PREFACE vii 



But, it will be seen by an abundance of 

 examples and many more might be given 

 that new and changed structures in plants do 

 arise as acquired characters, and that they can 

 be hereditary, and so become fixed as varietal 

 or specific characters. 



Lastly, as the spontaneous and congenital 

 variations are supposed to arise without any 

 connection with the environment in their 

 adaptations to it, there is no natural law dis- 

 coverable in the process of adaptation. 



On the other hand, as plants adapt themselves 

 during their development by responding to new 

 external conditions, one soon discovers this to 

 be a universal natural law ; obviating all the 

 hypothetical difficulties involved in the death 

 of the majority of offspring which are born- 

 according to Darwinism with " injurious," that 

 is, death-bringing variations of structure. 



G. H. 



July, 1908. 



