28' 



"Natural Selection" theory, must certaiuly have existed at all former 

 periods of the earth's history ; and, that pending the discovery of such 

 links, it is a mere begging of the question to assume that they have 

 existed, and, (in the words of Darwin) that "the chief laws of 

 Paloeontology plainly proclaim that species have been produced by 

 ordinary generations : old forms having been supplanted by new and 

 improved forms of life, produced by the laws of variation still acting 

 round us, and preserved by Natural Selection." 



Lastly. All seemed to agree in conceding that although the Darwinian 

 theory does not reconcile all discrepancies, and though, as many think, it 

 is founded upon too slender a basis for the vast superstructure erected 

 thereupon ; that, nevertheless, the influences treated of by its author 

 must, for the future, be allowed to have great weight in any computation 

 of those secondary laws, which all believe to have been impressed upon 

 matter in the beginning, and by the action whereof many important 

 changes in organic life have been brought about. 



With this final meeting of the Cotteswold Club my task as your annalist 

 is brought to a termination. I feel, however, that I cannot more usefully 

 conclude this summary of our proceedings, than by transcribing a report 

 I have received from our valued colleague. Professor Bcckman, having 

 reference to the effect upon vegetation produced by the extraordinary 

 climatic phenomena which prevailed throughout the year which has just 

 passed ; and embodying the results of his interesting experiments upon 

 " food-roots," and upon the " ennobling" of wild vegetables, in which 

 latter attempt he has obtained sucU marked and surprising success. 



Professor BtrcKMiN writes as follows. — "In 1859 I planted a plot of 

 Sorghum saccharatum, the newly-introduced Chinese sugar-cane, and there 

 was about a quarter of an acre sown on the farm. This grew upwards of 

 SEVEK FEET high, and yielded a weight of green food over fifty tons to an 

 acre. On planting the same kind of seed, in the same manner, in 1860, it 

 scarcely attained to six inches. The failure in 1860 beiag even more 

 complete than the success in 1859. 



"Indian corn ripened with me in 1859: in 1860 it never even 

 flowered. In 1859 I got some seeds of the Brassica oleracea, "Wild 

 Cabbage, from the rocks of Llandudno, North Wales ; this is now in 

 cultivation in my experimental plots, and already I see hopes of getting 

 all kinds of cabbage, and many greens, and the like, from this original 

 source. But the most interesting point brought out by these experiments 

 this season has been, that while ordinary cabbage-stuffs have been cruelly 

 kiUed by the severe frosts, my wild cabbage plants are perfectly sound and 

 healthy. My parsnips, ennobled from the wild root, are now established 

 and in the seed market. One of my most interesting experiments 



