PAPERS PRESENTED AT GENERAL SESSIONS 29 



THE PRESENT STATUS OF EVOLUTION 



(The Botanist's View) 

 John M. Coulter, University of Chicago. 



In the last few months I have been asked frequently 

 to speak on this subject. My audiences, however, have 

 not been made up of members of an Academy of Science 

 and their friends, but of people who want evolution 

 explained, and to know whether it is as wicked as some 

 claim. The misunderstanding in reference to evolution 

 is very widespread. This has arisen from ignorance 

 of the subject, from misinterpretation of the statements 

 of scientific men, and from what may be called a mediae- 

 val attitude of mind. It has been a shock to educators 

 to realize that there still remains such a mass of un- 

 trained minds that can be imposed upon by eloquent 

 ignorance. 



As one illustration of the misinterpretation of the atti- 

 tude of scientific men, I may call attention to the use that 

 has been made of the address given by Bateson at the 

 Toronto meeting of the American Association. He has 

 been quoted extensively as an illustration of a distin- 

 guished biologist and student of evolution who has given 

 up his belief in the theory of organic evolution. Xo state- 

 ment in his address can justify such a claim. The bur- 

 den of his argument was that with our increasing knowl- 

 edge of the complexity of the subject, our present explan- 

 ations of the origin of species are inadequate. Each dis- 

 covery opens up a new perspective for exploration. To 

 quote Bateson as denying the fact of evolution is to dis- 

 regard the following statement which concludes his 

 address : 



"Let us proclaim in precise and unmistakable lan- 

 guage that our faith in evolution is unshaken. Even* 

 available line of argument converges on this inevitable 

 conclusion. The obscurantist has nothing to suggest 

 which is worth a moment's attention. The difficulties 

 which weigh upon the professional biologist need not 

 trouble the layman. Our doubts are not as to the reality 

 or truth of evolution, but as to the origin of species, a 

 technical problem. ' ' 



