TRANSMUTABLE. 203 



sheet of water, the temperature of which is less 

 liable to sudden changes than the atmospheric 

 air, is very apparent in the uniformity of coast 

 vegetation over extensive tracts, provided the soil 

 be of the same nature. 



u But," continues M. Agassiz, u however powerful 

 may be the degree of heat; be the air ever so 

 dry or ever so moist; the light ever so moder- 

 ate or ever so bright, alternating ever so sud- 

 denly with darkness, or passing gradually from 

 one condition to another ; these agents have never 

 been known to produce anything new, or to call 

 into existence anything that did not exist before. 

 Whether acting isolated or jointly, they have never 

 been known even to modify to any great extent 

 the living beings already existing, unless under 

 the guidance and influence of man, as we ob- 

 serve amonsc domesticated animals and cultivated 



o 



plants. This latter fact shews, indeed, that the 

 influence of the mind over material phenomena, 

 is far greater than that of physical forces, and 

 thus refers our thoughts again and again to a 

 Supreme Intelligence, for a cause of all these 

 phenomena, rather than to the so-called physical 

 causes." (Op. Cit., page 386.) 



Now these are the sentiments of a man, who, 

 as a naturalist, stands second to no one in ex- 

 istence; and I have the greatest possible pleasure 

 in closing this part of the subject with one 

 more extract from the same pen; the thought 

 and language, being the result of a life spent 

 in the study of nature, speak far more power- 



