﻿Cultivated 
  Elementary 
  Species 
  87 
  

  

  human 
  habitation. 
  Shipwrecks 
  might 
  furnish 
  

   a 
  successful 
  method 
  of 
  launching 
  viable 
  coco- 
  

   nuts, 
  and 
  such 
  have 
  no 
  doubt 
  sometimes 
  con- 
  

   tributed 
  to 
  their 
  distribution. 
  But 
  this 
  as- 
  

   sumption 
  implies 
  a 
  dissemination 
  of 
  the 
  nuts 
  by 
  

   man, 
  and 
  if 
  this 
  principal 
  fact 
  is 
  granted, 
  it 
  is 
  

   far 
  more 
  natural 
  to 
  believe 
  in 
  a 
  conscious 
  in- 
  

   telligent 
  dissemination. 
  

  

  The 
  coconut 
  is 
  a 
  cultivated 
  tree. 
  It 
  may 
  be 
  

   met 
  with 
  in 
  some 
  spots 
  distant 
  from 
  human 
  

   dwellings, 
  but 
  whenever 
  such 
  cases 
  have 
  been 
  

   subjected 
  to 
  a 
  closer 
  scrutiny, 
  it 
  appears 
  that 
  

   evidently, 
  or 
  at 
  least 
  probably, 
  huts 
  had 
  for- 
  

   merly 
  existed 
  in 
  their 
  neighborhood, 
  but 
  having 
  

   been 
  destroyed 
  by 
  some 
  accident, 
  had 
  left 
  the 
  

   palm 
  trees 
  uninjured. 
  Even 
  in 
  South 
  America, 
  

   where 
  it 
  may 
  be 
  found 
  in 
  forests 
  at 
  great 
  dis- 
  

   tances 
  from 
  the 
  sea-shore, 
  it 
  is 
  not 
  at 
  all 
  certain 
  

   that 
  true 
  native 
  localities 
  occur, 
  and 
  it 
  seems 
  to 
  

   be 
  quite 
  lost 
  in 
  its 
  natural 
  condition. 
  

  

  Granting 
  the 
  cultivated 
  state 
  of 
  the 
  palms 
  as 
  

   the 
  only 
  really 
  important 
  one, 
  and 
  considering 
  

   the 
  impossibility 
  or 
  at 
  least 
  great 
  improbability 
  

   of 
  its 
  dissemination 
  by 
  natural 
  means, 
  the 
  dis- 
  

   tribution 
  by 
  man 
  himself, 
  according 
  to 
  his 
  

   wants, 
  assumes 
  the 
  rank 
  of 
  an 
  hypothesis 
  fully 
  

   adequate 
  to 
  the 
  explanation 
  of 
  all 
  the 
  facts 
  con- 
  

   cerning 
  the 
  life-history 
  of 
  the 
  tree. 
  

  

  We 
  now 
  have 
  to 
  inquire 
  into 
  the 
  main 
  ques- 
  

  

  