Environment 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



212- 



the changes effected in an animal newly 

 born without those changes tending even in 

 the most remote degree towards the estab- 

 lishment of a new form of life. In order to 

 that establishment there must be another 

 correlation, and a correlation of a higher 

 kind. There must be a correlation between 

 those changes and all the outward conditions 

 amidst which the new form is to be placed 

 and live. If this correlation fails the new 

 form will die. Yet, so far as we can see, 

 this kind of correlation is without any phys- 

 ical cause. It is not necessarily involved, as 

 the other kind of correlation is, in the very 

 idea of growth. On the contrary, it is not 

 only entirely separable in thought, but, as 

 we see in monstrosities, it is sometimes sepa- 

 rated in fact. We have no conception of 

 any force emanating from external things 

 which shall mold the structure of an organ- 

 ism in harmony with themselves. Mr. Dar- 

 win freely confesses this, and says that 

 many considerations " incline him to lay 

 very little weight on the direct action of the 

 conditions of life " in producing variety of 

 form. We can conceive, dimly indeed, but 

 still we can conceive, how in the humming- 

 birds a special form of wing shall be corre- 

 lated with a special form of bill. But we 

 have no conception whatever how a special 

 form of bill should be correlated with a 

 special form of flower from which the bill 

 is to extract its food. Mr. Darwin has 

 shown how an improved bill, when once pro- 

 duced, will be preserved by finding external 

 conditions to which it is adapted. But he 

 has not shown, and he frankly confesses he 

 has no idea, how the adapted variation of 

 bill comes to be born at all. ARGYLL Reign 

 of Law, ch. 5, p. 149. (Burt.) 



1035. ENVIRONMENT CHANGED BY 

 EVOLUTION A Continually New Environ- 

 ment as One Climbs the Mountain. For 

 what is most of all essential to remember is 

 that not only is environment the prime fac- 

 tor in development, but that the environ- 

 ment itself rises with every evolution of any 

 form of life. To regard the environment as 

 a fixed quantity and a fixed quality is, next 

 to ignoring the altruistic factor, the car- 

 dinal error of evolutional philosophy. With 

 every step a climber rises up a mountain- 

 side his environment must change. DRUM- 

 MOND Ascent of Man, ch. 10, p. 325. ( J. P., 

 1900.) 



1036. ENVIRONMENT, CORRESPOND- 

 ENCE WITH Man May Change Environ- 

 ment Intelligent Volition May Secure More 

 of Life. The essential characteristic of a 

 living organism, according to these defini- 

 tions [of Herbert Spencer's " Principles of 

 Biology," vol. i, p. 74], is that it is in vital 

 connection with its general surroundings. A 

 human being, for instance, is in direct con- 

 tact with the earth and air, with all sur- 

 rounding things, with the warmth of the 

 sun, with the music of birds, with the count- 

 less influences and activities of Nature and 



of his fellow men. In biological language, 

 he is said thus to be " in correspondence 

 with his environment." . . . Now it 

 is in virtue of this correspondence that 

 he is entitled to be called alive. So 

 long as he is in correspondence with any 

 given point of his environment, he lives. To 

 keep up this correspondence is to keep up 

 life. If his environment changes he must 

 instantly adjust himself to the change. And 

 he continues living only as long as he suc- 

 ceeds in adjusting himself to the " simul- 

 taneous and successive changes in his en- 

 vironment " as these occur. What is meant 

 by a change in his environment may be un- 

 derstood from an example, which will at the 

 same time define more clearly the intimacy 

 of the relation between environment and or- 

 ganism. Let us take the case of a civil- 

 servant whose environment is a district in 

 India. It is a- region subject to occasional 

 and prolonged droughts resulting in period- 

 ical famines. When such a period of scar- 

 city arises, he proceeds immediately to ad- 

 just himself to this external change. Hav- 

 ing the power of locomotion, he may remove 

 himself to a more fertile district, or, pos- 

 sessing the means of purchase, he may add 

 to his old environment by importation the 

 " external relations " necessary to continued 

 life. But if from any cause he fails to ad- 

 just himself to the altered circumstances, 

 his body is thrown out of correspondence 

 with his environment, his " internal rela- 

 tions " are no longer adjusted to his " ex- 

 ternal relations," and his life must cease. 

 DRUMMOND Natural Law in the Spiritual 

 World, essay 4, p. 132. (H. Al.) 



1037. ENVIRONMENT, RELATIONS 

 OF ANIMAL TO The relation between 

 animals and their environment is now a 

 question of such great interest and impor- 

 tance that it is necessary in any description 

 of the fauna of a particular region to con- 

 sider its physical conditions and the influ- 

 ence that it may be supposed to have had in 

 producing the characteristics of the fauna. 

 HICKSON Fauna of the Deep Sea, ch. 2, p. 

 18. (A., 1894.) 



1038. ENVIRONMENT, SINFUL, CON- 

 TACT WITH Linked to Evil by a Single 

 Correspondence. As a general rule men are 

 linked to evil mainly by a single corre- 

 spondence. Few men break the whole law. 

 Our natures, fortunately, are not large 

 enough to make us guilty of all, and the re- 

 straints of circumstances are usually such 

 as to leave a loophole in the life of each in- 

 dividual for only a single habitual sin. But 

 it is very easy to see how this reduction of 

 our intercourse with evil to a single corre- 

 spondence blinds us to our true position. 

 Our correspondences, as a whole, are not 

 with evil, and in our calculations as to our 

 spiritual condition we emphasize the many 

 negatives rather than the single positive. 

 One little weakness, we are apt to fancy, all 

 men must be allowed, and we even claim a 



