12 PHILOSOPHICAL NOTES ON 



evolution. The only thing that can be studied without reference 

 to evolution, and that only partly so, is their economic use, 

 including their ornamental qualities, but this had been studied 

 all along by savages, without the ghost of a notion of the science 

 of botany.* 



Modern economic botany is only a further development of 

 the economic botany of savages, by the aid of chemistry, and the 

 manufacturing arts, and aesthetic development. 



In the course of these notes, when I say, " This is nothing 

 but," or " This is so and so," it is only a mode of diction, and 

 stands for " in my humble opinion," it is so and so ; or viewing it 

 with the small light I possess, " I think it is so and so," or " think 

 its interpretation should be so and so." 



In the " Cultivated Oranges and Lemons of India and Ceylon," 

 I simply sketched out, in a vague way, what I thought may be the 

 origin of the teeth of leaves, the oil glands of the citrus, as well as 

 its peel. 



Since its publication, I have hunted for evidence in support 

 of my theories, and I was not long in finding, as I think, a great 

 deal. In these notes, I have endeavoured to work out those same 

 points, as far as they are at present workable, besides others 

 connected with different parts of other plants. 



In referring back, all the land plants we see around us, to 

 plants lower down the scale, such as sea- weeds, we must not lose 

 sight of the fact, that besides cross fertilization, fusion and atroj^hy^ 

 partial or complete, have been tioo of the great factors of 

 modification in plants. 



On one occasion I told a friend, a noted horticulturist, that all 

 his roses and lilies were made out of seaweeds. He said, 

 " What is your authority for all this ? " At first I felt rather 

 small, because I could not quote any authority for what he thought 

 an absurdity. But recovering myself, after a few moments, I 

 said " L'autorite, c'est moi " in this particular instance ; I am 

 backed, however, by the conceivers of evolution. 



On another occasion I was talking of fruits and such things, and 

 repeated the statement that they were all made out of seaweeds. 



* This only refers to the economic uses of wild plants, because the 

 evolution of cultivated plants could only have been brought about by the 

 advantage that man derived from their economic qualities. 



