Another way in which an increase of the mass of the atmosphere would produce inconvenience would be in the force of winds. If the current of air in a strong gale were doubled or tripled, as might be the case if the atmosphere were augmented, the destructive effects would be more than doubled or tripled. With such a change, nothing could stand against a storm. In general, houses and trees resist the violence of the wind; and except in extreme cases, as for instance in occasional hurricanes in the West Indies, a few large trees in a forest are unusual trophies of the power of the tempest. The breezes which we commonly have are harmless messengers to bring about the salutary changes of the atmosphere, even the motion which they communicate to vegetables tends to promote their growth, and is so advantageous, that it has been proposed to imitate it by artificial breezes in the hothouse. But with a stream of wind blowing against them, like three, or five, or ten, gales compressed into the space of one, none of the existing trees could stand; and except they could either bend like rushes in a stream, or extend their roots far wider than their branches, they must be torn up in whole groves. We have thus a manifest adaptation of the present usual strength of the materials and of the workmanship of the world to the stress of wind and weather which they have to sustain. CHAPTER VI. _The Constancy and Variety of Climates._ It is possible to conceive arrangements of our system, according to which all parts of the earth might have the same, or nearly the same, climate. If, for example, we suppose the earth to be a flat disk, or flat ring, like the ring of Saturn, revolving in its own plane as that does, each part of both the flat surfaces would have the same exposure to the sun, and the same temperature, so far as the sun’s effect is concerned. There is no obvious reason why a planet of such a form might not be occupied by animals and vegetables, as well as our present earth; and on this supposition the climate would be every where the same, and the whole surface might be covered with life, without the necessity of there being any difference in the kind of inhabitants belonging to different parts.