SUMMARY OF THE WORK 323 



The arguments of the paleontologist and the 

 embryologist ; even the arguments of the theoret- 

 ical botanist and biologist these lay mostly 

 beyond the ken of the man in the street. But 

 he could readily enough understand the concise 

 descriptions given in "New Creations." With 

 his own eyes he could see the striking and even 

 spectacular differences between the plants of the 

 same fraternity therein depicted. In effect, he 

 received an object lesson in plant variation and a 

 convincing argument for the truth the tangible, 

 demonstrable truth of the doctrine of evolution 

 which to him had hitherto seemed an academic 

 question, involving the living forms of the 

 remote geological eras rather than the forms of 

 plant and animal life that are all about us in the 

 world of to-day. 



And this, it may be supposed, sufficiently 

 explains and interprets the interest in "New 

 Creations" that was manifested by that great 

 body of intelligent laymen personified under the 

 title of "the man in the street." 



THE INTEREST OF THEORETICAL EVOLUTIONISTS 

 AND BOTANISTS 



To understand the interest of a smaller but 

 highly important coterie of people who may be 

 broadly classified as students of evolution 



