66 TERRESTRIAL ADAPTATIONS. 



rious species of firs : the scotch and spruce fir, 

 and the larch. In the Orkney Islands no tree is 

 found but the hazel, which occurs again on the 

 northern shores of the Baltic. As we proceed 

 into colder regions we still find species which 

 appear to have been made for these situations. 

 The hoary or cold alder makes its appearance 

 north of Stockholm : the sycamore and moun- 

 tain ash accompany us to the head of the gulf of 

 Bothnia: and as we leave this and traverse 

 the Dophrian range, we pass in succession the 

 boundary lines of the spruce fir, the scotch fir, 

 and those minute shrubs which botanists dis- 

 tinguish as the dwarf birch and dwarf willow. 

 Here, near to or within the arctic circle, we yet 

 find wild flowers of great beauty : the mezereum, 

 the yellow and white water lily, and the European 

 globe flower. And when these fail us, the rein- 

 deer moss still makes the country habitable for 

 animals and man. 



We have thus a variety in the laws of vegetable 

 organization remarkably adapted to the variety 

 of climates ; and by this adaptation the globe is 

 clothed with vegetation and peopled with animals 

 from pole to pole, while without such an adapta- 

 tion vegetable and animal life must have been 

 confined almost, or entirely, to some narrow zone 

 on the earth's surface. We conceive that we see 

 here the evidence of a wise and benevolent inten- 

 tion, overcoming the varying difficulties, or em- 



