THE CREATION OF SPECIES 



in looking upon the ostracoderm as a probable direct 

 ancestor of man, and by the same token we must 

 acknowledge a possible racial affinity with the great 

 tribe of spiders and scorpions which the instinctive 

 attitude of mind of most people toward those crea- 

 tures would not have suggested. 



So much for the popular point of view. In con- 

 clusion, as showing the technical importance of the 

 work, let me quote a brief paragraph or two from 

 a letter which gives a glimpse of the method of the 

 worker and the importance of the problem attacked. 

 "The work through which the theory has been de- 

 veloped," says Professor Patten, "covers a period of 

 about twenty-five years, and consists of many special 

 investigations, involving elaborate details in tech- 

 nique and subject-matter, in such widely separated 

 fields as comparative anatomy, embryology, physi- 

 ology, and palaeontology, of both vertebrates and 

 invertebrates. The problem as a whole is the most 

 important one to the biologist since the general 

 acceptance of the doctrine of evolution. It has been 

 tried in many different ways by the most dis- 

 tinguished morphologists of England, Germany, 

 France, and Russia. If this solution of it is even 

 approximately correct it is already conceded to be 

 'truly monumental work/ 'the best solution avail- 

 able/ 'the most comprehensive one that has been 

 offered' it will revolutionize the science of com- 

 parative anatomy and embryology, and lay the 

 foundation for a new philosophy of creative evolu- 

 tion." 



Let me add that, whatever the outcome, the solu.- 



177 



