The Transmutation Theory Before Darwin. 27 



Linnean conception of species. It relied exclusively on 

 the Biblical story of creation and on experiment. Every 

 form which proved itself to be immutable by experiment 

 was, according to their theory, an independently created 

 form. The experiment consisted in cultivating the par- 

 ticular form in a garden for a few generations. They 

 disapproved of the systematic grouping together of such 

 pure forms into larger "species" on the ground that it 

 was artificial and arbitrary. They recognized genera 

 and the larger groups as necessary, but regarded them 

 as manifestly artificial divisions. 



According as one belonged to the one or the other 

 of these parties one was more or less prepared for Bar- 

 wind's new teaching. The thin ranks of the Transmuta- 

 tionists and the huge Linnean army admitted a priori the 

 origin of races, varieties and Jordan^s species from other 

 forms, and this in spite of the complete absence of ex- 

 perimental proof. It was against these that Darwin 

 turned his energies to show, what was indeed the chief 

 object of his argument, that the supposition of a com- 

 mon origin for genera and families was as much justified 

 as the view held at that time, that the forms gathered to- 

 gether in one species were descended from a common 

 ancestor. 



The adherents of Jordan^s school who regarded the 

 elementary species as created, were least prepared for 

 Darwin^s teaching. There were however very few of 

 them, and their system, by being so rich in species (Draba 

 verna alone falls into more than 200), stood very much 

 in the way of a wide acceptance of their views. At any 

 rate they were not, or at most only very slightly, con- 

 vinced by Darwin ; the bulk of them maintained their 

 original position. The only one of them that I would 



