THE ABUSE AND PROTECTION OF ALPINES 121 



foresight, and it is rather among man's primary 

 instincts to hve largely for the moment, sootliing 

 himself with a muddle-headed reading of " Sufficient 



for the day " All over the globe his haphazard 



destruction of the forests has involved him in 

 painful experiences, the end of which still lies with 

 the future. Nowhere, perhaps, is this more plainly 

 felt and seen than in some parts of Switzerland, 

 where the consequent erosion of the mountain sides 

 has brought about many a disastrous landslip, to 

 say nothing of the deleterious effect upon the 

 cHmate and the fertility of the soil. Possibly, the 

 extermination of mountain flowers is a less serious 

 matter — that is to say, from a material or practical 

 and utilitarian point of view. Possibly, it may be 

 a matter more of sentiment than of anything else. 

 It is well, however, to preface this opinion with the 

 word ' possibly ': for who, with the past as precedent, 

 shall dare to say that the philosophy of even the 

 wisest can so encompass this question as to foresee 

 and weig.i every remote and obscure contingency, 

 and predict to the full the intricate effect which 

 would accrue ? The loss to Science, to mention 

 only one consequence, would be immense. Plants, 

 assuredly, in telling us about themselves, have much 

 yet to tell us about ourselves and our planet, and 



16 



