The animal world, however, is more rich and varied than the vegetable.
Here we meet the great moose and the brown bear, the beaver and other rodents, in large numbers; the sable, the mink, the ermine, and a host of other animals whose fine, soft furs form one of the main resources of this inhospitable clime.
In the Arctic Zone—where the forests give place to dwarf trees, stunted or creeping shrubs, mosses, and lichens—the reindeer, the musk-ox, and the white bear are the only representatives of the larger land animals, though the smaller furry tribes are still numerous.
The sea, however, more genial in its temperature than the land, swarms with living creatures of innumerable species, among which are the largest representatives of the animal kingdom. The whale, the walrus, and the seal, inhabit the Arctic seas; with every grade of marine life, down to the animalculæ, which are so numerous as to give their color to great areas of sea-water; and water-fowl, without number, and of many varieties, enlivens the icy shores.
CHIEF DIVISIONS OF THE PLANT KINGDOM
The great divisions of the science of plant life, or botany, are: Structural Botany which treats of the gross anatomy of plants; Plant Histology, of their minute anatomy; Plant Morphology, of the forms of plants and their organs; Plant Physiology, of the functions of these organs; Systematic Botany, of the relationship and classification of plants; Geographical Botany, of the distribution of plants over the surface of the globe; Paleobotany, of the vegetable life of past ages and the successive appearance in the world of the great classes of plants, as traced in their fossil remains; and Economic Botany, which deals with the products of plants and their uses.
It is in the last division of the subject that our greatest practical interest lies, and, consequently, it is best to reverse the general order of treatment pursued by many botanists. Foremost in importance are those plants grown for food, which form the great products of agriculture, gardening and horticulture. Scarcely less important are those which yield fibers used for industrial purposes, such as cotton, flax, jute and hemp; nor must we forget those producing vegetable oils, rubber, and the large number of drugs so valuable to the science of medicine in the alleviation of suffering.
(See [page 176] for scientific classification of the Vegetable or Plant Kingdom.)
