92 REPORTS ON INVESTIGATIONS AND PROJECTS. 



BIOLOGY, EXPERIMENTAL. 



DEPARTMENT OF EXPERIMENTAL EVOLUTION. COLD SPRING HARBOR. 



NEW YORK.* 



By Chari,es B. Davenport, Director. 



Two years of work at the station have been accomplished and that for 

 the immediate future has been planned. It may now be advantageous to 

 consider in general fashion what are the present aims of work in experi- 

 mental evolution. 



Man is philosophic. He looks for general principles and on the whole 

 he acts on general principles. So his general theory of the world is of im- 

 portance. It makes a real difference in his conduct whether he regards 

 the world events as cataclysmic or as ever continuous and lawful. Conse- 

 quently the work of Lyell in establishing the law of continuity in geology 

 and the work of Darwin in establishing that law in organisms have revo- 

 lutionized not only human thought but human action. This law of con- 

 tinuity, moreover, is necessarily applicable to human evolution. Neither 

 physically nor psychologically is there a sharp break in the animal series 

 where it culminates in man. Consequently the discovery of the laws of 

 organic evolution is, at the same time, a study of human evolution. Since 

 when we know the law we may control the process, the principles of evo- 

 lution will show the way to an improvement of the human race. 



A knowledge of the principles of evolution is advantageous in still 

 another way. It shows how organisms may be best modified to meet our 

 requirements of beauty, food, materials, and power. The carnation can 

 be made not only crimson, but white, yellow, and blue ; it can be made 

 as large as a chrysanthemum or dwarfed. So the bantam fowl may be 

 made of a red color, or black, or white ; with a ruff or without ; with a long 

 tail or with no tail. Likewise the yield of wheat per acre may be doubled 

 and the northern limit of wheat cultivation pushed poleward many miles 

 each year. The egg yield of the hen may be raised from 150 to over 200 

 per year. The strength of cotton fiber may be improved and its length 

 increased. The hardiness of fruits may be changed so that subtropical 

 plants bear in temperate climates. The strength of the horse may be 

 increased as that of the Percheron exceeds that of the Norwegian pony. 

 In fact, by using the already known principles of evolution great practical 

 advances have been made in the past. We are consequently justified in 

 expecting that an extension of evolutionary principles will result in fur- 

 ther advances in the future. 



* Report for the year ending September 30, 1906. Grant No. 307. $21,000 for investi- 

 gations and maintenance. (For previous reports see Year Book No. 3, pp. 23-32, and 

 Year Book No. 4, pp. 87-107.) 



