THE ENVIRONMENT 63 



more of great importance, and at present is 

 perhaps essential to clear thinking. Such a 

 procedure manifestly influences not at all the 

 validity of any conclusions which may be 

 reached ; only it must not be forgotten that 

 the conclusions apply directly to our limited 

 field of inquiry alone. 



VII 



THE ULTIMATE PROBLEM 



Such is the outcome of a preliminary 

 glance at the many departments of science 

 which are necessarily involved in the ques- 

 tion of fitness of the environment. Living 

 things permit themselves to be simplified into 

 mechanisms which are complex, regulated, 

 and provided with a metabolism ; the environ- 

 ment, by a series of eliminations, is reduced 

 to water and carbonic acid. These are sim- 

 plifications counseled solely by expediency. 

 Neither logical process is necessary ; each in- 

 volves a disregard for many circumstances 

 which might be of weight in the present in- 

 quiry. But in the end there stands out a 

 perfectly simple problem which is undoubt- 

 edly soluble. That problem may be stated 

 as follows : In what degree are the physical, 

 chemical, and general meteorological char- 



