The Descent of Man. 171 



ABSTRACT OF THE DISCUSSION. 



De. T. Munson Coan: — 



It would be hard to add anything to the statements we have 

 heard, so full of original thought, from Professor Cope. We 

 could not desire anything more. And yet I have come across 

 something of which I would like to speak in reference to natural 

 selection. On a Southern plantation it appears that a cotton- 

 grower, a Mr. Alexander, I believe, found a cotton-plant which 

 had a peculiar leaf: instead of being in four lobes it had five 

 separate portions, like fingers of the hand, thus permitting freer 

 access to the sunlight and producing a finer cotton-boll, and, more 

 than that, furnishing no shade for caterpillars. This gentleman 

 was an evolutionist, and reasoned that this plant would be better 

 than the common variety ; he raised seed and cultivated it, and he 

 found that it reproduced the same peculiar leaves, and he has con- 

 tinued to cultivate it with very satisfactory results. Here is a 

 case where natural selection is combined with artificial selection, 

 and together these agencies will probably speedily introduce a 

 great improvement in cotton culture, driving out the old plant. 

 Professor Cope will, I think, agree with me that nature unassisted 

 would have done the same thing, only it would have taken a much 

 longer time. 



The question which comes to the front in this discussion is, How 

 far does the principle of natural selection account for the ethical 

 phase of human evolution ? I think that the force which made that 

 variation in the leaf of the cotton-plant is a benevolent force, work- 

 ing in all of us, morally and intellectually. The same force of en- 

 vironment which operates as natural selection in the vegetable 

 world, operates also in man. This force is somewhat akin to fatal- 

 ism — or, rather, necessity. Organization and circumstances impel 

 us to action, and action modifies our character. What we start with 

 in life, — our inherited nature, — is inevitable, but not the rest. Our 

 actions are the result of our character and volition, quite as much as 

 of environing circumstances. If we believe we are creatures of the 

 environment we shall no longer struggle. Some of us, however, do 

 make a fight against fate, and in spite of circumstances, we win. 

 In this manner, it seems to me, we can make our ethical thought 

 bear upon human evolution. 



