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when it is done with vitality, for that preparation for momentous
organic events which is in progress throughout the entire course
of development; and to the economy involved in the welding of
physiological processes for the phenomenon of physiological
memory, wherein we see reflected, as it were, in the development
of the organism, the association of inorganic restraints
occurring in nature which at some previous period impressed
itself upon the plastic organism. We may picture the seedling at
Upsala, swayed by organic memory and the inherited tendency to an
economical preparation for future events, gradually developing
towards the æsthetic climax of its career. In some such manner
only does it appear possible to account for the prophetic
development of organisms, not alone to be observed in the alpine
flowers, but throughout nature.
And thus, finally, to the effects of natural selection and to
actions defined by general principles involved in biology, I
would refer for explanation of the manner in which flowers on the
Alps develop their peculiar beauty.
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MOUNTAIN GENESIS
OUR ancestors regarded mountainous regions with feelings of
horror, mingled with commiseration for those whom an unkindly
destiny had condemned to dwell therein. We, on the other hand,
find in the contemplation of the great alps of the Earth such
peaceful and elevated thoughts, and such rest to our souls, that
it is to those very solitudes we turn to heal the wounds of ife.
It is difficult to explain the cause of this very different point
of view. It is probably, in part, to be referred to that cloud of
superstitious horror which, throughout the Middle Ages, peopled
the solitudes with unknown terrors; and, in part, to the
asceticism which led the pious to regard the beauty and joy of
life as snares to the soul's well-being. In those eternal
solitudes where the overwhelming forces of Nature are most in
evidence, an evil principle must dwell or a dragon's dreadful
brood must find a home.
But while in our time the aesthetic aspect of the hills appeals
to all, there remains in the physical history of the mountains
much that is lost to those who have not shared in the scientific
studies of alpine structure and genesis. They lose a past history
which for interest com-
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petes with anything science has to tell of the changes of the
Earth.
Great as are the physical features of the mountains compared with
the works of Man, and great as are the forces involved compared
with those we can originate or control, the loftiest ranges are
small contrasted with the dimensions of the Earth. It is well to
bear this in mind. I give here (Pl. XV.) a measured drawing
showing a sector cut from a sphere of 50 cms. radius; so much of
it as to exhibit the convergence of its radial boundaries which
if prolonged will meet at the centre. On the same scale as the
radius the diagram shows the highest mountains and the deepest
ocean. The average height of the land and the average depth of
the ocean are also exhibited. We see how small a movement of the
crust the loftiest elevation of the Himalaya represents and what
a little depression holds the ocean.