﻿{48 
  NEW 
  YORK 
  STATE 
  MUSEUM 
  

  

  tive 
  adaptation 
  has 
  once 
  begun, 
  any 
  hope 
  of 
  salvation 
  within 
  the 
  

   organism 
  or 
  group 
  of 
  organisms, 
  of 
  turning 
  back, 
  recouping 
  

   and 
  starting 
  again 
  on 
  the 
  upward 
  path. 
  In 
  the 
  face 
  of 
  the 
  

   counter 
  evidence 
  h^re 
  set 
  forth, 
  the 
  conclusion 
  is 
  unavoidable 
  that, 
  

   for 
  a 
  large 
  part 
  of 
  humanity 
  ethical 
  philosophies 
  are 
  inefficient 
  and 
  

   illusive. 
  

  

  The 
  lines 
  of 
  progress 
  in 
  organic 
  life 
  have 
  steered 
  wide 
  of 
  these 
  

   dependent 
  existences 
  or 
  have 
  maintained 
  their 
  charted 
  course 
  in 
  

   spite 
  of 
  them. 
  

  

  Great 
  groups 
  of 
  organisms, 
  classes, 
  orders 
  and 
  sub 
  kingdoms 
  

   have 
  been 
  so 
  permeated 
  by 
  degeneracy 
  of 
  growth 
  that 
  their 
  life, 
  

   lasting, 
  it 
  may 
  be, 
  from 
  almost 
  the 
  dawn 
  of 
  existence 
  to 
  the 
  present, 
  

   has 
  had 
  no 
  other 
  outcome 
  than 
  to 
  perpetuate 
  a 
  depraved 
  race. 
  Such 
  

   a 
  race, 
  however 
  broad 
  its 
  boundaries 
  and 
  long 
  its 
  perdurance, 
  has 
  

   been 
  entirely 
  outside 
  the 
  general 
  path 
  of 
  that 
  upward 
  advance 
  

   which 
  has 
  led 
  to 
  the 
  higher 
  expressions 
  of 
  life. 
  I 
  would 
  cite 
  the 
  

   mollusks 
  as 
  such 
  a 
  great 
  division 
  of 
  organisms. 
  Created 
  free 
  and 
  

   independent, 
  their 
  almost 
  universal 
  acquisition 
  of 
  shell 
  protection 
  

   has 
  kept 
  them 
  down 
  to 
  earth 
  or 
  made 
  them 
  grubbers 
  in 
  the 
  mud 
  of 
  

   the 
  ocean. 
  Only 
  a 
  few 
  of 
  them, 
  by 
  acquirement 
  rather 
  than 
  by 
  

   endowment, 
  sail 
  the 
  seas, 
  and 
  the 
  floating 
  habit, 
  says 
  a 
  well 
  known 
  

   writer, 
  is 
  nearly 
  related 
  to 
  the 
  sessile. 
  They 
  have 
  progressed 
  only 
  

   within 
  the 
  narrow 
  limitations 
  of 
  their 
  own 
  race. 
  Out 
  of 
  them 
  

   has 
  come 
  nothing 
  better. 
  No 
  lines 
  of 
  progressive 
  evolution 
  lead 
  

   from 
  the 
  higher 
  organisms 
  back 
  to 
  them, 
  but 
  all 
  pass 
  them 
  by. 
  

   We 
  do 
  not 
  even 
  know 
  the 
  real 
  relations 
  of 
  the 
  great 
  subdivision 
  

   of 
  the 
  Mollusca 
  to 
  the 
  molluscoids 
  — 
  the 
  brachiopods 
  and 
  bryo- 
  

   zoans; 
  whether 
  these 
  are 
  not 
  degenerative 
  expressions 
  from 
  the 
  

   early 
  mollusks 
  rather 
  than 
  stages 
  along 
  the 
  line 
  of 
  develop- 
  

   ment 
  to 
  higher 
  molluscan 
  forms. 
  We 
  do 
  know 
  that 
  all 
  have 
  

   filled 
  the 
  earth 
  and 
  sea 
  of 
  today 
  with 
  representatives 
  in 
  no 
  sub- 
  

   stantial 
  degree 
  different 
  from 
  their 
  ancestors 
  of 
  the 
  Silurian. 
  

  

  Were 
  we 
  to 
  begin 
  an 
  investigation 
  of 
  the 
  degenerate 
  condition 
  

   pervading 
  nature 
  and 
  to 
  start 
  with 
  man 
  and 
  his 
  more 
  than 
  one 
  

   hundred 
  species 
  of 
  parasites, 
  there 
  would 
  be 
  but 
  one 
  conclusion 
  of 
  

   our 
  excursion; 
  it 
  was 
  clearly 
  stated 
  long 
  ago: 
  — 
  the 
  whole 
  creation 
  

   groaneth 
  and 
  travaileth. 
  

  

  In 
  the 
  more 
  innocent 
  expressions 
  of 
  symbiosis 
  termed 
  mutualism 
  

   and 
  comroensalism, 
  where 
  associations 
  of 
  organisms 
  are 
  purely 
  

  

  