Views of nature: or Contemplations on the sublime phenomena of creation: with scientific illustrationsHumboldt, Alexander von
Science
Views of nature: or Contemplations on the sublime phenomena of creation: with scientific illustrations
Humboldt, Alexander von
Physical geography; Plant morphology; Science; South America -- Description and travel
Retrospective view of the districts which border steppes and deserts.
Wilderness of the forest-region between the Orinoco and Amazon rivers.
Native tribes separated by wonderful diversity both of language and
customs; a toiling and divided race. Figures graven on rocks prove
that even these solitudes were once the seat of a civilization now
extinct—pp. 19–21.
SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATIONS AND ADDITIONS pp. 22–152.
The island-studded Lake of Tacarigua. Its relation to the
mountain-chains. Geognostic tableau. Progress of civilization.
Varieties of the sugar-cane. Cacao plantations. Great fertility of
soil within the tropics accompanied by great atmospheric
insalubrity.—pp. 22–26.
Banks, or broken floetz-strata. General flatness. Land-slips—pp.
26–28.
Resemblance of the distant steppe to the ocean. Naked stony crust,
tabular masses of syenite; have they a detrimental effect on the
atmosphere?—pp. 28–29.
Modern views on the mountain systems of the two American peninsulas.
Chains, which have a direction from S.W. to N.E., in Brazil and in the
Atlantic portion of the United States of North America. Depression of
the Province of Chiquitos; ridges as watermarks between the Guaporé
and Aguapehi in 15° and 17° south lat., and between the fluvial
districts of the Orinoco and Rio Negro in 2° and 3° north lat.—pp.
29–31.
Continuation of the Andes-chain north of the isthmus of Panamá through
the territory of the Aztecs, (where the Popocatepetl, recently
ascended by Capt. Stone, rises to an altitude of 17,720 feet,) and
through the Crane and Rocky Mountains. Valuable scientific
investigations of Capt. Frémont. The greatest barometric levelling
ever accomplished, representing a profile of the ground over 28° of
longitude. Culminating point of the route from the coast of the
Atlantic to the South Sea. The South Pass southward of the Wind-River
Mountains. Swelling of the ground in the Great Basin. Long disputed
existence of Lake Timpanogos. Coast-chain, Maritime Alps, Sierra
Nevada of California. Volcanic eruptions. Cataracts of the Columbia
River—pp. 31–38.
General considerations on the contrast between the configuration of
the territorial spaces, presented by the two diverging coast-chains,
east and west of the central chain, called the Rocky Mountains.
Hypsometric constitution of the Eastern Lowland, which is only from
400 to somewhat more than 600 feet above the level of the sea, and of
the arid uninhabited plateau of the Great Basin, from 5000 to more
than 6000 feet high. Sources of the Mississippi in Lake Istaca
according to Nicollet, whose labours are most meritorious. Native land
of the Bisons; their ancient domestication in Northern Mexico asserted
by Gomara—pp. 38–42.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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