98 GLAUCUS; OR, 
Christian for the thought. He has said—and must 
be allowed to say again, for he sees no reason to alter 
his words—in speaking of the wonderful variety of 
forms in the Euphorbiacez, from the weedy English 
Euphorbias, the Dog’s Mercuries, and the Box, to 
the prickly-stemmed Scarlet Euphorbia of Mada- 
gascar, the succulent Cactus-like Euphorbias of the 
Canaries and elsewhere ; the Gale-like Phyllanthus ; 
the many-formed Crotons; the Hemp-like Maniocs, 
Physic-nuts, Castor-oils, the scarlet Poinsettia, the 
little pink and yellow Dalechampia, the poisonous 
Manchineel, and the gigantic Hura, or sandbox tree, 
. of the West Indies,—all so different in shape and 
size, yet all alike in their most peculiar and com- 
plex fructification, and in their acrid milky juice,— 
“What if all these forms are the descendants of 
one original form? Would that be one whit the 
more wonderful than the theory that they were, 
each and all, with the minute, and often imaginary, 
shades of difference between certain cognate species 
among them, created separately and at once? But 
if it be so—which I cannot allow—what would the 
