The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-01-11
SCIENCE AsPKRsED.


with the Smithsonian Institute, recently
contributed long article to the Washing
ton City Star, in which he compared this
with the Eastern hemisphere, invidiously
as to the former, IN respect TO capacity for
permanent support of the higher orders of
animal life, and especially for human
habitation- In doing so he is profuse in
established and what scientists" have
discovered, concede or admit.
Taking the retrogression of certain states
and districts-the state of Nevada as to
population and the mining industry, and
certain portions of New England. New
York. Pennsylvania and Ohio as to azri-
cultural production-for his text, he dole
fully claims that one after another the
states Of this Union, for lack of wealth to
support their governments, and for lack
Of population emitting them to repre-
sentation IN either branch Of congress, will
have their statehood wiped out, and that
in the course of time, for ike reasons, the
whole American continent viii lapse into
8 wilderness, uninhahited and uninhabifa-
bic by man or any OF the superior animals.
Science, he says, has demonstrated that
the American continent is adapted solely
to the support of vegetable life as perma-
nency. and the eastern continent alone is
adapted TO permanent support of animal
Life In support of this absurd assumption
he cites the earlier condition Of the two
continents, so far as present knowledge
extends, and claims that the nearest west
ern counterpart Of the elephant Is the Ia
piri that this continent produced no equiv
alent for the horse and the OK of the other,
nor for the lion or the tiger, the anthro-
poid ape, the ourang Of the chimpanzee,
while the llama is pointed TO as the only
and feeble counterpart of the eastern
camel.
His conclusions from these premises are
about as sensible as it would be to con-
cludc that there can be no sunrise on the
western continent because it is first expe-
perienced in the eastern, or that all minor
mountain ranges must sink to the level of
the sea because there are others of greater
altitude. If he had somewhat extended
his held of scientific inquiry he would
have discovered that not always or gen.
orally does the environment which pro-
duces type conduce to its highest devel-
opment. Every advance in the scale of
being is due to changed environments.
Perfection of animal structure is not alone
gauged by size and strength. The llama
will not disappear because the camel can
mr. an 1ziS 60 tr,f he nd - ~
gion would the more powerful camel be
equal in value TO the feebier llama.
But the most conclusive answer to the
platitu6es of this pretender of scientific
knowledge is the patent fact that the man
of the east, and all Of the inferior animals
he has brought with him, have advanced
and improved as a result of their western
migration. Take what race OF men you
will, or any breed or description of the in
ferior animals, and with rare exceptions
this viii be found true, Gaul or Teuton,
Ceit, Scandinavian, MuscoEite or Ethiop,
those transplanted to the western conti-
nent average higher in the scale of being,
both intellectually and physically. than
those they have left behind them, and the
same holds good of the horse, the OK, and
all the lower grades of animals.
As to deterioration in the farming sec
tons OF New England and the other states
above named. incidents and peculiar cir
cumstances are treated as scientifically as
certained causes. If at the outset the
country west Of the Alleghenies had not
been wilderness peopled by savages; if it
had been as now, populous and cultivated,
there would have been little if any attempt
al agricultural production in New Eng
land. 1t was their hemmed in condition
and the absence of capital and manufac-
turing enterprises that compelled them.
With the opening up OF new and more
inviting farming sections. and the estab-
lishment of factories near the seaboard.
the New England and Eastern farmers
turned TO more profitable fields or Dur
suits. Bnt the race has not deteriorated-
far from it. Vermont and New Hampshire,
in which are the greatest number of de-
serted farms, have reared race of giants.
both In physique and in intellect, who
have swarmed forth in all directions,
splendidly equipped world-conquerors and
empire builders, whom the most favored
nations of the Eastern hemisphere NAV
with safety be challenged 10 excel or
equal.
Nevada has refrigerated somewhat, Tut
he is as sudacious as he is il-informed
who can claim that it has been scienti6-
oally demonstrated that her mineral wealth
is exhausted, or that, when this shall have
come 70 pass, that state cannot be made To
support teening population in comfort
and reasonable prosperity. This ghoulish
prophet Of evil has lost his balance be-
cause every part OF our country is not for
ali purposes equal 10 the best. And in a
MT of owlish pessimism he has lost sight of
the fact that the worst portions of this
country viii compare with the average of
any other.
SEATTIEsS nEATH RATE