Created: August 27, 2018
Revised: April 4, 2022
PageSearch
Search an item for pages containing the specified text.
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EXAMPLE REQUESTS (XML)
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/api3?op=PageSearch&itemid=22004&text=domestic+cat&format=xml&apikey=12345678-BBBB-DDDD-FFFF-123456789012
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/api3?op=PageSearch&idType=item&id=22004&text=domestic+cat&format=xml&apikey=12345678-BBBB-DDDD-FFFF-123456789012
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<OcrText>CORRESPONDENCE. 183
[We much regret that we are unable to complete Mr. Tuffen West's
valuable Notes in the present issue. The remainder, with the
"Selected Notes from Note-Books " having reference thereto, with
the explanation of Plates XVI., XVII., and XVIIL, will be
given in our next. — Editor?^
Corrceponbcnce.
\The Editor does ?iot hold himself responsible for the opitiions or
statements of his co-respondents^
Sir,—
In the Journal of Microscopy, etc., for April, Mr. Wheatcroft
draws special attention to the fact that in studying the plant-
remains found in Egyptians tombs, Dr. Schweinforth has not
been " able to detect any peculiarities in the living plants which
are absent in those obtained from the tombs." Mr. Wheatcroft
says these specimens were gathered at least four thousand years
ago, and he thinks it " would be difficult to produce better
evidence of permanency of type." Precisely this argument was
used with reference to the theory of permanency of type in
animals. We v/ere told that the domestic cat, whether in the
mummical state or in its pictured representations, was just the
same in that remote Egyptian age as it is at the present day.
But we know now that instead of finding permanency of type as
the prevailing law amongst animals, we find species and orders
fading into one another like dissolving views as we penetrate
further back into the abyss of time. The changes are very
gradual ; to lose a tooth would be far too sudden a transition.
One cusp disappears, and then another ; then the tooth appears
later, grows smaller, decays early, and finally disappears altogether.
The same gradual changes occur in the modifications of the whole
skeleton, but most noticeably in the limbs. The cat, so " exactly
like " our cat of the present day, changes by almost imperceptible
degrees into an animal which is neither cat nor weasel, but the
progenitor of both ; the dog into an animal which is neither bear
nor dog, but which has some characteristics of the two modern
species.
It is difficult to imagine how any paleontologist of the present
day could expect that an animal would be likely to change
perceptibly in such a brief second of geological time as four
thousand years. The whole of the Tertiary period can only be
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<OcrText>184 CORRESPONDENCE.
expressed as a fraction when compared with the vast ages which
must have elapsed wliilst the paleozoic and the mesozoic rocks
were laid down ; and the post-tertiary, when man (as we know
him) and the modern species of animals took their rise, is a mere
insignificant sediment compared even to the tertiary period.
How, then, shall we express the geological_insignificance of the
human historical period ?
Under domestication, it is true that the progress of evolution
is more rapid than under normal circumstances. Yet man, so far
as I am aware, has only succeeded in accelerating the evolution of
one new family, that of the domestic dog, which can be traced
through distinct lines of descent from the wolf and jackal. But
the domestic dog becomes a true dog long before the oldest
Egyptian mummy received its wrappings ; ^the cat, a far more
modern and highly specialized carnivore, has not had time to
change since it was first domesticated.
What has all this to do with plants ? may fairly be asked. I
do not pretend to any acquaintance with paleobotany, but I
cannot help thinking that the laws which govern one great branch
of living beings govern also the other, and that as animals vary by
slow degrees during the vast ages of geological time, so plants
must also change. We see cultivated plants alter just as rapidly
under the hand of man, as domesticated animals; we see the
forest tree of warm regions become the creeping shrub of Arctic
climes ; therefore, we know that vegetable forms vary with the
action of their environment as do animals. There is also the
same tendency to the late evolution of higher forms which we see
in animals, and a tendency in some of the lower forms to dwindle
away ; as witness the giant calamites of the coal forests^ as com-
pared with the pigmy horsetails of the present day. The Equiseta
are to the calamites much what the modern newt is as compared
with the ancient labyrinthodont. My contention is not as to any
point of paleobotany, of which I am certainly not qualified to
judge, but only as to the utter insufificiency of the^time which has
elapsed since Egypt was a civilised kingdom, to^ produce' new
species of either animals or plants.
Should anyone wish to see how almost imperceptibly, but how
surely, Nature works in altering " types," I would refer him to
some of the later lectures of Professor Cope, in his " Origin of
the Fittest." A more popular account is given by Oscar Schmidt
in "The Mammalia" International Scientific Series.
Yours faithfully,
Alice Bodington.
Vancouver.
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EXAMPLE REQUESTS (JSON)
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/api3?op=PageSearch&itemid=22004&text=domestic+cat&format=json&apikey=12345678-BBBB-DDDD-FFFF-123456789012
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/api3?op=PageSearch&idType=item&id=22004&text=domestic+cat&format=json&apikey=12345678-BBBB-DDDD-FFFF-123456789012
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"OcrText": "CORRESPONDENCE. 183 \r\r\n\r\r\n[We much regret that we are unable to complete Mr. Tuffen West's \r\r\n valuable Notes in the present issue. The remainder, with the \r\r\n \"Selected Notes from Note-Books \" having reference thereto, with \r\r\n the explanation of Plates XVI., XVII., and XVIIL, will be \r\r\n given in our next. — Editor?^ \r\r\n\r\r\nCorrceponbcnce. \r\r\n\r\r\n\\The Editor does ?iot hold himself responsible for the opitiions or \r\r\n statements of his co-respondents^ \r\r\n\r\r\nSir,— \r\r\n\r\r\nIn the Journal of Microscopy, etc., for April, Mr. Wheatcroft \r\r\n draws special attention to the fact that in studying the plant- \r\r\n remains found in Egyptians tombs, Dr. Schweinforth has not \r\r\n been \" able to detect any peculiarities in the living plants which \r\r\n are absent in those obtained from the tombs.\" Mr. Wheatcroft \r\r\n says these specimens were gathered at least four thousand years \r\r\n ago, and he thinks it \" would be difficult to produce better \r\r\n evidence of permanency of type.\" Precisely this argument was \r\r\n used with reference to the theory of permanency of type in \r\r\n animals. We v/ere told that the domestic cat, whether in the \r\r\n mummical state or in its pictured representations, was just the \r\r\n same in that remote Egyptian age as it is at the present day. \r\r\n But we know now that instead of finding permanency of type as \r\r\n the prevailing law amongst animals, we find species and orders \r\r\n fading into one another like dissolving views as we penetrate \r\r\n further back into the abyss of time. The changes are very \r\r\n gradual ; to lose a tooth would be far too sudden a transition. \r\r\n One cusp disappears, and then another ; then the tooth appears \r\r\n later, grows smaller, decays early, and finally disappears altogether. \r\r\n The same gradual changes occur in the modifications of the whole \r\r\n skeleton, but most noticeably in the limbs. The cat, so \" exactly \r\r\n like \" our cat of the present day, changes by almost imperceptible \r\r\n degrees into an animal which is neither cat nor weasel, but the \r\r\n progenitor of both ; the dog into an animal which is neither bear \r\r\n nor dog, but which has some characteristics of the two modern \r\r\n species. \r\r\n\r\r\nIt is difficult to imagine how any paleontologist of the present \r\r\n day could expect that an animal would be likely to change \r\r\n perceptibly in such a brief second of geological time as four \r\r\n thousand years. The whole of the Tertiary period can only be \r\r\n\r\r\n",
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"OcrText": "184 CORRESPONDENCE. \r\r\n\r\r\nexpressed as a fraction when compared with the vast ages which \r\r\n must have elapsed wliilst the paleozoic and the mesozoic rocks \r\r\n were laid down ; and the post-tertiary, when man (as we know \r\r\n him) and the modern species of animals took their rise, is a mere \r\r\n insignificant sediment compared even to the tertiary period. \r\r\n How, then, shall we express the geological_insignificance of the \r\r\n human historical period ? \r\r\n\r\r\nUnder domestication, it is true that the progress of evolution \r\r\n is more rapid than under normal circumstances. Yet man, so far \r\r\n as I am aware, has only succeeded in accelerating the evolution of \r\r\n one new family, that of the domestic dog, which can be traced \r\r\n through distinct lines of descent from the wolf and jackal. But \r\r\n the domestic dog becomes a true dog long before the oldest \r\r\n Egyptian mummy received its wrappings ; ^the cat, a far more \r\r\n modern and highly specialized carnivore, has not had time to \r\r\n change since it was first domesticated. \r\r\n\r\r\nWhat has all this to do with plants ? may fairly be asked. I \r\r\n do not pretend to any acquaintance with paleobotany, but I \r\r\n cannot help thinking that the laws which govern one great branch \r\r\n of living beings govern also the other, and that as animals vary by \r\r\n slow degrees during the vast ages of geological time, so plants \r\r\n must also change. We see cultivated plants alter just as rapidly \r\r\n under the hand of man, as domesticated animals; we see the \r\r\n forest tree of warm regions become the creeping shrub of Arctic \r\r\n climes ; therefore, we know that vegetable forms vary with the \r\r\n action of their environment as do animals. There is also the \r\r\n same tendency to the late evolution of higher forms which we see \r\r\n in animals, and a tendency in some of the lower forms to dwindle \r\r\n away ; as witness the giant calamites of the coal forests^ as com- \r\r\n pared with the pigmy horsetails of the present day. The Equiseta \r\r\n are to the calamites much what the modern newt is as compared \r\r\n with the ancient labyrinthodont. My contention is not as to any \r\r\n point of paleobotany, of which I am certainly not qualified to \r\r\n judge, but only as to the utter insufificiency of the^time which has \r\r\n elapsed since Egypt was a civilised kingdom, to^ produce' new \r\r\n species of either animals or plants. \r\r\n\r\r\nShould anyone wish to see how almost imperceptibly, but how \r\r\n surely, Nature works in altering \" types,\" I would refer him to \r\r\n some of the later lectures of Professor Cope, in his \" Origin of \r\r\n the Fittest.\" A more popular account is given by Oscar Schmidt \r\r\n in \"The Mammalia\" International Scientific Series. \r\r\n\r\r\nYours faithfully, \r\r\n\r\r\nAlice Bodington. \r\r\n\r\r\nVancouver. \r\r\n\r\r\n",
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