As we have now passed in review the whole sphere of inorganic terrestrial
life, and have briefly considered our planet with reference to its form, its
internal heat, its electro-magnetic tension, its phenomena of polar light,
the volcanic reaction of its interior on its variously composed solid crust,
and, lastly, the phenomena of its two-fold envelopes -- the aerial and
liquid ocean -- we might, in accordance with the older method of treating
physical geography, consider that we had completed our descriptive history
of the globe. But the nobler aim I have proposed to myself, of raising the
contemplation of nature to a more elevated point of view, would be defeated,
and this delineation of nature would appear to lose its most attractive
charm, if it did not also include the sphere of organic life in the many
stages of its typical development. The idea of vitality is so intimatey
associated with the idea of the existence of the active, ever-blending
natural forces which animate the terrestrial sphere, that the creation of
plants and animals is ascribed in the most ancient mythical representations
of many nations to these forces, while the condition of the surface of our
planet, before it was animated by vital forms, is regarded as coeval with
the epoch of a chaotic conflict of the struggling elements.
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