V. 

 DE VRIES^ "MUTATION." 



Orthodoxy received the most stunning blow 

 ever given it, at the hands af Charles Darwin, 

 and it is ever on the lookout for an opportun- 

 ity to make reprisals. It is only necessary for 

 some fledgling to challenge Darwin's theory 

 of the origin of coral reefs and offer some 

 grotesque assumption in its place, and it is at 

 once announced from a thousand pulpits that 

 Darwinism, — that enemy of God and man — 

 is dead. 



Hugo DeVries, however, could hardly be 

 called a fledgling, and the supporters of Dar- 

 win had real cause for apprehension, it would 

 seem, when the rumor gained ground that no 

 less a person than the Amsterdam professor 

 had overthrown Darwin's theory, and substi- 

 tuted one of his own. 



Alas, this latest "death of Darwinism" was 

 no more fatal than its numerous predecessors, 

 as the following quotation from DeVries him- 

 self will show: 



"My work claims to be in full accord with 

 the principles laid down by Darwin." And 



81 



