52 THE FITNESS OF THE ENVIRONMENT 



III 



GEOPHYSICS 



Let us, accordingly, now examine such 

 phenomena as are likely to occur upon the 

 surfaces of bodies which in the course of 

 cosmic evolution have acquired a solid crust. 

 In faithfully carrying out such a plan, the 

 sciences of geology and meteorology must be 

 brought under contribution, and climatic 

 conditions must receive especial attention. 

 Not, to be sure, that our globe in every respect 

 can fairly be taken as meteorologically typical 

 of all incrusted bodies. On the contrary, there 

 are a large number of phenomena which are 

 unquestionably of highest significance in fa- 

 voring the existence of life on this particular 

 planet which appear to be accidental and prob- 

 ably somewhat uncommon. 1 Such are the 



1 These also have been favorite subjects in the works on 

 natural theology. The Bridgewater Treatises of Whewell 

 and of Prout are replete with illustrations, those of Whewell 

 often moderately expounded, while Prout's are, as a rule, most 

 curious and antiquated. 



"Lastly, who will venture to assert that the distribution 

 of sea and of land, as they now exist, though apparently so 

 disproportionate, is not actually necessary as the world is 

 at present constituted ? What would be the result, for 

 instance, if the Pacific or the Atlantic oceans were to be con- 

 verted into continents ? Would not the climates of the exist- 



