APRIL 14, 1904] 
NATURE 
569 
of Devonshire until the Court was out of mourning, whereas 
the message announcing the death of Queen Victoria out- 
stripped the sun. It has been well said that the extent of 
the unit of government is determined by the facility of 
communication, so that in. the age of electricity all former 
notions in this respect have to be recast. 
Nature may therefore be said to be still in the first chapter 
of Genesis in regard to social evolution. Probably with 
abundant provision for autonomy the social organism may 
eventually be found to be capable of world-wide extension, 
and the poet’s dream of the parliament of man and the 
federation of the world may at some remote epoch be 
realised. But this far off event will not be hastened, but 
rather retarded, by any premature attempt to snatch attain- 
ment. A pebble dropped into a pond stirs in ever widen- 
ing waves the whole surface of the water, but the extension 
depends on the orderly progression of each succeeding circle. 
There are no sudden leaps in evolution. ‘“‘ From lower to 
the higher next, not to the top is Nature’s text.’’ It is 
by timely limitation that the due furtherance of the process 
is ensured. 
The evolution of empire is of intense interest to 
all, and is of vital importance to the British race, because 
it has stretched further afield and covers a greater and 
more diverse area than has ever been previously attempted. 
The idea which possessed many well disposed people at 
the advent of the International Exhibition epoch that the 
future rivalry of nations would take place in a fair field of 
industrial emulation, that fiscal barriers would be abolished, 
and that war would soon become an anachronism, must 
now, to say the least, be pronounced as premature. It is 
true that the nation, which was formerly regarded as the 
finished social product, has become the raw material out of 
which empires are constructed. The areas of government 
have consequently been extended, but it is only what may 
be regarded as division fences that have been removed. 
The ring fences are higher than ever. The international 
nexus is still of the feeblest texture, and organisation must 
for a long period continue to be intra- and not inter- 
imperial. Those are the best cosmopolitans, and_ best 
advance the destined solidarity, who pay due regard to the 
definite problems of the present. It is quite certain that 
the future will be attained by a continuance of the re- 
cognised methods of natural selection, namely, cooper- 
ation within the circle and competition without. It is well 
constantly to bear in mind the invariable biological rule 
that organisation must increase with size. Mere bulk 
without adequate organisation only serves to increase 
vulnerability. The view that the British Empire, the most 
extensive of all, can afford to remain less organised than 
any is a dangerous heresy. Not further aggregation but 
integration is the pressing need of the age, and the success 
which has in recent years attended the bringing of large 
areas under the federal form of government indicates that 
in federation will be found the best means of uniting the 
widely extended territories of Greater Britain. This in- 
dication is also supported by theoretical considerations, for 
federation affords the fullest scope for the variation and 
the adaptation to local conditions so indispensable to 
progress; while at the same time it provides sufficient 
integrating power to coordinate the diversified elements 
for defence and mutual advancement. It combines firmness 
with flexibility, and reconciles empire and liberty. 
In the middle of last century the government of the 
colonies from Downing Street was found to be impracti- 
‘cable, and such centralisation would be doubly impossible 
now that both area and diversity have so greatly increased. 
To the preceding generation of statesmen the only alter- 
native to the old colonial system appeared to be separation, 
and most assiduously they set to work to loosen the bonds 
and to facilitate the severance of the colonies from the Mother 
Country, and it was in order to pave the way to this desired 
dissolution that autonomy was granted. In adopting this 
ccurse they were, however, all unconsciously ministering to 
the evolutionary requirements of a combined and not of a 
disintegrated empire. For at that stage the prime necessity 
for higher organisation was to provide free play for the 
variation which the diverse circumstances of the widely 
scattered colonies demanded. ‘The result has been the un- 
fettered development of nations such as Canada and 
Australia, which have attained an individuality of their own 
NO. 1798, VOL 69] 
without any diminution, but rather with an increase, of 
attachment to the Mother Country. They are still 
daughters in their mother’s house, though mistress of their 
own. 
The requirement to-day is for sufficient integrating force 
to bring the diversified elements into organic union, so as 
to present a united front to the world and compete on equal 
terms with highly organised rivals. Tle harmonious evolu- 
tion of the empire will then appear as an orderly sequence 
from the unity of the old colonial system, through the 
diversity engendered by the “‘ beneficent neglect ’’ and 
apathy of fifty years ago up to the coordination of individual 
but component nations in imperial federation. From the 
scientific standpoint the subject is fascinating, but the 
question that presents itself to the practical British mind 
is whether it is possible from a study of the mode of oper- 
ation of the laws of evolution not only to comprehend the 
past, but to derive guidance for the future. 
The withdrawal of British troops from the colonies, 
although at the time the step was greatly regretted, en- 
abled the local defences, by a partial elimination of red 
tape, to be organised on lines better adapted to actual re- 
quirements; and we have seen with what advantage the 
different contingents cooperated on the veldt. Imperial 
countenance instead of discouragement to the development 
of similar individuality in naval affairs might be expected 
to yield equally good results. Many statesmen, both at 
home and in the colonies, have expressed the opinion that 
a mistake was made in granting fiscal autonomy to the 
colonies. This is probably an erroneous view; uniformity 
would have hindered the requisite variation. But that is 
no reason why, under an integrating influence, some form 
of coordination of tariffs might not now with advantage 
be effected. 
In a federation many matters which are ordinarily 
under central control devolve upon the component States 
and municipalities, and thereby congestion of the central 
Government is avoided and autonomy is fostered. Thus 
| the integrating influence in no way checks the working 
out of their own problems by the people on the spot who 
have the most intimate knowledge of local requirements. 
The time is far distant yet when a federal legislature can 
be established, but the sooner a permanent council of 
advice is erected the better for the avoidance of blunders 
in colonial administration. The integrating process must 
in no way be permitted to stunt colonial individuality and 
initiative; these should be treasured as the qualities which 
have led to the pre-eminence of the race. The refusal to 
crystallise into system is the characteristic of the Anglo- 
Saxon as compared with the Latin races, and from this 
capacity for variation springs the genius of the British race 
for successful colonisation and world-wide empire building. 
Joun A. COCKBURN. 
A BOTANICAL LABORATORY IN THE 
DESERT." 
THE great impetus given to physiological and cecological 
botany by the foundation of research laboratories 
within the tropics gives some indication of the latent possi- 
bilities of the new laboratory established in the desert, where 
the botanical problems awaiting solution are many and 
varied. While numerous observations have been made upon 
the morphology of desert-plants, only a few detached 
physiological experiments have been conducted on them; 
yet the desert, with its sharply marked and exaggerated 
characters, offers a favourable field for research into mani- 
fold phases of physiological activity, and such research 
cannot fail to bring to light truths having a general applica- 
tion to plants of all climes. : ‘ 
Again, inquiries into the details of the geographical dis- 
tribution should yield much valuable information. Of the 
flora of a desert tract it is known that many constituent 
species are descendants of outcasts from the adjoining more 
fertile lands, but that others belong to a few widespread 
orders or genera which reappear in deserts far apart, and 
thus show their antiquity of possession, and finally that 
1 “* Desert Botanical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution.” By F. V. 
Coville and D. T. MacDougal. (Washington, U.S.A. : Published by the 
Carnegie Institution, 1903.) 
