e most momentous nature. Were it not
for our shipping we should still be in the condition described by the
Romans, as Britons cut off from the rest of the world.--But by their
means we now visit without restraint,

"Earth's farthest verge, and ocean's wildest shore,"[C]

and though, in times past, they have been too often used as engines
fraught with destruction, directed by man against his fellow man, let
us hope that they may be required in future only to convey in amicable
interchange the produce of one country to another, or to bear to his
destination the missionary bent on extending the blessings of that
religion whose spirit is "peace on earth, good will among the children
of men[D]."

As a means of supplying fuel, without which man must remain constantly
in the savage state, wood is of inestimable value. In the process of
combustion, the elements of the trees enter into new combinations,
evolving both light and heat, which at once maintain life and render
it a state of enjoyment and usefulness. For this purpose in Britain,
we chiefly employ fossil fuel, stored up in the secret places of the
earth, and, therefore, we attach less importance to recent wood; but
other parts of the world are not so favourably situated, and to the
inhabitants of these places fresh, or but lately felled, wood is
necessary for their existence. Even in France, though partially
possessed of coal, it is estimated that the quantity of wood employed
to supply heat, whether for comfort, cooking, or in manufactures which
require a high temperature, amounts to seven-tenths of the entire
consumption. The superiority of wood fuel, whether fossil or recent,
over every other material resorted to with a like intention, shall be
shown in a subsequent part of this paper. I therefore pass on at
present to demonstrate the utility of vegetable substances in
affording the means of subsistence to man and animals.

In the observations I am about to make, it is impossible to avoid
anticipating some of the remarks which belong to the subject of fruits
and seeds as articles of food, since the same principles of nutriment
are found in the stems of certain plants as are deposited in the
fruits or seeds of others.

Though man is omnivorous, and can subsist either on animal or
vegetable food--an arrangement which fits him to dwell in any part of
the habitable globe,--yet he is subject, with regard to the actual
material of his diet, in a remarkable manner