Evolution: The Quest of Truth 155 



But are there not species, after all ? Surely 

 there are the red maple and the sugar maple, 

 the rose and the cabbage, the horse and the 

 dog. True enough ; but we now conceive 

 these to be the products of evolution, the result 

 of the creation, not the beginning of it. The 

 great Linnaeus's definition is typical of the older 

 mind : " We reckon as many species as there 

 were forms created in the beginning." That is, 

 there are as many trees in a garden as had 

 been placed there. When, however, we are no 

 longer justified in assuming origins, we must 

 base our conclusions on evidence. We shall 

 then count how many trees there are in the 

 garden, and we may find more or fewer than 

 were placed there in the beginning. 



The return to evidence. 



But I must not forget my strawberry. A 

 hundred and fifty years ago a strange straw- 

 berry made its appearance in the gardens of 

 Europe. Some persons said that it came from 

 South America, and others that it came from 

 North America : but nobody knew its history. 



