Note 37 — PHYSIOGNOMY OF PLANTS.

p. 31—“To behold all the shining worlds which stud the heavenly vault from pole to pole.”

The finest portion of the southern celestial hemisphere, where shine the constellations of the Centaur, the Ship, and the southern Cross, and where the soft lustre of the Magellanic clouds is seen, remains for ever concealed from the view of the inhabitants of Europe. It is only beneath the equinoctial line that Man enjoys the peculiar privilege of beholding at once all the stars both of the Southern and the Northern heavens. Some of our northern constellations seen from thence appear from their low altitude of a surprising and almost awful magnitude: for example, Ursus major and minor. As the inhabitant of the tropics sees all the stars of the firmament, so also, in regions where plains alternate with deep valleys and lofty mountains, Nature surrounds him with representatives of all the forms of plants.