70 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



created in the beginning. But even then, all that could be 

 done would be to secure the kinds created. In consequence of 

 this wonderful law, the same end is reached as in the creation 

 of numberless distinct species, and in a manner far better for 

 man. From one species have sprung unnumbered forms. The 

 next year may produce others still more desirable, and the next 

 year others still more desirable, and the next year others, and 

 so on forever. It is impossible for man to say that he has now 

 the most delicious apple, peach or pear, or the most beautiful 

 rose, or the most prolific variety of corn possible. The next 

 year a better apple, a more beautiful rose, a more prolific variety 

 of corn, may be produced, and this shall be true forever. There 

 is thus laid in this law of the animal and vegetable kingdoms 

 the surest conditions of continued progress in man. The possi- 

 bility of better forms is ever saying to him, Onward ! Upward ! 



In thus viewing the law of variations in all its manifestations, 

 we have forced upon us the conviction that, while it sometimes 

 has reference undoubtedly to the plant or animal itself in the 

 preservation of the species ; in its higher manifestations, especially 

 in the vegetable kingdom, it is for something out of the plant, 

 and for a higher creation — the animal kingdom ; above all, for 

 man as a rational creature. 



The subject of variations, which we have been discussing, "has 

 given rise to the development theory. We accept the facts of 

 variation and .the influence of "natural selection," but not the 

 inferences that arc drawn from them. 



We see the need of variation for the best good of the world, 

 for man himself. If provided for in the creation of certain 

 species, and those species most useful to man, we see in this a 

 mark of wisdom, as much as in the adaptation of the parts of 

 our bodies to each other, or of our bodies to the external world. 

 We regard, then, the law of variation as a means of preserving 

 the species under certain circumstances, and as a means of better 

 fitting created things for their various uses, and not as the 

 creator of the thing, nor in any sense the originator of the 

 species. Variation is the qualify of a species, and not its 

 producer. Varieties simply unfold and exhibit the creative idea 

 in the species. We see nothing yet to shake this belief. But if 

 the lessons we have learned from geology and living forms are 

 to be modified or proved to be mistakes, we will welcome the 



