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SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



species ; but like the French queen in another con- 

 nection, nous ne voyons pas la necessity. 



If we are ever to arrive at a plausible theory of 

 evolution by natural selection, Mr. Bateson thinks 

 it will be by the study of variation : "Of this one 

 thing there is no doubt, that if the problem of 

 species is to be solved at all, it must be by the 

 study of variation." 



What constitutes the chief point in Mr. Bateson's 

 divergent views is that the variations out of which 

 new species are made are not those small variations 

 required by Darwin and others, but what he 

 calls discontinuous variations. That is to say, 

 variations which appear suddenly and perfect, 

 though not necessarily large in amount, instead of 

 being connected by insensible gradations with the 

 normal type. Such variations are usually looked 

 upon as freaks, monstrosities, or abnormalities, and 

 have been usually, we believe indeed universally, 

 rejected by evolutionists as having taken no part 

 in the origin of species. Mr. Bateson shows by a 

 very large collection of examples that such varia- 

 tions are exceedingly common. Among these 

 such monstrosities as extra fingers and toes in 

 man, extra digits in animals, extra wings in 

 insects, and such like, figure largely. We suppose 

 that it is out of these that Mr. Bateson would 

 manufacture his new species ; but when we ask for 

 evidence of the possibility, or probability, of this 

 taking place, or for details of the supposed modus 

 operandi, we are met by the same ominous silence 

 which hangs over the crucial points in other 

 theories of evolution by natural selection. The 

 same cloud rests over the place where the big step 

 has to be taken. Faith is required, and our guides 

 invite us to take their hands and step on. With 

 plausible words, scientific platitudes, and occult 

 allusions to the mysteries of nature, they fan the 

 wound which their want of logic is making in the 

 mind of the reader, who, weakened by the loss of 

 intellectual blood, is presently invited to observe 

 that the difficulty is past. 



Mr. Bateson, however, is properly modest as to 

 what he has shown : " But, as often happens, that 

 which may not show the right road is enough to 

 show that the way taken has been wrong, and so it 

 is with this evidence." This is true; only many of 

 us saw it very clearly without this evidence, and 

 perhaps see it no more clearly for its assistance. 

 Indeed, with the substitution of " does " for " may," 

 the above describes exactly the result arrived at by 

 all amenders of the theory of natural selection as 

 held by Darwin. Their united testimony, indeed, 

 is strong, for they are unanimous in declaring that 

 the wrong road has been taken, while they all point 

 to different directions as the right one. 



Mr. Bateson seems to strike the keynote of the 

 matter when he says of the difficulties besetting 

 the Uiual conception of evolution by the selection 



of minute variations: "These difficulties have 

 oppressed all those who have thought upon these 

 matters for themselves, and they have caused some 

 anxiety even to the faithful. And if in the face of 

 the difficulties reasonable men have still held on, 

 it has not been that the obstacles were unseen, but 

 rather that they have hoped a way through them 

 would be found." Or else, we may add, they 

 have, like Weismann, adhered to the old view in 

 spite of the overwhelming difficulties which they 

 have keenly felt, because the only alternative is 

 the origin of species by design. 



Surely, however, Mr. Bateson misunderstands 

 the case when he says : " For, since all the diffi- 

 culties grew out of the assumption that the course 

 of variation is continuous, with evidence that 

 variation may be discontinuous, for the present 

 at least the course is clear again." 



Darwin and Wallace did not suppose that species 

 arose from continuous variation because they were 

 unacquainted with the discontinuous form brough 

 forward by Mr. Bateson. They deliberately chose 

 the former as presenting the fewest difficulties, and 

 as most consistent with their general theory. 

 Sudden variations, indeed, are a special difficulty 

 from certain points of views. It required the 

 exceedingly minute variations which Darwin 

 assumed to be able to meet the objection, that in 

 all historical time no change of species has taken 

 place, with the usual reply, "there has not been 

 time." When Mr. Wallace showed, as he thought, 

 that variation is much greater than even Darwin 

 supposed, he increased one difficulty in smoothing 

 away another. If we are to accept the still larger 

 variations of Mr. Bateson, this special difficulty 

 will be further increased. Indeed, the removal of 

 any difficulty in this difficult theory seems ever to 

 render another more prominent. 



Again, the assertion that all difficulties grew out 

 of the assumption that the course of variation is 

 continuous can scarcely be upheld. For one great 

 difficulty, perhaps the greatest difficulty the theory 

 has had to encounter, is that of the requisite isola- 

 tion of the incipient species. Another is the 

 continued existence of low and undeveloped forms 

 of life, which, if variation and natural selection 

 were a vera causa, should long ago' have attained 

 higher rank in the zoological scale. This difficulty 

 can only be met by the assumption of spontaneous 

 generation, which modern naturalists are loath to 

 admit, though some — we may quote Haeckel and 

 Weismann as examples — perceive that it is a logical 

 necessity. 



Now, neither of these difficulties can be said to 

 have grown out of the above assumption: all the 

 difficulties felt by Mr. Bateson may have arisen 

 thus, but not all those felt by others. The one 

 thing clearly indicated by the facts is, Mr. Bateson 

 thinks, "that the discontinuity of species results 



