PLAXXIXG A NEW PLANT 187 



tions which have shaped their course and struc- 

 ture. The ever-varying influences of environ- 

 ment which have surrounded plants, animals, 

 worlds or atoms have molded their characters 

 and tendencies into their present condition. This 

 we may call heredity or stored environment. 



The more permanent aggregations with which 

 we are familiar, like rocks, metals, air, water, 

 and hundreds of others, seem very uniform 

 and fixed in their characters, while, if chemically 

 combined into the forms of animals or trees, 

 they are quite able to vary before our eyes 

 in aspect, habits, and characters in order to 

 adapt themselves to the varying conditions of 

 life; if plants and animals were not more pliable 

 and alive than rocks and metals, they could 

 not exist. 



Even the apparent qualities of most chemical 

 combinations which seem arbitrarily and perma- 

 nently fixed may, when combined and placed 

 under certain environments, develop unsuspected 

 characters and tendencies. 



Everybody knows, for instance, that the char- 

 acters of iron are more fixed than those of plants 

 and animals. The characters and habits of iron, 

 lime, soda, and hundreds of other chemical sub- 

 stances and compounds can be fully depended 

 upon ; they will always act according to their in- 



