ED IT 'OR' S TABLE. 



103 



derstand it might do in using its own pol- 

 len, we can see how "natural selection" 

 could use " variation " to advantage. The 

 insect only interferes with the law. 



There are some few plants which never 

 seem to fertilize except by insect or other 

 aid. In a large number of these cases their 

 own pollen is just as good as foreign pollen. 

 In a few instances foreign pollen alone 

 seems to be potent. Why must we believe, 

 in this latter case, that it is because their 

 own pollen is designed to be inferior, in or- 

 der that foreign pollen may be brought to 

 it '? There may be many other reasons. 

 At any rate, the creed presented to us is 

 inconsistent with a full idea of natural se- 

 lection. The survival of the fittest will be 

 most assured by an abundance of resources. 

 The little chickweed which flowers and 

 seeds with the thermometer at 35, and the 

 common erophila at 40, are much "fitter" 

 to fight their way through the world in the 

 wonderful way they do than if they waited 



for the spring insect to bring them foreign 

 pollen. We can readily understand that if 

 a flower is diseased, the pollen of that flower 

 acting on itself would produce diseased off- 

 spring. Foreign pollen would bring back 

 the health. With the millions of healthy 

 flowers reproducing, the one flower diseased 

 seems but trifling ; but even so the insects 

 can carry bad pollen to good flowers, as 

 well as bring good pollen to diseased ones. 

 Only that I have heard the argument from 

 the highest in scientific standing, it would 

 seem too puerile to mention here. 



Without going further into detail, I may 

 say that, as a matter of opinion, the obser- 

 vations I have placed on record aid evolu- 

 tionary views in some of their weakest 

 points, while I am really saving the doc- 

 trines of the survival of the fittest and of 

 natural selection from injuries dealt out to 

 them in the house of their friends. 



Thomas Meehan. 

 Gekmantown, Pa., September 28, 1ST6. 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



PROFESSOR HUXLEY'S LECTURES. 



PROF. HUXLEY arrived in this 

 country tired out from prolonged 

 overwork, and greatly needing rest. 

 He did not wish to speak in public, but 

 could not escape it. He went to Nash- 

 ville to visit a sister whom he had not 

 seen in thirty years, and, being strongly 

 urged to make a public address there, 

 he reluctantly consented, and spoke to 

 a large concourse on an excessively hot 

 day. The effort prostrated him, and 

 his voice was so strained that he did 

 not recover his usual vocal power while 

 he remained with us. He had not ex- 

 pected to make a formal public dis- 

 course at Baltimore, and therefore had 

 to prepare one while here. His vaca- 

 tion thus turned out to be anything but 

 a season of repose and recuperation, 

 and he gave his lectures in New York 

 under the triple disadvantage of not 

 being up to his usual vigor, of a seri- 

 ous impairment of voice, and of having 

 to prepare them as he went along for 



the plan of the discussion was new, and 

 American materials had to be worked 

 up for its purpose. These difficulties 

 became serious in dealing with the 

 crowded audiences which attended his 

 lectures, many of whom heard him but 

 imperfectly. 



His lectures were, however, well re- 

 ceived by those who heard them, and 

 quite as well received by the press as 

 we had any reason to expect. That 

 objections of all sorts should be raised 

 was inevitable ; for the doctrine of Evo- 

 lution, which he advocated, is too re- 

 cent, too comprehensive, too scientific, 

 and encounters too many prejudices, to 

 be generally or readily accepted merely 

 because it is proved. Only a very small 

 portion of human opinion is the prod- 

 uct of reason. Some thought his treat- 

 ment of the subject too elementary, and 

 some thought it too restricted and inad- 

 equate, hut nobody denied that it was 

 clear, forcible, and logical. We must 

 add that, in most cases, the pulpit has 



