86 THE FITNESS OF THE ENVIRONMENT 



unexplained and inexplicable by our present 

 laws of natural science. He, too, endeavored 

 to employ such facts as theological arguments 

 but, in spite of many sound contentions, with 

 less success in a more skeptical age. 1 



The most obvious effect of the high specific 

 heat of water is the tendency of the ocean and 

 of all/lakes and streams to maintain a nearly 

 constant temperature. This phenomenon is 

 of course not due to the high specific heat 

 of water alone, being also dependent upon 

 evaporation, freezing, and a variety of cir- 

 cumstances which automatically mix and stir 

 water. But in the long run the effect of 

 high specific heat is of primary importance. 

 It will be convenient to postpone considera- 

 tion of the regulation and importance of the 

 constant temperature of the ocean until the 

 other properties of water which contribute 

 thereto have been discussed. 



A second effect of the high specific heat of 



1 "Assume that the variations preserved by natural selec- 

 tion are all accidental, a point on which naturalists greatly 

 differ, still what is the result ? An adaptation to the environ- 

 ment. According to the theory, then, the conditions of the 

 environment are a determining cause ; and unless we believe 

 that all nature was the result of a fortuitous concourse of atoms, 

 we can find in these conditions abundant opportunities where 

 intelligent causation can act." — Josiah Parsons Cooke, 

 "The Credentials of Science." New York, 1888, p. 251. 



