230 



INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE ON PLANTS AND ANIMALS. 



The only point which can be cited, anil which is at all analogous to what appears a transforma- 

 tion is the reversion of tloraesticated animals to their original appearance or condition ; as when 

 the dog or hog is left to roam, and becomes wild in the forests, they revert back to their origi- 

 nal condition ; their original instincts returning as they become wild. Now if it can be shown 

 that chess is the original of wheat, it might happen that where wheat springs up spontaneously 

 and sows itself, it might in time become chess. But this hypothesis is unsupported by a single 

 fact in the history of the two genera. The errors wlilrh have been entertained in regard to the 

 transformation of wheat into chess, have arisen solely from defective observation. Chess is 

 observed in a wheat-field, and becomes the more prominent and abundant when the wheat has 

 been winter killed. Now it would be just as philosophical to maintain that the common wild 

 cherry which springs up in our northern forests, where a wind fall has occurred and swept 

 down the pines, that the pines were changed into cherry trees : these cherry trees cover the 

 entire ground, and previous to the wind fall not a cherry tree was to be found. The seeds of 

 the cherry, however, lay in the ground, and when light and air was admitted by the destruction of 

 the old forest, they spring up and cover the ground. The occurrence is not strange, except in the 

 great abundance of trees produced, and the occurrence of chess would not be regarded strange, 

 if but few plants made their appearance ; but when they become numerous, the question comes 

 up, where did all the seeds come from 1 The case is one which is common ; it becomes prominent 

 only from the relation which the plants, wheat and chess, bear to each other : looking like a 

 grain, in the midst of a grain field, being a hardy plant too, and springing up where it is not 

 wanted, it has excited attention and imperfect observation, and in the end proving so worthless 

 with its associate, it becomes prominent from its wortblessness. When we have ascertained 

 the fact that seeds possess the power of retaining what is called vitality, for a long period ; 

 that they may sleep in the ground for years, and then subsequently awaken into life, by heat 

 and air, or favorable conditions ; that all this is true, and eminently so of some seeds, the fact 

 of the appearance of chess in an old field, or in a field prepared for wheat, ceases to be a mys- 

 tery. It is only a fulfilment of a law of vegetation ; it occurs in obedience to the characteristics 

 which have been stamped upon organized beings by the Creator, in order that the earth shall 

 be clothed with verdure and not lie a barren waste. 



It has been maintained that species have a tendency to rise in the scale of existence ; that they 

 may change their own proper natures and become something else. Such a view is analogous to 

 that which prevails among farmers about chess, and has originated from defective observation, has 

 its source and beginning from misunderstanding the relations of organized beings to each other. 

 It arises directly from the fact, which has already been stated, viz. the closer resemblance which 

 one species has to another than others of the same tribe. The pear has a closer resemblance to 

 the apple than it has to the quince. The domestic dog has a closer resemblance to the wolf than 

 the fox ; and hence it has happened that the idea of an advance or change has taken a deep 

 hold on the minds of some men ; but there has been no change at all ; not only are the species 

 kept apart, but groups of organized beings also. Species, in their individual capacity, do not 

 advance towards a higher, neither do they retrograde to a lower species. Plants do not deterio- 

 rate, neither do animals ; but they retain all their specific characters. 



