X NOTES BY THE EDITOR 



The more the gaps between species are filled up by the discovery 

 of inteiinediate varieties, the stronger becomes the argument for 

 transmutation, and the weaker that for successive creations; be- 

 cause the fonner view then becomes more and more consistent 

 with experience, and the latter more and more inconsistent with 

 it. The investigations of Mr. Bates on the butterflies of the Am- 

 azon region, of Mr. Wallace on those of the Malay Archipelago, 

 of Mr. I>. I). Walsh on the eficet of food in insects, — Sir John 

 Lubbock's diving hynionopLerous insect; the discovery of Eozoon 

 at a period inconceivably antecedent to the pre-supposed intx'o- 

 duction of life upon the globe ; the published opinions of De Can- 

 dollc and Hooker, in botany; the phases of resemblance to infe- 

 rior orders which the embryo goes through in its development ; 

 the metamorphosis of plants, and the occurrence of rudimentary 

 and useless organs, — all sui)ply strong evidence in favor of the 

 derivative hj'pothesis. The present more quiet and uniform rate 

 of pliysical changes would involve a greater degree of fixity in 

 living forms than in the earlier periods of rapid transition. It 

 must also be remembered that only a very small portion of the 

 extinct forms have been preserved as fossils; were the series 

 complete, the question would be solved, and, in the opinion of 

 many good judges, most likely in favor of the derivative hyjjoth- 

 esis. The opponents of continuity lay all stress upon the lost links 

 of the palaeontological chain, and none upon the few existing and 

 altogether exceptional ones ; and the worst of it is, that the 

 chance of filling up the missing links, from the operation of de- 

 structive causes, is very small. 



The controversy of MM. Pasteur and Pouchet on spontaneous 

 generation had ended in the general belief that the latter was in 

 error, but more recent experiments of Mr. Child again opened the 

 question; the weight of opinion, however, continues to be against 

 the theory of spontaneous generation, or, if heterogeny obtains 

 at all, that it is confined to the most simple structures, such as 

 vibrios and bacteria, the more highly-developed and progressive 

 forms being generated by reproduction. 



Meteoi'ites are now acknowledged to be cosmical bodies mov- 

 ing in the interplanetary spaces by gravitation around the sun, 

 and some perhaps around the planets, showing that the universe 

 has not the empty spaces formerly attributed to it, but is studded 

 with smaller planets between the larger and more visible masses. 

 Such as have fallen upon the earth give on analysis metals and 



