122 Dv Emmons on the Influence of 



considered in its relations to plants and animals, may be re- 

 garded, as I have already had occasion to remark, as a modi- 

 fier of the existing species and varieties ; but its modifica- 

 tions are restricted and confined : it sometimes favours the 

 more perfect developments of varieties or species, and some- 

 times it operates in other locations where the climate is mo- 

 dified to restrain development and perfection. Climate never 

 intermeddles with specific characters ; it may for a time 

 obscure those characters in a monstrous growth, when aided 

 by a rich soil, or by over-feeding. A problem of great im- 

 portance may be solved by observing what products are spe- 

 cially favoured by certain climates, and what climates are 

 unfavourable to the production of the same. Where we have 

 climate in our favour, and have not to contend with it, the 

 expense of production is materially diminished ; the certainty 

 of the product is also increased, and its perfection secured, 

 by which its value is also increased. As an element of 

 climate, the temperature of the soil at different depths is one 

 of great importance. The different soils may be said to 

 enjoy different climates ; those which are sandy possess a 

 climate unlike that of a clay soil, a due admixture of sand 

 and clav combine elements which belong to a climate inter- 

 mediate between the two. 



In pursuing our investigation in regard to species and 

 varieties, it is highly important that we should be impressed 

 with the fact that specific characters are permanent, and it 

 will appear, on reflection, that this is a beautiful and wise 

 arrangement. There is a fitness in the provision of indivi- 

 dualizing species, as it were, both by corporeal marks and 

 by intellectual and instinctive power. The intention or pur- 

 pose which is fulfilled by this arrangement I do not intend to 

 speak of now ; it is the fact which I wish to bring before the 

 reader. Many persons, however, when they speak of grada- 

 tions of character, and of the intimate relations of things, 

 and the links which bind all together, seem to labour under 

 a fallacy. Where are those gradations seen, and what is 

 the idea which is thus prominently set forth ? What are the 

 gradations of being ? Is it probable that in the gradations 

 which are insisted upon there is anything like a coalescence 



