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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No. 384. 



fifteen years. For sooner or later must 

 begin the struggle for existence, and the 

 species which is best adapted will come out 

 triumphant. But it is not a struggle be- 

 tween individuals, as is commonlj^ believed, 

 but w^ar between species. The question is 

 whether 0. gigas or 0. ruirinervis, or per- 

 haps 0. nanella or some other species will 

 be best adapted to the new environment. 

 Only then will be decided which shall re- 

 main and which shall go. 



Here we have elimination of the weak, 

 selection of the strong. ' Many are called 

 but few are chosen.' In Nature this is 

 true of species as well as of individuals. 



The development of the entire plant 

 kingdom points to a gradual progress. 

 Nature passes from simple to complex, 

 from generalities to particulars, from the 

 lower to the more highly organized, from 

 species with few characters to those which 

 possess a countless number. Are our mu- 

 tations a step forward in this direction? 

 I believe I am able to answer this question 

 in the affirmative, if we except perhaps 0. 

 lata, which possesses feminine characters 

 only, and the dwarf forms, whose type is 

 too common. 



It is exactly, because of this peculiarity 

 that I arrive at this conclusion. Dwarfs 

 constitute the only type which is also met 

 with among other species, a type Avhich is 

 found among a large number of plants, 

 such as daHias, chrysanthemums, agera- 

 tums and a long list of species belonging to 

 the most widely divergent families. A 

 dwarf form is therefore nothing new^, it 

 is but an old principle under a new guise. 

 The same is true for so many other forms 

 which in horticultural and systematic bot- 

 any are dignified by the name of variety. 

 AAHiite varieties are found among most red- 

 or blue-flowered species; with hirsute or 

 thorny species occur nearly as many 

 glabrous or thornless forms. Such repeti- 

 tions are evidently no progress. They con- 



tribute largely to the great variety of 

 Nature, but are usually retrogressive and 

 not progressive changes. And ordinarily 

 they deviate from the species in but a 

 single character, something indicated as a 

 rule by the name. 



Quite different from this are the muta- 

 tions of Oenothera. Recognizable as seed- 

 lings, as rosettes differing in shape, edge 

 and color of the root-leaves, and later with 

 stems differing in striicture and mode of 

 branching, agreeing in the flowers, vary- 

 ing in the fruits, they possess a type en- 

 tirely their own, a type quite novel. 

 Neither in other species of this genus nor 

 in other genera belonging to the same fam- 

 ily, nor anywhere else in the plant king- 

 dom, do we find a ruhrinervis or an albida 

 with all their distinctive characters. Here 

 we have something absolutely new, some- 

 thing entirely original. 



My observations constitute but a fii-st 

 step in a new direction. But that direc- 

 tion is the one demanded by the times. 



Any advance in our knowdedge depends 

 on the possibility of seeing species origi- 

 nate. Of course this does not refer to 

 present species. Such a thing would be 

 as impossible, as absurd, as expecting to 

 witness the birth of an individual already 

 inhabiting the earth. The species living at 

 I^resent are too old. But they may give 

 rise to new ones. There seems to be suffi- 

 cient reason for suspecting that this is 

 happening at this very moment, and in our 

 immediate surroundings, only we are not 

 aware of it. Such cases must therefore be 

 searched for with great care and patience. 

 Once found, they must be carefully and ex- 

 tensively studied. The one case which I 

 have mentioned here shows sufficiently the 

 great treasure of new facts wliich lies 

 witliin our reach. All that is necessaiy is 

 to overcome the fii-st difficulties. 



Not only would such studies aid the 

 theories of science, but they would also be 



