers, as well as in its conditions;
for Adam would of course communicate to the numerous generations of his
children, with whom he was contemporary, the knowledge, which he had
himself derived from direct revelation, of God’s gracious will and
intentions. But this universality was of short duration. Animal
sacrifice appears to have been appointed as a type of that mighty
sacrifice or atonement by which mankind were to be enabled in the
fulness of time to triumph over their spiritual enemy; and the conduct
of Cain in rejecting it produced an immediate distinction between the
servants of God and those who were seduced to follow the principles of
his apostasy. The terms on which that general atonement had been offered
were neglected; the reconciliation of fallen man by means of the
promised seed was slighted, and the lamentable corruption which spread
amongst the early inhabitants of the world led to the awful judgment of
the Deluge.
“Thus ended the first period of the patriarchal church. It was renewed
in the descendants of Noah, and for a long period retained its original
character of universality, till other apostasies took place. These,
however, were of a very different nature from that of Cain. The
occasional appearances of a superior race of beings, ministering under a
human form between God and his creatures upon earth, probably led to
what has been called Hero-worship. Surprising as this perversion may
appear among people whose immediate ancestors had the singular advantage
of direct communication with the Supreme Being, it seems to have taken
deep root in the human mind; for, in the most enlightened nations of
antiquity, we find a continual disposition to look back on departed
heroes and conquerors, not only with a sort of pious veneration, but
even to consider and address them as tutelar deities. Always prone to be
led away from the plain and simple truth, human weakness found another
early source of corruption in the worship of the heavenly bodies: their
splendour, and their obvious influence on all the pursuits of mankind,
produced a superstitious reverence, which by an easy transition
degenerated into adoration; and it has been remarked, that in the early
records of almost every country we find that the sun and moon were
regarded as deities; and that fire was the constant emblem under which
they were worshipped.
“The prevalence of these idolatries after the deluge may be inferred
from various passages in the Scriptures; and particularly from the
direct prohibitions contained in the laws that were given to Moses. But
amidst all the depravities and abuses that had thus disfigured the
patriarchal religion, the belief in the necessity of expiatory sacrifice
was constantly maintained; and though the horrid corruption of that
tenet gave rise to the sacrifice of human victims, there is no doubt
that they dimly shadowed out a general belief in a future divine victim.
Thus you perceive that, revolting as all these impious corruptions were,
yet they had for their original foundation the very principle of the
system of atonement and redemption; that ‘without shedding of blood
there is no remission of sins.’
“The consideration of the other two dispensations we must defer, my dear
Bertha, to another opportunity.”
_22nd._--Mary and I went this evening in search of the moth of the
little pear-leaf caterpillars: we shook a gooseberry-bush, and numbers
of them came forth. They fly in the day-time, never going far at a
time, and cautiously conceal themselves in the nearest bush.
This little (_seratella_) moth is of a brownish colour, with numerous
black dots and stripes on the fore wings, which are beautifully fringed
with feathers. The inferior wings are very small, and have also a fringe
on the margin. This moth is particularly distinguished by the extreme
length of the hind feet; they are twice as long as the body, and are
thought by some to act like a pair of oars in regulating their flight,
and in helping to maintain the body in equilibrium.
My aunt told me that some years ago the depredations of this insect were
considered as a species of blight, and the insect was so little known,
that no description of it was to be found in either French or English
entomologies. She believes that every blight that affects our
fruit-trees is produced by insects, whose visits are encouraged by
certain dispositions of the atmosphere. The germs of the future race are
lodged ready to be called into existence whenever the weather be
favourable to them. The cure then must be to eradicate the germ, but
this can only be known by tracing the habits of these minute creatures.
“What a field,” added my aunt, “for exercising the industry and
observation of young people; and not only in acquiring knowledge, but in
turning that knowledge to useful purposes.”
_24th._--We accompanied my aunt and uncle yesterday in a very pleasant
expedition. We boated to Elmore early in the morning to breakfast with
Mrs. Maude, and heard some very entertaining letters from her daughter,
which she was so kind as to read to us.
Miss M. has been in town for three weeks, and the friends she is with
have made great exertions to shew her every thing interesting. In the
midst of all her hurry, however, she has written constantly home,
describing all she does, and sees, and thinks, that can interest her
father and mother. She was not very fond of early rising; but now, in
order to prevent any thing from interfering with these letters, she has
the resolution to get up and write them before her friends’ breakfast
hour. She has almost excited my envy by her repeated visits to the
British Museum--to galleries of beautiful paintings--to botanic gardens
and stoves--to collections of beasts, and birds, and insects,--to
tunnels and suspension-bridges, and to all sorts of curious machinery;
and she has had the great advantage, too, of having seen all these
things in company with people who could explain them to her. Alas! such
things can be found only in London.
After we had heard these letters, we went on to Gloucester, where I had
not yet been; and though it was not London, I had the pleasure of
seeing a great deal that was quite new to me, and very interesting.
The pin manufactory we saw in every part, from the straightening the
brass wire before it is cut into the proper lengths, to the last
operation, by which the pins are whitened. But as Marianne will find all
the particulars detailed in the Book of Trades, I will only say, that
the thing which seemed to shew the most expert fingers, was the putting
the pins into the heads, and riveting them by a slight blow on an anvil.
This is done by children, who take the heads out of an iron pot in which
they have been heated, and instantly pop the bits of wire into them; and
the never-failing exactness with which it is done is really wonderful.
My uncle afterwards told us that a patent has been lately obtained for a
very ingenious improvement, by which the head is raised upon the wire
itself, so that the whole pin consists of a single piece of brass.
The sticking the pins into the papers, which are folded and placed
against the edge of the bench, is also very curious. And when I
recollected the great variety of people who had been employed in
preparing the materials from the time the metals were dug out of the
mine till the wire was drawn, along with those whom I had just seen
engaged in the different operations in this manufactory, I could not but
feel astonished that one small article of female dress should cost such
accumulated labour.
We then walked to the cathedral. What a magnificent building, mamma! the
twelfth part of a mile in length, and more than two hundred feet high.
As to the interior, it is grand beyond any thing I can attempt to
describe, but you must remember it too well to make that necessary.
I will mention, however, a curious circumstance that my uncle told me as
we were passing among the monstrous pillars of the nave: an attempt was
made not very long ago to reduce them in size, or to chisel them into
cluster columns; but they were found to be only hollow cases of masonry
filled with loose stones. I could not help feeling glad that it had
failed, for the contrast of their heavy, solid appearance, with the
light elegance of the cloisters, I think improves each other. The choir
is beautiful; and often as my aunt and uncle had seen them, they could
not help stopping to admire the carved work and tracery of the stalls.
This fine cathedral was begun in the eleventh century, the cloisters
were added in the fourteenth, and the west front was not completed till
the fifteenth. My uncle took the opportunity of shewing me the different
styles of Gothic architecture belonging to those periods; and on our
road home, he explained the principal distinctions between the Saxon,
Norman, and English styles, and the gradual alteration of the circular,
sharp pointed, and flat arches. The subject was entirely new to me, but
I felt so much interest in it that he has promised hereafter to go
through a little course of architecture with me, from the Egyptian and
Grecian to the Roman and Gothic.
_25th._--We were talking to-day about the impressions of plants
perceptible in coal, and I asked my uncle to tell me what plants they
were; he referred me to Miss Perceval, who says that it appears from the
researches of several German botanists, and particularly from those of
Dr. Martius, that some of the Brazilian plants, which are so familiar to
us, dear mamma, seem to have such a resemblance to those impressions,
that there can be scarcely a doubt of their identity.
“The tree ferns,” she said, “exhibit several characters in common with
those ancient plants; one species in particular, the stem of which
having a remarkable _tessellated_ or chequered appearance, exactly
represents some of the petrified forms found in the German coal mines.
Dr. Martius describes ten different kinds of fern found in coal, each
distinctly marked by some of those peculiarities which distinguish the
living plants.
“As very numerous examples of the arborescent as well as the herbaceous
ferns occur in the coal formation, it can scarcely be doubted that this
order of plants was formerly much more numerous than it is now; and that
the forests of the primitive world were abundantly stocked with them.”
“That is the more probable,” said my uncle, “as there is reason to
suppose that ferns were among the first plants that spread over the
surface of the globe, and that they were the basis of a more general
vegetation, by preparing the ground for others. Their large fronds
probably deriving as much nourishment from the atmosphere as from the
earth; while their annual decay rapidly increases or improves the
productive soil.”
“I do not mean, however,” said Miss Perceval, “that the antediluvian
woods consisted entirely of ferns; for the remains of many other plants,
and of some large trees, are found mixed with those of fern--just as the
living woods of the equinoctial regions, though very rich in ferns,
consist of a great variety of plants of all sizes. Several specimens of
palms, and of bambusæ, have been discovered; and the cactus is another
tribe which appears very abundantly amongst these petrifactions.”
“And I believe,” said my uncle, “that the remark I made respecting ferns
may be repeated of those tribes,--that they are furnished with a
singular structure of organs adapted for respiration, and thereby for
inhaling nutritious juices from the atmosphere.”
“Yes,” said Miss P., “Saussure found that a single leaf of the cactus
opuntia inhaled four cubic inches of oxygen in the course of a night
from the atmospheric air in a glass vessel, in which he inclosed it; and
we may, therefore, consider those tribes, and the yuccæ, and
lychnophoræ, which flourish in a dry sandy soil, as the pioneers of
vegetation, and intended by Nature to inhabit the rude wastes of a new
world.”
After some further conversation on this subject my uncle said, “As the
delicate parts of any vegetable substances would be entirely destroyed
if transported to a great distance by floods, it is evident, that those
plants, whose remains are found well preserved in a fossil state, must
have been inhabitants of the countries where the strata were formed.
This consideration has given rise to many interesting speculations on
the former climate of Europe, and its apparent changes; but if mammoths
and elephants were clothed with fur to enable them to endure a Siberian
winter, why may we not suppose that there were also species of palms and
tree ferns suited to our temperate regions? Another curious inference
may be drawn from the examination of vegetable remains: those found in
what the German mineralogists call brown coal, exhibit in their wood, in
their fruit, and their leaves, sufficient proofs of their belonging to
indigenous, or, at least, to modern races of plants; while those which
occur in what is termed black coal are all unknown or exotic: there can
be no doubt, therefore, that those two coal formations belong to two
very different ages of the globe.”
_26th._--I still find a great deal of amusement in watching my little
family of swallows. They are unwearied in collecting food for their
young; skimming through the air from morning till night, and darting on
their prey with the most sudden turns. They catch gnats and flies, and
consume an astonishing number of mischievous grubs; and I am told they
often accompany people on horseback, through the fields, in order to
pick up the flies which are roused from the turf by the horses’ feet.
They never touch seeds; insects are their only object, and according to
the weather, or the degree of warmth, they sometimes skim along the
surface of the ground, and sometimes fly at a great height. When there
is a scarcity of insects they have been known to snatch the flies
imprisoned in a spider’s web, and sometimes even the spider itself.
Another species arrived soon after the chimney swallow, which I believe
I have already described to you. It is called the house martin, or
window swallow; but there is no end to the number of names given to
this bird. It is very like the chimney swallow, but it has no spots on
the tail, and its feet are differently formed, for it has the power of
turning the hind toe forwards, in order to cling to a wall. This species
are chilly little creatures; when there is a cold wind or rain, they
press close to one another, and are sometimes so benumbed as to be
caught by the hand.
It is said that after they arrive here in April, they play about for
nearly a month before they begin their nests. Sometimes they build in
the cliffs and rocks that hang over water; sometimes against a
perpendicular wall, without having any support underneath the nest; and
they show great sagacity in their mode of carrying on their work. While
laying the foundations, they not only hold on by their claws, but they
fix their tail against some little projecting roughness in the wall to
serve as a kind of prop; and then with their bill they carefully cram
mud and bits of straw into the smallest chinks in the face of the brick
or stone; and to give those materials time to harden preparatory to a
fresh layer, the prudent little mason only labours early in the morning,
so that his work dries sufficiently in the course of the day. I have got
up several times at day-break to see how neatly he uses his bill as a
little trowel, while he carries the mortar or clay in one of his feet.
About half an inch is laid every morning; and in ten or twelve days, a
hemispherical nest is thus formed with an aperture at the top. The shell
or crust is covered with rough knobs of earth; the middle is
strengthened by the intermixture of straw; and the inside is nicely
lined with grass and feathers; or sometimes with moss and wool. If by
any accident the nest should be destroyed, it is rebuilt in a short time
by the active help of many individuals who unite to assist their
distressed companion. For several mornings they persisted in rebuilding
a nest at the passage-room window, which had been purposely torn down
each day; but, at last, after a hard struggle they gave it up.
I understand that the _cliff_ swallows of America--who place their nests
close up to the jutting ledge of a rock, or to the eave of a house--most
ingeniously arch the top, and make the entrance project out and turn
downwards. Frederick, who mentioned that circumstance at dinner, very
philosophically remarked that, while the population of Europe was
steadily extending itself from the eastern shores of America to the
western side of the Mississippi, those cliff-swallows were as resolutely
advancing in a contrary direction. “It appears,” said he, “from C.
Buonaparte’s ‘Ornithology,’ that in ten years they had gradually
established themselves in Kentucky and Ohio; in 1817 a single bird was
seen skimming round a tavern, near Lake Champlain--the next year, seven
were observed there--the third year, twenty-eight--and in 1822, no less
than seventy had arrived in April, which is the usual time of return
from their migratory travels.”
The common sparrow sometimes seizes on a swallow’s nest, before it is
completed; and having driven away its owner, adapts it to his own use;
but such invasions are often repelled after a spirited contest. This act
of piracy has been frequently seen; but my aunt is inclined to doubt the
truth of another story, though related by Linnæus, of a sparrow who took
possession of a martin’s nest, and obstinately resisted the united
efforts of a group of these birds which had come to the aid of the
owner; but, at length, they immured the intruder by building up the
entrance with the same kind of mortar of which the nest was composed.