164 THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY 
because it was neither classified observations of phe- 
nomena nor their experimental investigation. The second stage 
reached b » who a methodical series of observations 
wa 
Species was an object of inquiry. The third stage is reached in t 
co-ordinating and re-constructing investigations of Galton, of Karl 
f 
to observed facts by series of experimental investigations. Further, 
it has been laid down that the chief object of all experimentation is 
ed. 
| the earlier part of the volume the author points out that in 
the origin of variations Darwin cognized two possibilities. 
To quote the author himself, who tersely summarizes the state- 
ts: ‘* One means of change lies in the sudden and spontaneous 
production of new forms from the old st thod is 
the gradual accumulation of those always-present and ever-fluctuat- 
ing variations which are indicated by the common assertion that 
no two individuals of a give 
tions to the sieve of natural selection. 
The author’s general statements are conveyed in the first thirty- 
