122 NATURE AND LIFE. 
the torrid zone, is dazzling in its splendor. At the north 
we find gray tints, dead and of little variety, usually close 
upon white, by reason of the almost constant reflection 
from snow. 
Not only the color of organized beings, but their shape, 
too, is linked with the action of light, or rather of climate. 
The flora of the globe gain increasing perfection as we go 
from the poles toward the equator. The nearer these beings 
approach the highest degree of heat and light, the more 
lavishly are richness, splendor, and beauty, bestowed on 
them. The energy and glory of life, perfect forms as well 
as brilliant arraying, are the distinguishing mark of the 
various and manifold races in tropical regions, giving this 
privileged world its characteristic aspect. Nature is here 
grandly imposing in the radiance of her virginity, unsul- 
lied and unsubdued by man’s presence and arts. A pure 
emanation from the sun, she here lives wild and splendid, 
gazing unshrinkingly, like the Alpine eagle, on the eternal 
and sublime source which inundate her with heat and 
glow. Look, now, at the region of the pole! <A few 
dwarfish shrubs, a few stunted and herbaceous plants, com- 
pose all its flora. Its animals have a pale covering and 
downy feathers ; its insects, sombre tints. All around them 
are the utmost limits of life—ice mvades every thing, the 
sea alone still breeds a few acalephs, some zoophytes, and 
other low rudimentary organizations. The sun comes 
aslant and seldom. At the equator he darts his fires, and 
gives himself without stint to the happy Eden of his predi- 
lection. 
IV. 
It remains to note the relations of light to that being 
most sensitive to its influence, and best able to express its 
effects, man himself. The new-born child seeks the day by 
instinct, and turns to the side whence light comes, and, if ~ 
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