CHAPTER IV 



ILLUSTRATIVE PROOFS OF EVOLUTION BY DIRECT 

 ADAPTATION WITH HEREDITY OF ACQUIRED 

 CHARACTERS I THE STRUCTURE OF STEMS, 

 SPINES, AND AQUATIC LEAVES. 



IN the preceding chapters enough has been said 

 for the reader to understand the difference 

 between the old and the True Darwinism. He 

 will now ask for proofs. This and the remain- 

 ing chapters will furnish a selection, taken 

 from different parts of plants ; the proofs 

 being primarily of induction, secondarily cor- 

 roborated by experimental verification. More 

 than these no scientist can secure, nor is any 

 required. 



Mr Reid, in alluding to the Lamarckian theory 

 of evolution, which in certain respects applied 

 more to animals than plants, stated that it " can 

 explain hardly a single fact in the whole world 

 of plants." * The two facts which are apparently 

 only known to him are delegated to a footnote, 

 in which he writes as follows : 



"No doubt, to a limited extent some use 

 acquirements are made by plants. Thus the 



1 Op. cit., p. 15. 



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