170 THE PROBLEMS OF EVOLUTION 



but biologically it has less value. The idea that a 

 thing may be new in the sense that it has never 

 before occurred or existed is thoroughly valid, and 

 such a thing may be soundly termed emergent. 

 But as Turner has pointed out, things may be 

 resultant and emergent simultaneously. ^^ If a 

 phenomenon has occurred before it lacks novelty 

 and hence is merely resultant, but in the field of 

 biology an emergent must certainly be looked upon 

 as a resultant, and for our present purposes the 

 latter consideration is the more important. 



If, then, absolute novelty does not appear in 

 existing organisms save as the realization of hith- 

 erto latent possibilities, what are the relative mer- 

 its of individual response to environment and 

 mutation plus selection as judged by their harmony 

 with the known facts .^ Does the one rest on sound 

 and complete foundations while the other is funda- 

 mentally lacking.^ Has the one been proved a 

 source of new species while the efficacy of the 

 other in this respect is disproved? An unbiased 

 answer to these questions shows very clearly how 

 uncertain our knowledge of evolutionary method 

 is, even yet. 



Mutations in laboratory organisms are of several 

 kinds. The actual loss of a portion of a chromo- 

 some may occur, bringing about the loss of some 

 character in the organism. Translocations may 



" Nature, Vol. 120. pp. 261-262. 1927. 



