OF ORGANIC NATURE. 21 



Labrador down to Cap3 Horn. This is an empirical 

 fact, and it is what is called, stated in the way I have 

 given it you, the ' Geographical Distribution ' of the 

 Horse. 



Why horses should be found in Europe, Asia, and 

 Africa, and not in America, is not obvious ; the expla- 

 nation that the conditions of life in America are un- 

 favourable to their existence, and that, therefore, they 

 had not been created there, evidently does not apply ; 

 for when the invading Spaniards, or our own yeomen 

 farmers, conveyed horses to these countries for their 

 own use, they vpere found to thrive well and multiply 

 very rapidly ; and many are even now running wild in 

 those countries, and in a perfectly natural condition. 

 Now, suppose we were to do for every animal what we 

 have here done for the Horse, — that is, to mark off and 

 distinguish the particular district or region to which 

 each belonged ; and supposing we tabulated all these 

 results, that would be called the Geographical Distri- 

 bution of animals, while a corresponding study of 

 plants would yield as a result the Geographical Distri- 

 bution of plants. 



I pass on from that now, as I merely wished to 

 explain to you wbat I meant by the use of the term 

 ' Geographical Distribution.' As I said, there is an- 

 other aspect, and a much more important one, and 

 that is, the relations of the various animals to one 

 another. The Horse is a very well-defined matter-of- 

 fact sort of animal, and we are all pretty familiar with 

 its structure. I dare say it may have struck you, 

 that it resembles very much no other member of the 

 animal kingdom, except perhaps the Zebra or the Ass. 



