June, 1931 



EVOLUTION 



Page 



gone on to anything like the required extent in the "good" 

 lines. Likewise, if we had had to do with objects that could 

 not multiply, there could not possibly have been anywhere near 

 enough of them provided in the beginning to allow an orgatiiza- 

 tion comparable with that of a higher or even lower organism 

 to be formed in any of them by mere "chance." 



Even the admittedly far too low minimum figure, (100)"°°, 

 is of staggeringly great dimensions. If there were this many 

 beings actually produced, then, even if each being were as 

 small as an electron, and all the beings were packed tight to- 

 gether, there would not be nearly enough room in the entire 

 Einsteinian universe, packing them in a hundred times beyond 

 the limits of the farthest visible stars and spiral nebulae, for 

 even an insignificant tittle of them. If we allowed each of these 

 packed "creatures" to go through its entire evolution, of 1,500 

 steps, in the millionth part of a second, and then substituted 

 another "creature" for it and gave the latter a like chance, and 

 so on for a quintillion years, we still should not have begun 

 to make any appreciable impression on the above number. 

 Neither should we if, in addition, each of these packed beings 

 of electron size, present for each instant, were itself expanded 

 into an entire Einsteinian universe, and each of these universes 

 were then crammed with beings of electron size in its turn. 

 In fact, we might continue thus expanding and subdividing 

 worlds time and again without approaching sensibly close to 

 the required figure. 



Hence, in beings without the property of multiplication of 

 variations, and its corollary, natural selection, any such in- 

 credible combination of accidents as ourselves would have been 

 totally impossible of occurrence within the limits of practically 

 any number of universes. We are thus really justified in 

 feeling that we could not have fallen together by any accident 

 of inanimate nature. But, given the power of multiplication of 

 variations resident in "living" things, due to their genes, and 

 all this is changed, and we are enabled to enjoy the benefits — 

 such as they may be — of being the select of the select, such as 

 it would have taken a surpassingly vast number of worlds to 

 search through, before our match could be found anywhere by 

 the ordinary processes of chance. In that way, I hope, the 

 metaphysician may reach his "philosophical satisfaction" in 

 the contemplation of his own frame and of the processes 

 whereby it came into existence. 



IX. The Task Ahead 

 The biologist is not satisfied to stop there, however. The 



real problems of the generation of new living things are only 

 commencing to open up. The occurrence of variations, although 

 "accidental" in the sense just explained, nevertheless is subject 

 to a mechanism, our knowledge of which is as yet in its most 

 elementary stage. Moreover, the biologist of broader view is 

 not so well satisfied with his own frame. He knows that there 

 never has been any one objective in the course of evolution, 

 and that every creature, including man, is only on probation, 

 and may give way before another in which a more advantageous 

 succession of mutations happens to come along. The vast 

 majority of species, in fact, have perished along the way, and 

 only a relatively few survive, through change, to form the 

 contmumg threads of life that branch out again. 



Man, however, is now the first creature in the world to have 

 this advantage — he has reached some understanding of this 

 process of evolution in which he has hitherto been caught and 

 blown about, and with understanding there frequently comes 

 some measure of control. He can now produce mutations for 

 the first ti:ne, and I have no doubt he will soon experiment 

 with this knowledge and in time by its means greatly improve 

 and alter the forms and functionings of those domestic animals 

 and plants which he has taken under his care. Look at the 

 motley shapes of flies that have been made in the laboratory, 

 and you may more readily appreciate the possibilities thus 

 presented. 



Despite these advantages, we are today almost as far as ever 

 from producing to order the exact mutations which we want. 

 Enough, for the plants and animals, simply to produce a great 

 many mutations and then take our choice, as nature has done 

 in a far slower and more halting fashion. But the research 

 must go on. Man must eventually take his own fate into his 

 own hands, biologically as well as otherwise, and not be con- 

 tent to remain, in his most essential respea the catspaw of 

 natural forces, to be fashioned, played with and cast aside. 



If we have had a billion years of evolution behind us, and 

 have advanced from something like an ameba to something like 

 a man, then, in the many millions of years which are still in 

 store for our world, why may we not be able to make a fur- 

 ther great advance, perhaps far greater even than this, because 

 under our own increasingly intelligent guidance? At least, if 

 we are men as we like to think of men, challenging all things, 

 we must make the attempt, and die fighting if need be, with our 

 eyes open. 



Boners front Zoology Exams 



A scientist discovered an old cork 

 which he studied under the microscope. 



Other discoveries were made of the 

 proprieties of protoplasm. 



A Hydra is an animal that looks like 

 m plant and grows on a stork. 



The eggs and ova fuss, and produce 

 a new individual. 



Cuvier believed in a series of new 

 creations and catechisms. 



Apes and bamboos are arborial types 

 of animals related to man. 



Paloeontologists have discovered fossils 



imal to which they have given the name 

 asterisk, representing a link beween 

 reptiles and birds. 



Evolution is decent with modifications 

 from pre-existing forms. 



Pauline H. Dederer. 



All Subscriptions Extended 



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Order "How Evolution Works" 



Orders have already come from Pro- 

 fessors at Yale University and Columbia 

 University for bundles of the three issues 

 of Evolution containing the enlighten- 

 ing article by Dr. J. H. Muller on 

 "HOW EVOLUTION WORKS." 

 Thinking that other readers might want 

 to give these three issues to students or 

 friends we kept some on hand. We'll 

 send the three numbers (Vol. Ill, I, 2 

 and 3) containing the complete Muller 

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