128 The Life and Huntings of 



steps at remote irregular periods. This is a part of the great 

 universal law of perpetual mutability in everything. 



&quot;Thus it is needless to dispute and differ about new G., Sp. 

 and varieties. Every variety is a deviation which becomes a sp. 

 as soon as it is permanent by reproduction. Deviations in essential 

 organs may thus gradually become N. G. Yet every deviation in 

 form ought to have a peculiar name; it is better to have only a 

 generic and specific name for it, than 4 when deemed a variety.&quot; 



These opinions appear to us to warrant the assertion 

 that Rafinesque was an evolutionist. This is a remark 

 able fact for his time, when nearly the whole world of 

 science yet maintained the fixity of species and the 

 immutability of genera; a time when those purely arti 

 ficial yet convenient divisions of the student of living 

 forms, unknown to Nature itself, called genera, were 

 thought to be the result of express creative fiat. While 

 Rafinesque s belief appears to result from actual obser 

 vation of botanical facts, he had nowhere elaborated his 

 views, nowhere presented them as a complete system, 

 nowhere given evidence that he was capable so to do. 

 It rather would seem to be a kind of happy inspiration, 

 such as sometimes come to men, that guided him in his 

 groping search. It may be that this thought was upper 

 most in his mind when he described so many new forms 

 on slight data; if they were not yet species they surely 

 would be such in time! 



