THE POLICY OF AGGRANDIZEMENT. 



541 



the " Descent of Man," and consider the whole 

 theory from the point of view here laid down. 

 The explanation of almost all the ornaments and 

 colors of birds and insects as having been pro- 

 duced by the perceptions and choice of the fe- 

 males has, I believe, staggered many evolution- 

 ists, but has been provisionally accepted because 

 it was the only theory that even attempted to ex- 

 plain the facts. It may perhaps be a relief to 

 some of them, as it has been to myself, to find 

 that the phenomena can be shown to depend on 

 the general laws of development, and on the ac- 

 tion of " natural selection," which theory will, I 

 venture to think, be relieved from an abnormal 

 excrescence, and gain additional vitality by the 

 adoption of my view of the subject. 



Although we have arrived at the conclusion 

 that tropical light and heat can in no sense be 

 considered the cause of color, there remains to 

 be explained the undoubted fact that all the more 

 intense and gorgeous tints are manifested by the 

 animal life of the tropics, while in some groups, 

 such as butterflies and birds, there is a marked 

 preponderance of highly-colored species. This 

 is probably due to a variety of causes, some of 

 which we can indicate, while others remain to be 

 discovered. The luxuriant vegetation of the trop- 

 ics throughout the entire year affords so much 

 concealment, that color may there be safely de- 

 veloped to a much greater extent than in climates 

 where the trees are bare in winter, during which 

 season the struggle for existence is most severe, 

 and even the slightest disadvantage may prove 

 fatal. Equally important, probably, has been the 

 permanence of favorable conditions in the tropics, 



allowing certain groups to continue dominant for 

 long periods, and thus to carry out in one un- 

 broken line whatever developments of plumage 

 or color may once have acquired an ascendency. 

 Changes of climatal conditions, and preeminently 

 the Glacial epoch, probably led to the extinction 

 of a host of highly-developed and finely-colored 

 insects and birds in temperate zones, just as we 

 know that it led to the extinction of the larger 

 and more powerful mammalia which formerly 

 characterized the temperate zone in both hemi- 

 spheres. This view is supported by the fact that 

 it is among those groups only which are now ex- 

 clusively tropical that all the more extraordinary 

 developments of ornament and color are found. 

 The local causes of color will also have acted 

 best in regions where the climatal conditions re- 

 mained constant, and where migration was un- 

 necessary ; while whatever direct effect may be 

 produced by light or heat will necessarily have 

 acted more powerfully within the tropics. And, 

 lastly, all these causes have been in action over an 

 actually greater area in tropical than in temper- 

 ate zones, while estimated potentially, in propor- 

 tion to its life-sustaining power, the lands which 

 enjoy a practically tropical climate (extending as 

 they do considerably beyond the geographical 

 tropics) are very much larger than the temper- 

 ate regions of the earth. Combining the effects 

 of all these various causes we are quite able 

 to understand the superiority of the tropical 

 parts of the globe, not only in the abundance 

 and variety of their forms of life, but also as re- 

 gards the ornamental appendages and vivid col- 

 oration which these forms present. — MacmiUan's 

 Magazine. 



THE POLICY OF AGGKAKDIZEMENT. 



By Professor GOLD"WTN SMITH. 



WHATEVER may be the result of the pres- 

 ent campaign or of the present war, the 

 Ottoman Empire is doomed. It was already 

 doomed when England took up arms in its de- 

 fense, and, in the supposed interest of her East- 

 ern possessions, became its quasi-protectress, the 

 sponsor for the engagements to its Christian sub- 

 jects, which it has shamelessly violated, and the 

 virtual surety for its now repudiated loans. The 

 internal causes of its decay are more certain and 

 deadly in their operation than the attacks of ene- 



mies from without, which, in fact, evoke and re- 

 vive the only element of strength left in its com- 

 position — the native valor of the Ottoman. It is 

 one of those military empires which have never 

 become industrial, and which, the rush of con- 

 quest being over, and the conquerors having set- 

 tled down as the dominant race, subsisting on 

 the labor of the conquered, have been hurried by 

 corruption and sensuality to the grave. It has 

 never shown the slightest sign of civilization — 

 political, intellectual, or commercial. If there 



