PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



ROYAL PHYSICAL SOCIETY, 



SESSION CXXXIII. 



Monday, 2ord Novemher 1903. — The retiring President 

 (Professor J. Cossar Ewart, F.R.S.) delivered an address 

 on "The Making of the Elephant," of which the following 

 is an abstract : — 



In 1880, as many of you are aware, Huxley in an 

 admirable address celebrated the coming of age of the " Origin 

 of Species." Now that more than twice one and twenty years 

 have elapsed since this epoch-making work first appeared, 

 the question may be asked, How far has it fulfilled the 

 promise of its youth ? to what extent has the " Origin " assisted 

 in establishing the fact of evolution, and in proving that 

 natural selection has been the main, if not the sole factor 

 concerned in peopling the earth with its numerous species 

 of plants and animals ? I do not propose to submit an ex- 

 haustive answer to this question, but rather to indicate some 

 of the conclusions arrived at as to Heredity and Natural 

 Selection, from the observations made in the course of the 

 experiments I have for some years been engaged in. 



In the seventies, the great exponent of the evolution 

 hypothesis, by making use of the discoveries of Marsh, Cope, 

 and others, succeeded in giving a wonderfully complete 

 account of the ancestral history of the Equidas. Now, 

 thanks largely to Dr Andrews of the British Museum, we 



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