SEPTEMBER 8, 1899. ] 
might as well spend his life and thought on 
Chinese puzzles as upon zoology. But that 
there is meaning and inspiration in the 
study of zoology requires no argument from 
me in this company, for on the altars of 
of this section still burns the sacred fire 
kindled by our absent members—Agassiz, 
Leidy, Cope, Allen, Marsh and a host of 
others who now ‘see as they are seen, and 
know as they are known.’ It is only for 
me to endeavor to point out some ways in 
which that study may be most productive. 
If the doctrine of evolution has so illumi- 
nated the way, given meaning and point to 
the work which it never had before, it is 
pertinent to ask, to what are we indebted 
for the general belief in this doctrine? No 
better answer can be given than in the 
words of Darwin himself in the introduc- 
tion to the ‘Origin of Species:’ ‘It is, 
therefore, of the highest importance to gain 
a clear insight into the means of modifica- 
tion and coadaptation. At the commence- 
ment of my observations it seemed to me 
probable that a careful study of domesti- 
cated animals and cultivated plants would 
offer the best chance of making out this ob- 
scure problem. Nor have I been disap- 
pointed ; in this and in all other perplex- 
ing cases I have invariably found that our 
knowledge, imperfect though it be, of varia- 
tion under domestication, afforded the) best 
and safest clue. I may venture to express 
my conviction of the high value of such 
studies, although they have been very com- 
monly neglected by naturalists.” In a 
work published on this side of the Atlantic, 
the author, Professor L. H. Bailey, a mem- 
ber of our old Section of Biology, boldly 
faces those who, still doubting, say: ‘‘ per- 
form this miracle of changing one species 
into another before our eyes, and we will 
believe ;”’ and says: ‘If species are not 
original entities in nature, then it is useless 
to quarrel over the origination of them by 
means of experiment. All we want to 
_ SCIENCE. 
307 
know, as a proof of evolution, is whether 
plants and animals can be profoundly modi- 
fied by different conditions, and if these 
modifications tend to persist. Every man 
before me knows, as a matter of common 
observation and practice, that this is true 
of plants. He knows that varieties with the 
most marked features are passing before him 
like a panorama. He knows that nearly 
every plant which has been long cultivated 
has become so profoundly and irrevocably 
modified that people are disputing as to 
what wild species it came from. Consider 
that we cannot certainly identify the orig- 
inal species of the apple, peach, plum, cherry, 
orange, lemon, wine grape, sweetpotato, 
Indian corn, melon, bean, pumpkin, wheat, 
chrysanthemum, and nearly or quite a hun- 
dred other common cultivated plants. It 
is immaterial whether they are called 
species or varieties. They are new forms. 
Some of them are so distinct thatthey have 
been made the types of genera. Here is an 
experiment to prove that evolution is true, 
worked out upon a scale and with a de- 
finiteness of detail which the boldest ex- 
perimenter could not hope to attain, were 
he to live a thousand years. The horti- 
culturist is one of the very few men whose 
distinct business and profession is evolution, 
He, of all other men, has the experimental 
proof that species come and go.” *** * Al- 
most or quite as strong a statement might be 
made concerning domestic animals, as stock 
breeders and fanciers well know. But the 
more cautious may say, and have said: 
“This is the work of man’s hands; man 
who ate of the forbidden tree and became 
like unto the gods, a lesser creator.’’ Well, 
here again, ages before coming under man’s 
dominion one of the domestic forms gave 
the final demonstration. 
Those who have read the masterly ar- 
gument of Huxley in the American ad- 
dresses on evolution, the address of Marsh 
before the old natural history section of this 
