DARWINISM 



cal strength only, as where the male overcomes, 

 destroys or drives away his weaker rivals. Especially 

 is this the case among poly gy nous animals, for 

 instance the ox family, deer, the fur seal, the 

 domestic fowl, and many others. In other instances, 

 especially among birds, an appeal seems to be made to 

 an aesthetic sense, and as the beautiful is usually the 

 exponent of health, strength and functional adapta- 

 tion, the owner of the most brilliant plumage becomes 

 the chosen one. With song birds the charm of their 

 melody is equally effective. 



Among plants it is only those whose flowers re- 

 quire fertilization by pollen carried to them by birds 

 or insects that bear showy, brilliant petals. Those 

 that have pollen brought to them by the wind are in- 

 conspicuous and colorless. With flowers, the birds 

 and insects supply that consciousness and volition that 

 the plants themselves are devoid of. 



The above doctrines Darwin has established, not 

 so much by experiments, for which the life of a man 

 is too short, but by innumerable observations that he 

 has made in both kingdoms of nature, and by the 

 thousands of explanations he has given for peculiari- 

 ties shown in animal and plant physiology and struc- 

 ture that are otherwise unintelligible. The occurrence 

 of abortive organs, of useless structures, the facts of 

 Embryology, of Atavism, and many heretofore iu- 

 297 



