148 
The Balance of Nature. 
[April, 
It is not, however, our present purpose to enter upon an 
exhaustive appreciation of Waterton as a naturalist, or to 
decide upon his ultimate position in the history of science. 
We have to consider his views upon a subject which has 
embarrassed naturalists and teleologists almost as much as 
the “ balance of power ” has perplexed politicians. Is there 
a balance of Nature ? If so, in what does it consist, what 
does it signify, and in how far can it be modified to our 
advantage ? These are the questions we have to consider, 
and it will be at once conceded that they not merely concern 
the zoologist or the botanist in his study, but come home 
more or less to us all in the concerns of daily life. 
If we examine some island, as yet untrodden or rarely 
visited by man, and take a broad view of its fauna and flora, 
we must admit that a certain balance exists. The species 
there found, by the very fadt of their co-existence, are proved 
to be mutually compatible. The carnivorous mammal, bird, 
or insedt does of course devour a number of its feebler 
fellow-denizens of the island : the phytophagous mammal, 
bird, or insedt, in like manner, preys upon the plants. But 
the greater fecundity of the species preyed upon, or some 
other attribute, preserves them from extirpation, and even 
prevents any appreciable decrease in their numbers. The 
equilibrium may not, indeed, be absolutely perfect. Could 
we visit such a region at successive periods of a century 
each, and take an exadt census of its population, animal or 
vegetable, we might find this or the other species growing 
gradually rarer, and finally becoming altogether extindt, 
whilst other species, on the contrary, were slowly but surely 
increasing. Such changes may arise not merely from the 
ravages of the destroyer slowly gaining ground upon the 
fecundity of some one kind of his prey, but still more deci- 
dedly from changes of climate. However, within moderate 
periods of time, the equilibrium in any country may be 
regarded as complete until the intervention of man. 
Recognising, then, a certain phenomenon which may be 
called the balance of Nature, we have to consider its origin 
and meaning. On this subjedt there exist various theories 
pointing the way to diversities in practice. 
The view formerly most general may be considered a 
corollary to the Miltonic interpretation of the Mosaic cos- 
mogony.* It regards the fauna and flora of every region, 
as especially seledted by Providence, as perfectly adapted 
* It is significant that Prof. Huxley should be accused of insulting the 
understanding of the American people by having referred to this poetical inter- 
pretation as still accepted in certain quarters. 
