Rev. P. Keith on the Conditions of Life. ISl 



higher, adhering to the surface of the porphyritic rock, and 

 insinuating itself even under the perpetual snow*. 



Similar observations are the result of our inquiries into the 

 animal kingdom. The bear is a native of the polar regions. 

 The elephant, lion, and tiger are indigenous only to countries 

 near the equator. A forcible and sudden change of climate 

 would be fatal, we may believe, to either. For although bears, 

 lions, and elephants are found to live in countries of which 

 they are not natives, it is only under the protection and fos- 

 tering care of man. Man lives in almost all climates, but not 

 with equal comfort. He can accommodate himself to cold 

 climates by means of clothing; and to warm ones by going 

 without it. The Greenlander inhabits regions bordering on 

 80° of north latitude, where the mercury freezes in the ther- 

 mometer, that is, at 40° below zero; and yet the temperature 

 of the blood never falls much below 96° of Fahrenheit. The 

 negro lives under the hot and burning suns of the torrid zone, 

 and yet the temperature of the blood never rises much above 

 96°. Further, plants and animals seem to be endowed with 

 extraordinary capabilities in extraordinary circumstances. 

 On the banks of a thermal river in the island of Lu^on, the 

 largest of the Philippines, Sonnerat found the Aqmlutlms, or 

 African Broom, and the Vitex Jgnus-castus growing, and, as 

 we may suppose, thriving, though their roots were swept by 

 the water at a temperature of 174'°. In Italy Confervae are 

 are said to be found occasionally in the thermal springs, 

 though heated even to the boiling point. In the above island 

 of Lu^on, Sonnerat saw fishes frolicking in a hot spring of the 

 temperature of 158°. In the province of Quito in South Ame- 

 rica, Humboldt saw fishes thrown up from the bottom of a 

 volcano, together with water and heated vapour, that raised 

 the thermometer to 210°. This was quite high enough to 

 have killed and boiled European fishes; but the fishes in 

 question were still alive +. 



Wonderful as the above relation is, it is surpassed by the 

 following facts. In 1760 when Du Hamel and Tillet were 

 conducting some experiments that required the heat of an 

 oven, a girl was found who offered to go into it, to note the 

 height of the thermometer, and who performed her task with 

 the most pev{'iic\.?ionc/uda?ice ; the mercury standing, ultimately, 

 at 288°. The curiosity of philosophers being roused by the 

 aimouncement of this fact, Sir Charles Blagden, Sir Joseph 

 Banks, and some other men of science exposed themselves to 

 a heat, first of 220°, and afterwards of 260", without suffering 

 any particular inconvenience. Tiie pulse was quickened to 

 IW beats in u minute; water was boiled and beef-steaks were 



• London Encyclopaedia. Andes. t Liltiaiy of Useful Kiiowlodgp. 



S 2 (lrossu«l : 



