340 THE EVOLUTION OF PLANT LIFE. 



stance, states, as the result of his observations, that : 

 " within human experience, a few species have become 

 extinct; but there is no conclusive proof that a single 

 new species has come into existence; nor are appreci- 

 able variations readily apparent, in forms that live in 

 the wild state. " * 



As a matter of fact, for instance, the same flowers that 

 formed the funeral garlands that were used to deck the 

 Egyptian mummy of thousands of years ago, still bloom 

 and flourish at the present day ; f the same cereal grains 

 and fruits, seeds and specimens of which were enclosed 

 in their sarcophagi, still form the staple crops of the 

 modern land of Egypt, practically unchanged by the 

 accidents of time or culture. 



Many ancient sculptures are also still in existence, 

 adorning the walls of sepulchral chambers of vast 

 antiquity some of them executed quite six thousand 

 years ago which conclusively show that the trees, the 

 plants, and flowers, and even the men and animals of 

 those days faithfully represented upon the chiselled 

 stone have undergone no visible change in Egypt 

 during that immense period. These beautifully executed 

 works of art moreover prove beyond question that though 

 historic records may not yet have been discovered, going 

 back further than that era, the civilization of Egypt 

 was even then an old and highly cultivated civilization ; 



species in a wild state. Deprived of the fostering care of man, all 

 these artificial varieties would quickly be overpowered and choked by 

 weeds or other natural growths and become extinct. Some of these plants 

 appear to be new species they are however mere " sports " or acci- 

 dental variations of the original stock. 



* Extract from Presidential address of Sir Archibald Geikie to the 

 British Association Meeting at Edinburgh, reported in The Times of 

 August 4, 1892. 



j In some of these cases, these flowers, in a dried state, still con- 

 tinued quite recognizable, when the coffins were opened. 



