THE ENVIRONMENT 67 



compare the properties of water and carbonic 

 acid and of the carbon compounds with those of 

 other substances. It will be necessary to find 

 out whether these substances are not only fit 

 but fittest, — and this no doubt is a task of a 

 very different sort. It may even seem at first 

 sight an impossible one, but I hope to show 

 that this is not the case, and that in spite 

 of the incompleteness of our physical and 

 chemical knowledge, it may be pressed to a 

 satisfactory issue. A few remarks may now 

 indicate the general line of thought we shall 

 pursue, and then the actual study must pro- 

 vide the proof. 



VIII 



THE METHOD OF SOLUTION 



The very constant temperature of the ocean 

 is a most important factor in the economy of 

 nature. It constitutes, for example, a vital 

 regulation of the environment of a large pro- 

 portion of all the living organisms of the world, 

 and it has many other important "functions." 

 This constancy of temperature is in large part 

 due to the magnitude of the specific heat of 

 water. Other things being equal, the greater 

 the specific heat of water, the more constant 

 must be the temperature of the ocean. If, 



