312 Plant Life and Evolution 



" Origin of Species," the German botanist, Hof- 

 meister, published a series of researches upon the 

 comparative morphology and development of the 

 higher plants, that were truly epoch making; for 

 while he did not expressly enunciate the theory of 

 evolution, his whole work was based upon the as- 

 sumption that the seed-plants were derived from 

 the ferns, which in turn were the descendants of 

 moss-like progenitors. While most of his work has 

 been amplified and corrected in the light of new 

 discoveries and by the aid of improved methods of 

 research, nevertheless the fundamental principles of 

 his work remain to-day as the basis of -the com- 

 parative morphology of the higher plants. 



Nee-Darwinism. As is so often the case, the dis- 

 ciples have gone far ahead of their master in up- 

 holding his theories, which have assumed for them 

 the form of a veritable dogma. Some of the fol- 

 lowers of Darwin have assumed the omnipotence 

 of natural selection, in which they see the only 

 factor in evolution, denying that environment can 

 have any direct effect in modifying an organism, 

 or at any rate that any such change can be trans- 

 mitted to its offspring. As every reader of Darwin 

 knows, he fully recognized the importance of en- 

 vironment as a formative agency, and was perfectly 

 aware of the value of much of the work of La- 

 marck, his great predecessor, who was not appre- 

 ciated during his lifetime,. but who has been valiantly 

 defended by a host of ardent advocates during the 



