UNDER THE APPLE-TREES 



II 



More than any other man of our era, Charles 

 Darwin has contributed to the tremendous growth 

 which biological science has made in our time. No 

 matter whether his theory of natural selection as 

 an adequate explanation of the origin of species 

 stands the test of time or not, it aroused men's 

 minds to the feasibility of the subject for scientific 

 investigation. The questions Darwin put to Na- 

 ture were all fruitful and stimulating. Whether 

 he got the right answers or not, he showed men 

 how to question and cross-question her, and showed 

 that she was not so dumb as we had thought. 

 Darwin loosed the whole animal world from its 

 moorings in the theory of the fixity of species, and 

 set it afloat on the sea of change. His solution of 

 the origin of the various forms is bound to be 

 greatly modified, may be negatived altogether, but 

 he did a mighty service to biological science in 

 simply raising the question of their instability, and 

 in calling attention to the natural grounds upon 

 which their stereotyped characters may be ques- 

 tioned. Life is so fluid and elastic, so various and 

 adaptive, that, on a priori grounds, one would say 

 that species are not rigid and fixed. Darwin's proof 

 that they are not is overwhelming, and his provi- 

 sional explanation of how their origin was brought 

 about is stimulating if not convincing. He was a 



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