The Earth and Man: Lectures on Comparative Physical Geography, in Its Relation to the History of Mankind |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
abundant Africa Alps already animal ARNOLD GUYOT Asia Minor Atlantic atmosphere Australia basin Cape centre character Christian civilization climate Cloth continental contrast countries currents depth desert direction earth Eastern element elevated epoch equator equatorial Europe existence extreme fact Fahr feet forms gentlemen geographical geology give globe Gulf Gulf of Mexico heat height hemisphere Himalaya Hugh Miller human important inches Indian Ocean influence interior islands latitude less Lewisburg University Mexico miles monsoon moral nations nature Nevertheless North north-east northern continents Old World organized Pacific Ocean peninsulas perfect PETER MARK ROGET physical plains plateaus polar present principal progress race rains relief rivers seas seems shores side slopes societies soil South America south-west southern species superior surface table lands temperate regions temperature terrestrial masses three continents tinents tion trade wind tropical regions vapors variety vast vegetation waters Western Asia western coast whole zone
Popular passages
Page 232 - As the plant is made for the animal, as the vegetable world is made for the animal world, America is made for the man of the Old World The man of the Old World sets out upon his way Leaving the highlands of Asia, he descends from station to station towards Europe. Each of his steps is marked by a new civilization superior to the preceding, by a greater power of development. Arrived at the Atlantic, he pauses on the shore of...
Page 268 - Since man is made to acquire the full possession and mastery of his facult.es by toil, and by the exercise of all his energies, no climate could so well minister to his progress in this work as the climate of the temperate continents. It is easy to understand this. An excessive heat enfeebles man ; it invites to repose and inaction. In the tropical regions the power of life in nature is carried to...
Page 270 - Thus, if the tropical continents have the wealth of nature, the temperate continents are the most perfectly organized for the development of man. They are opposed to each other, as the body and the soul, as the inferior races and the superior races, as savage man and civilized man, as nature and history.
Page 23 - Has it not the powerful attractions of bodies to each other, which govern the motions of the stars scattered in the immensity of space, and keep them in an admirable harmony...
Page 325 - ... Europe is the school where his youth was trained, where he waxed in strength and knowledge, grew to manhood, and learned at once his liberty and his moral responsibility. America is the theatre of his activity during the period of manhood ; the land where he applies and...
Page 269 - ... to the vigorous employment of all his faculties. A more economical nature yields nothing, except to the sweat of his brow ; every gift on her part is a recompense for effort on his.
Page 268 - An excessive heat enfeebles man; it invites to repose and inaction. In the tropical regions the power of life in nature is carried to its highest degree; thus with the tropical man...
Page 34 - ... reveal a plan which we are enabled to understand by the . evolutions of history. 2. That the continents are made for human societies, as the body is made for the soul. 3. That each of the northern or historical continents is peculiarly adapted, by its nature, to perform a special part corresponding to the wants of humanity in one of the great phases of its history. Thus, nature and history, the earth and man, stand in the closest relations to each other, and form only one grand harmony.
Page 269 - A nature too rich, too prodigal of her gifts, does not compel man to snatch from her his daily bread by his daily toil. A regular climate, the absence of a dormant season, render forethought of little use to him. Nothing invites him to that struggle of intelligence against nature, which raises the forces of man to so high a pitch, but which would seem, here to be hopeless.
Page 165 - The mountain chains are, then, the great condensers, placed by nature here and there along the continents, to rob the winds of their treasures, to serve as reservoirs for the rain waters, and to distribute them afterwards as they are needed, over the surrounding plains. Their wet and cloudy summits seem to be untiringly occupied with this important work. From their sides flow numberless torrents and rivers, carrying in all directions wealth and life.