ar of nature,--seeing contented face
of nature,--may be well at first doubted; we see it on borders of
perpetual cold{54}. But considering the enormous geometrical power of
increase in every organism and as <?> every country, in ordinary cases
<countries> must be stocked to full extent, reflection will show that
this is the case. Malthus on man,--in animals no moral [check] restraint
<?>--they breed in time of year when provision most abundant, or season
most favourable, every country has its seasons,--calculate
robins,--oscillating from years of destruction{55}. If proof were wanted
let any singular change of climate <occur> here <?>, how astoundingly
some tribes <?> increase, also introduced animals{56}, the pressure is
always ready,--capacity of alpine plants to endure other
climates,--think of endless seeds scattered abroad,--forests regaining
their percentage{57},--a thousand wedges{58} are being forced into the
oeconomy of nature. This requires much reflection; study Malthus and
calculate rates of increase and remember the resistance,--only
periodical.

{54} See _Origin_, Ed. i. pp. 62, 63, vi. p. 77, where similar
reference is made to De Candolle; for Malthus see _Origin_, p. 5.

{55} This may possibly refer to the amount of destruction going on.
See _Origin_, Ed. i. p. 68, vi. p. 84, where there is an estimate
of a later date as to death-rate of birds in winter. "Calculate
robins" probably refers to a calculation of the rate of increase of
birds under favourable conditions.

{56} In the _Origin_, Ed. i. pp. 64, 65, vi. p. 80, he instances
cattle and horses and certain plants in S. America and American
species of plants in India, and further on, as unexpected effects
of changed conditions, the enclosure of a heath, and the relation
between the fertilisation of clover and the presence of cats
(_Origin_, Ed. i. p. 74, vi. p. 91).

{57} _Origin_, Ed. i. p. 74, vi. p. 91. "It has been observed that
the trees now growing on ... ancient Indian mounds ... display the
same beautiful diversity and proportion of kinds as in the
surrounding virgin forests."

{58} The simile of the wedge occurs in the _Origin_, Ed. i. p. 67;
it is deleted in Darwin's copy of the first edition: it does not
occur in Ed. vi.

The unavoidable effect of this <is> that many of every species are
destroyed either in egg or [young or mature (the