LIMIT TO VARIATION. 71 



were a purpose in it. If you do not believe in such purpose, 

 it is no matter ; but I use such language because it is conven- 

 ient, and I have been accustomed to it. I say this seems to 

 be the first object, to preserve the species, and adapt it to all 

 parts of the earth. Let us see, then, in regard to the extent 

 to which this principle can be carried. You will find that this 

 principle of variation can be carried so far as to utterly defeat 

 its end, if you suppose that the distribution and preservation 

 of the plant is its object. And this is a point to which I 

 wish to direct your special attention, to see if we can reach a 

 principle in it. I hold in my hand a rose (and I am glad they 

 brought in such a rose as this) : it is called a double rose ; but 

 in this rose I can see stamens and pistils. That rose would 

 probably reproduce its Idnd from seed, because it has the 

 organs which are essential for reproduction. There are roses 

 in which you shall not find a single stamen or pistil. They 

 are all unrolled, all developed (if I may use that term " de- 

 veloped" in this connection), — they are all unrolled, and 

 made into these flower-leaves. And you will find other 

 plants in the same condition. All peonies are not double ; 

 but some are so double that they have no stamens or pistils, 

 and never produce any seeds. We call the snowball double ; 

 but it has quite different characteristics from the rose. In 

 its wild state it has a circle of flowers on the outside which 

 never produce fruit ; but it has flowers in the centre which 

 produce fruit. By cultivation they lose their stamens and 

 pistils, and they become large, and give us beautiful white 

 bunches of flowers; but they cannot produce fruit. What 

 does this show ? It shows that this principle of variation, 

 which begins far back in the life of the plant, — begins for 

 the benefit of the species, — finally ends in what would seem 

 to be the destruction of the species, because, when you carry 

 this variation so far as to destroy the stamens and pistils, 

 just that moment you have destroyed the plant, so far as the 

 seed is concerned : you have stopped all that machinery for 

 the continuance of the species through the seed. 



Let us look at that a moment, and see exactly what it 

 leads to. What has been the result of this wiping out of 

 the seed-producing power here ? The result has been in- 

 creased beauty. You have gone on developing this flower 

 in the line of beauty, its utility gradually giving way, until 



