180 R.\YMOND C. OSBURN Vol. XXII, No. 7 



There are some controversialists again, who misuse, in 

 opposing evolution, the discoveries of Bateson, DeVries, and 

 others, in regard to mutations or larger steps, which throw 

 some doubt on the validity of Darwin's belief in the great 

 importance of minute variations. To accept the mutations of 

 DeVries only means to hasten the process of evolution, since the 

 steps in advance are so much greater than those suggested by 

 Darwin. For, after all, mutations are only germinal, and there- 

 fore, hereditary, variations of a more noticeable character, 

 and the acceptance of DeVries' views does not invalidate in 

 the least the importance of the principles of variation, selection 

 and heredity, but only makes possible the progress of evolution 

 at a much more rapid rate than does the Darwinian method. 

 Yet forsooth, because definite mutations are substituted for the 

 minor and fortuitous variations of Darwin, the undiscrim- 

 inating, ignorant and bigoted proclaim that evolution is over- 

 thrown. It would be as truthful to maintain that the Coper- 

 nican theory of the movement of the planets around the sun is 

 overthrown because a new asteroid is located now and then! 

 Besides it has no bearing on the fact that evolution has taken 

 place. 



As to the controversy between those who hold with Darwin 

 and those who agree with DeVries I can see no special difficulty. 

 It may be that they are merely looking at different ends of the 

 same series. Bateson and DeVries at first assumed that muta- 

 tions must, of necessity, be breaks in the series, of considerable 

 importance. Later investigations, however, have shown that 

 mutations, or hereditary variations, may be much smaller 

 than they were at first supposed to be necessary and, in fact, 

 some of them are much less noticeable than some somatic 

 variations acquired during the life of the individual and not 

 heritable. The difference, which Darwin could not have known, 

 is a qualitative one rather than quantitative, on the basis that 

 to have any evolutionary value, a variation must affect the germ 

 plasm and not merely the body of the individual. On the other 

 hand too great a departure from the normal may have no evo- 

 lutionary importance because it renders the individual unsuited 

 for life or reproduction and so it is eliminated by natural 

 selection. 



It is a common misconception that evolution is a force or 

 power by which things are brought to pass. Even the less dis- 



