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OHAPTEE XVI. 



FERTILISATION OF FLOWEBS. 



The botanical work which my father accomplished by the 

 guidance of the light cast on the study of natural history by his 

 own work on evolution remains to be noticed. In a letter to 

 Mr. Murray, September 24th, 1861, speaking of his book the 

 Fertilisation of Orchids, he says: "It will perhaps serve to 

 illustrate how Natural History may be worked under the belief 

 of the modification of species." This remark gives a sugges- 

 tion as to the value and interest of his botanical work, and it 

 might be expressed in far more emphatic language without 

 danger of exaggeration. 



In the same letter to Mr. Murray, he says : " I think this 

 little volume will do good to the Origin, as it will show that I 

 have worked hard at details." It is true that his botanical work 

 added a mass of corroborative detail to the case for Evolution, 

 but the chief support given to his doctrines by these researches 

 was of another kind. They supplied an argument against those 

 critics who have so freely dogmatised as to the uselessness of 

 particular structures, and as to the consequent impossibility of 

 their having been developed by means of natural selection. His 

 observations on Orchids enabled him to say : " I can show the 

 meaning of some of the apparently meaningless ridges and 

 horns ; who will now venture to say that this or that structure 

 is useless ? " A kindred point is expressed in a letter to Sir 

 J. D. Hooker (May 14th, 1862) :— 



M When many parts of structure, as in the woodpecker, show 

 distinct adaptation to external bodies, it is preposterous to 

 attribute them to the effects of climate, &c, but when a single 

 point alone, as a hooked seed, it is conceivable it may thus have 

 arisen. I have found the study of Orchids eminently useful in 

 showing me how nearly all parts of the flower are co-adapted 

 for fertilisation by insects, and therefore the results of natural 

 selection, — even the most trifling details of structure." 



One of the greatest services rendered by my father to the 

 study of Natural History is tho revival of Teleology. The 



