THE EVOLUTION OF PLANTS 51 



CHAPTER IX 



THE EVOLUTION OF PLANTS 



Ocr chief concern in this book is with organic 

 evolution as a doctrine indispensable to the serious 

 and systematic student of human life : for the 

 nonce we are " men in a world of men," rather 

 than biologists. Hence the vegetable kingdom 

 (without which we could not be) interests us rather 

 in its relation to animal life than for the many 

 characters which fascinate the botanist. But, even 

 in such a work as this, it is impossible wholly to 

 ignore the history of evolving life as manifested 

 in fungus, fern, and flowering-plant. • 



Adequately to discuss this subject would entail 

 numerous digressions and footnotes concerned with 

 botanical nomenclature ; would demand the ser- 

 vices of an expert in fossil botany ; and would 

 also necessitate the writing of a chapter on geology, 

 for which it is impossible to spare any space 

 here. We must therefore content ourselves with 

 a broad and general survey of the subject, whilst 

 fully recognising that its scientific importance is 

 far greater than such a survey might suggest. 



If we take a " bird's-eye view " of the vegetable 

 world of to-day, Ave find, as the general doctrine 

 of evolution would lead us to expect, that it pre- 

 sents certain parallels to the animal world. We see 

 simple one-celled organisms, such as the bacteria, 

 in great abundance, at one extreme ; and complex 



