256 MAN AND NATURE. 



the physical conditions of the earth upon which his lot 

 has been cast ? But while thus giving our own defini- 

 tion of the subject, it is fair to let Mr. Marsh himself 

 speak of the design he has had in view : 



The object of the present volume is : to indicate the 

 character and, approximately, the extent of the changes pro- 

 duced by human action in the physical conditions of the 

 globe we inhabit ; to point out the dangers of imprudence 

 and the necessity of caution in all operations which, on a 

 large scale, interfere with the spontaneous arrangements of 

 the organic or the inorganic world ; to suggest the possibility 

 and the importance of the restoration of disturbed harmonies 

 and the material improvement of waste and exhausted 

 regions ; and incidentally to illustrate the doctrine that 

 man is, both in kind and degree, a power of a higher order 

 than any other of the forms of animated life, which, like 

 him, are nourished at the table of bounteous nature. 



The scheme thus indicated will be seen to em- 

 brace within itself a vast variety of particular objects, 

 and many questions not yet settled by experience. It 

 is connected in every part with the physical sciences, 

 as well as with the intellectual and social conditions of 

 man, and has for its business to expound the recipro- 

 cities of action between the two. Some of the ques- 

 tions it involves arc those which press closely upon our 

 very existence ; while others concern those higher 

 grades of civilisation which have so marvellously 

 subjected the forces of nature to the higher energies of 

 man. 



The design, then, of Mr. Marsh's work, though it 

 might have been more happily expressed, is one of 

 practical interest and value. We would willingly 



