56 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



world could then give, to formulate clearly and boldly a possible explana- 

 tion of the method by which evolution had produced existing life forms. 

 From the geometric increase in numbers due to the normal rate of repro- 

 duction of plants and animals, there resulted a struggle for existence, a 

 three-fold struggle (1) with the environment, which not only brought 

 the animal the ordinary exigencies of life, but also perhaps presented 

 sudflenly wholly new problems due to some geological change during 

 the earth's history, (2) with members of the same species in search of 

 homes and food and (3) with direct enemies. Since all forms vary at 

 birth, some were less well fitted for the struggle than others; they died 

 for lack of food or were killed by enemies; those better fitted survived. 

 Thus the best fitted for life in a given region became the parents of 

 the next generation, and, if the environmental conditions remained 

 unchanged for many generations, heredity l)rouglit about a l)etter 

 adapted race, a "nature selected" race, and, what is the important and 

 contested point, a new variety or species, that is, a race different from 

 the ancestral one. Thus, according to Darwinism, new species come 

 about through slow, minute and cimiulative changes. One of the 

 strongest pieces of work done since Darwin's time, that of Hugo de 

 Vries, proves that species may come into existence abruptly also, by 

 large changes or "mutations," de Vries holding that the mutation theory 

 supplements Natural Selection but does not supplant it. 



Whether, however, Darwinism lives in the future, or fails under the 

 critical scrutiny of the army of working scientists and in the light of a 

 vast aggregation of new facts, Darwin's position of eminence cannot be 

 assailed. He stands for supreme service to mankind in that he forced 

 into the world of organized knowledge love of truth and abhorrence of 

 slavery to tradition. He was a great seer in a scientific world where 

 practically all was new ground. He was a "naturalist," one of the few 

 deserving the name, with masterly grasp of all known facts in the various 

 branches of natural science. wSince his time each of these branches, 

 botany, zoology, geology, has grown until it seems that no one mind can 

 comprehend the details of even one of them. The result is that to-day 

 every man is working on his chosen prol)lem, and often the field of that 

 problem is extremely limited, though it involves weighty principles. 



Will there come a second Darwin, again to grasp all nature in clear 

 mental vision ? His task would be the same as was Darwin's, though 

 far more difficult because of the larger body of knowledge, — to accept 



