CONFORMITY TO ENVIRONMENT 197 



vertebrates, were masters of the good things of the 

 sea ; and, in later times, reptiles, not mammals, of 

 those of the land. Any progressive form has to 

 choose between the present and the future. It can- 

 not grasp both. I am not propounding to you any 

 metaphysical theories, but plain, dry, hard facts of 

 paleontology ; explain them as you will. 



And here we must add our last word about conform- 

 ity to environment ; and it is a most important con- 

 sideration. Conformity to environment is not such 

 an adaptation as will confer upon an animal the great- 

 est immunity from discomfort or danger, or will en- 

 able it to gain the greatest amount of food and place, 

 and produce the largest number of offspring. Indeed, 

 if you will add one element to those mentioned above, 

 namely, that all these shall be attained with the least 

 amount of effort, they insure degeneration beyond a 

 doubt. This is the conformity of the bivalve mollusk. 

 The clam has abundance of food, enormous powers of 

 reproduction, almost perfect protection against enemies, 

 and lives a life of almost absolute freedom from discom- 

 fort, and the clam is really lower than most worms. 



If an animal is to progress, it must keep such a 

 conformity ever secondary to a still more important 

 element, namely, conformity or obedience to the laws 

 of its own structure and being. This second element 

 the mollusk and every creeping stage neglected, and 

 the result of this neglect was stagnation or degenera- 

 tion. Activity was essential to progress from the 

 very structure and laws of development of the animal, 

 while a great abundance of food was not. A life of 

 ease, for the same reason, necessarily results in degen- 

 eration. 



