Legislation and Nature

Abstract

THE effect of Legislation upon Nature is one of those far-reaching subjects which men are only just beginning to investigate in a practical spirit. It is, of course, only a minor branch of the larger question of man's influence upon all external life and forms, but it has its special attractions, nevertheless, and may be pursued to advantage as an independent study. Incidentally, it illustrates many other problems. The diminutiveness of the Hindu cow, for example, may be due as much to the legislation which has made the domesticated animal sacred as to the nature of the climate of Hindustan. It is quite possible the oxen of this country would not have exhibited such a variety of forms and sizes had we selected one species and made it sacred some two or three thousand years ago. Take, again, the subject of maritime canals, which is now in its infancy. The Suez Canal has not existed long enough to have had any appreciable effect, either in modifying the coast-lines of the Mediterranean, or in creating any interchange of marine species; but it is likely enough to be one of a series, and we cannot prediet what may be their effects. The diversion of the Nile may prove a serious matter, and now the Darien scheme has revived, a great impetus has been given to speculation, so that an ingenious projector has actually sketched a canal which should unite the Bristol Channel with the English Channel. Two more illustrations may suffice to make my meaning clear. There seems little apparent connection between woods and national greatness, but, nevertheless, the relation is a real one. When Spain lost the empire of the seas, she lost it from two causes—impoverished finances, due to a speculative trade in precious metals, and want of woods to build her ships. Her people had a foolish prejudice against trees, and an arid climate and reduced shipbuilding were the results. From Danzig to Pillau once stretched a thick pine forest. When King Frederic William I. was in want of money, one Herr Von Korff recommended its destruction. The experiment was a financial success, but the State was injured by it. As Willibald Alexis states, “the sea-winds rushed over the bared hills; the Frische Haff is half choked with sand; the channel between Eibing, the sea, and Königsberg is endangered; and the fisheries in the Haff injured. The operation of Herr Von Korff brought the King 200,000 thalers. The State would now willingly expend millions to restore the forests again.”