Aspects of nature, in different lands and different climates (Vol. 1 of 2): with scientific elucidationsHumboldt, Alexander von
Science
Aspects of nature, in different lands and different climates (Vol. 1 of 2): with scientific elucidations
Humboldt, Alexander von
Physical geography; Plant morphology; Science; South America -- Description and travel
Oceanic currents. In the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean the
waters are impelled in a true revolving current. That the first
impulse which causes the Gulf Stream is to be sought at the
southern extremity of Africa, was already known to Sir Humphry
Gilbert in 1560. Influence of the Gulf Stream on the climate of
Scandinavia. How it contributed to the discovery of America.
Instances of Esquimaux who, aided by the returning eastward
flowing portion of the warm Gulf Stream, and by north-west
winds, arrived on the coasts of Europe. Such a case related
by Cornelius Nepos and Pomponius Mela (of Indians given by a
king of the Boii to Quintus Metellus Celer, Proconsul of Gaul);
others in the time of the Othos and of Frederic Barbarossa, of
Columbus and of Cardinal Bembo. Again, in the years 1682 and
1684 natives of Greenland appeared in the Orkneys 159-165
Operation of lichens and other Cryptogamia in the cold and
temperate zones in preparing the way for the more rapid
establishment of larger phænogamous plants. Within the tropics
lichens are often replaced in this respect by succulent plants.
Milk-yielding animals of the New Continent; the Lama, the
Alpaca, the Guanaco 165-169
Cultivation of farinaceous grasses 169-173
On the earliest population of America 173-174
The coast nation of the Guaranis (Warraus), and the Mauritia
palm of the coasts, according to the accounts given by Bembo in
the Historiæ Venetæ, and those of Raleigh, Hillhouse, and Robert
and Richard Schomburgk 174-182
Phenomena which long-continued drought produces in the Steppe;
sand-spouts, hot winds (Mirage); awakening of crocodiles and
tortoises from long summer sleep 182-190
Otomacs. General considerations on the practice of earth-eating
among particular nations or tribes. Clays and earths containing
Infusoria 190-196
Figures graven on rocks throughout a zone running from east
to west, and extending from the Rupunuri, Essequibo, and the
Pacaraima Mountains, to Caycara and the wildernesses of the
Cassiquiare. Earliest notice (April 1749) of these traces of
former civilization in the manuscript account of the travels
of the surgeon Nicolas Hortsmann of Hildesheim, found among
D’Anville’s papers 196-203
The vegetable poison Curare or Ourari 203-204
_Cataracts of the Orinoco_--p. 207 to p. 231.
The Orinoco; general view of its course. Ideas excited in
Columbus on seeing its embouchure. Its unknown sources are east
of the Mountain of Duida and the groves of Bertholletia. Causes
of the principal bends of the river 207-219
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