"We ought to conceive the study of Nature as destined to furnish the true rational basis of the action of man upon Nature; because the knowledge of the laws of phenomena, of which the invariable result is foresight, and that alone, can conduct us in active life to modify the one by the other to our advantage. In short, SCIENCE WHENCE FORESIGHT, FORESIGHT WHENCE ACTION, Such is the simple formula which expresses the general relation of Science and Art."
STARTING from the central highlands of Asia-the loftiest habitable region of the globe, where the great rivers take their rise that flow into the Frozen Ocean, and the Bay of Bengal, the Mediterranean, and the Chinese Sea-the human race has descended in an ever-widening flood, to spread over the earth and to subdue it. Sacred history and Hindoo tradition point to the same region as the cradle of mankind. They are confirmed by the reflection, that it must have been the first to emerge from the primal waste of waters; and the belief, that here it is that wheat and barley are of indigenous growth, and that the animals run wild who have been tamed by man, and have followed him in his migrations through every climethe horse, the ass, the goat, the sheep, the hog, the cat, that clings
"The limit of perpetual snow is wonderfully raised on the northern slope of the Himalaya, perhaps to 2600 toises, or 16,625 English feet, above the level of the sea. Fields of barley (hordeum hexastichon) are seen in Kunawur up to 2300 toises, or 14,707 English feet; and another variety of barley even much higher. Wheat succeeds extremely well in the Thibetian highlands up to 1880 toises, or 12,022 English feet.”—Humboldt's Aspects of Nature.