mited to a scanty portion of earth, but was able to transfer himself wherever he pleased. A mutual intercourse was then maintained by distant provinces. The cities that were seated on the outlets of rivers, were furnished with importations from foreign lands, and then transmitted them to different parts, and diffused them through a whole kingdom. All the subjects of a mighty state seemed to be approximated by these means, and associated into one city. They soon became intimate. They contributed to the aid of each other, and frequent visits were interchanged between them. I may even affirm, that the whole earth is now become but one great town, of which the continents form the different quarters. Man, since the invention and improvement of navigation, can take a progress to each extremity of the world, in the same manner as the inhabitants of Venice pass from one quarter of their city to another in their gondolas. By the aid of his vessel and sails, he arrives at those regions that have never been visited by the birds of his climate. When eagles and falcons attempt to expatiate as far as man, they turn faint, and are lost in the midst of their passage. " It is more than a century since this splendid passage was written. What would the author have said had he lived in our day, when the civilized world has advanced, and is advancing, with such rapid strides; and when, by means of a new power, which was then unknown and unsuspected, man promises to rival the eagle and the falcon in the rapidity, as he has so long surpassed them in the extent, of his movements? * Spectacle de la Nature, vol. ii.-Dialogue xvi. THIRD WEEK-WEDNESDAY. TIMBER.-ITS VARIOUS KINDS AND ADAPTATIONS. THE vast variety which exists in the productions of the vegetable world has already been, more than once, noticed, and it exists no where more remarkably than in trees. That each variety has its specific use, and that its peculiar qualities were bestowed by the Creator for some express purposes, will not be doubted by any one who has learnt but a part of the lesson which these volumes are intended, and I trust calculated, to teach. Of these purposes some are still unknown, which, in the future progress of society, may be developed, and others may be chiefly confined to the lower creation; but there are some which are so obvious in themselves, and which have so long been practically applied, that they cannot be mistaken. I have, in the preceding paper, adverted to the various ways in which, speaking generally, wood has been applied to use. At present, I shall show some of the properties of particular kinds, which have adapted them to the supply of human wants. Beginning with uncivilized life, I may remind the reader of what was said of the cocoa-nut tree in a former volume,* the leaves, the trunk, the fruit, of which, nay, the very shell and envelope of the fruit, are all of such admirable utility to the savage, presenting themselves to him spontaneously, and obtruding their services, as it were, on his uninstructed mind. Of a similar kind is the bamboo, which is convertible into almost innumerable uses, and, as if intended for man in the earliest stages of society, as yet without knowledge or tools, it is ready wrought to his hands, symmetrical, and even ornamental, planed, turned, filleted, polished, varnished. It is convertible into a beam, a plank, a pillar, a mast, * "Spring"-Dissemination of Plants. a yard, a floor, a fence, a house, a pipe, a bottle, a cup, a kettle, a musical instrument, and even an article of food; while its wonderful profusion, and the rapidity of its growth, render it an inexhaustible resource for all these purposes. Its locality in tropical climates, where the excessive heat renders great exertion painful and injurious, is an additional mark of Creative benevolence which must not be everlooked. The rattan is another tropical plant of great service to uncivilized man, as it furnishes him with a cord ready made for his use; and for string, he has not only the fibres of the cocoa, already mentioned, but those of the aloe, which are ordained to leave the plant of themselves, soliciting his hand. If he seeks for clothing, the paper mulberry and bread-fruit tree invite and reward his ingenuity; if for shelter from the rains, he can retire to the shade of the talipot tree; while in the gomuti palm he discovers hair, and tinder, and oakum, all offering themselves to him unbidden, which are the more remarkable as they appear to be utterly purposeless to the economy of the plant. These are some of the provisions which may be regarded as the hornbook of man, teaching him simply, and in a manner adapted to his indolence and unnurtured capacity, the first rudiments of art, and thus leading him onward in search of higher attainments, by the exercise of deeper ingenuity, and more energetic exertion. If we regard man in a more advanced state, we still perceive adaptations to his use in the natural productions of the forests not less remarkable.* The ash is formed with qualities which suit it with most wonderful fitness for the uses of carpenters. It splits easily, but its toughness and elasticity are very remarkable. It readily yields to the moulding power of the axe, the saw, and the plane; it does not warp; it is durable as *These have already been adverted to in the "Summer" volume in the paper" Trees used for other purposes than food," but here I have entered into a minuter detail. well as strong; it possesses, in short, all the properties which a maker of agricultural machines and implements can require for the particular objects to which it is applied. Compare this with the beech, which may be wrought almost as if it were a block of stone, and thus supplies for machinery what the other uses of the ash rendered it incapable of performing. Its peculiar tenacity and structure are well appreciated by the millwright; and it is difficult to know where, in the whole forest, a substitute could be found for cogs and naves, so essential to machinery. In the fir-tribe we discover other properties, which render them extensively useful in other departments. To the house-carpenter they are invaluable, as in all his operations, from the roof of the house to its doors, windows, and finishings, he finds its lightness, its softness, its strength, its durability, and its ready polish, every thing that he could desire. It wants, indeed, the great tenacity, flexibility, and elasticity of the ash, but these are qualities which would have diminished its usefulness for its peculiar purpose; so that both in what it possesses, and in that of which it is destitute, it demonstrates Creative wisdom and paternal intention. But the pine species are not less strikingly adapted to another purpose, bearing deeply on the moral and political condition of man,-I mean the masting of ships. Straightness, longitudinal tenacity, and levity, with a limited elasticity, added to a small flexibility, was the combination required; and we have seen that this is the very combination which exists. Here is a case, somewhat analogous, as Dr Macculloch observes, to that of the feathers of birds. Nor is this the merely exterior and obvious arrangement; since, in the interior anatomical structure, the contrivance is similar, and this structure is confined to the trees of that peculiar family. The strong and hard portion of the annular cylinder resembles the quill part of the feather, and the spongy lamina serves to extend the diameter of the total mass, without adding proportionally to the weight, thus producing the greatest transverse strength with the least quantity of materials, under the same mathematical principle. It is further remarkable, that this combination of properties should have been united to an erect simple form of great length; while we also perceive that a provision has been made for this, not only in the anatomical structure, but in a crowded growth, and in the decay of the lateral branches. Many other trees include one or more of these properties; but none unite the whole. The poplar is tall and straight, but it wastes itself in branches, and wants longitudinal tenacity. The lime possesses levity, but it is deficient in all else; and so with regard to all the other trees with which we are acquainted; all of them fail in some essential property. Is there not then a specific design in combining so many useful qualities in one tree; and that tree one of the most prolific and easily procured in temperate climates, and especially adapted to those localities where, on account of the high latitude, other vegetation becomes comparatively scanty? For another purpose in ship-building, the oak is adapted with an intention not less obvious. In this peculiarly British tree, lateral and longitudinal strength are singularly united, and are combined with other well-known qualities, which render it the special timber for ships. If straightness was required for the mast, a crooked growth was no less useful for the formation of the hull; and we find the oak more twisted and gnarled than almost any other tree, thus affording all necessary forms for the use of the ship-builder, united with a rigidity which precludes the danger of change of shape. There is but one other tree which rivals the oak for the construction of ships,-I allude to the teak; and it is worthy of notice, that the teak is allotted to hot climates, as the oak finds its native place in the temperate zone, the one ceasing to grow where the other com mences. |