--_Ibid_.
_Spanish Liquorice_ is so called from its being manufactured only in
_Spain_ and Sicily. The root grows naturally in those countries and in
Languedoc, and in such abundance in some parts of Sicily, that it is
considered the greatest scourge to the cultivator.--_Ibid_. (Our brewers
and distillers would not be of this opinion were liquorice indigenous to
this country.)
_Heat in Plants_.--Lamarck tells us of a plant, which during a few hours
of its growth, is "so hot as to seem burning." Its greatest heat is stated
at nearly 45 degrees above the temperature of the air in which the plant
was growing.
_Iceland_ is perhaps the most deplorable spot on the world's map. "Not
very long ago it counted at least 100,000 inhabitants. Depopulated by time,
which has more than once introduced frightful pestilence, there are now
not half that number. Their occupation is that of shepherds and fishermen,
for the bitterness of the climate makes all agricultural labours vain or
unproductive. They are scattered over the wide wastes of the country, far
distant, in huts and farms, and it was only in 1787 that any portion of
the population was gathered into towns, if towns may be called the two
spots where a few families have their abode together.
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