1891 IDEA OF AN INSTITUT TEANSPOEMISTE 269 

 ' AN INSTITUT TEANSPOEMISTE.' 



In an English translation of a lecture which was 

 recently delivered by M. Giard, as Professor of Evo- 

 lutionary Biology in France, there occurs the following 

 passage : 



' If evolutionists must content themselves in most 

 cases with experiments carried on in nature, or those 

 of breeders, instead of applying themselves to verifica- 

 tions made with all the rigour of modern scientific 

 precision, is it not because of the deplorable insuf- 

 ficiency of our laboratories ? It is astonishing that 

 in no country, not even where science is held in 

 greatest honour, does there yet exist an Institut 

 transformiste devoted to the long and costly experi- 

 ments now indispensable for the progress of evolu- 

 tionary biology.' 



That an institution of the kind in question would 

 tend to promote the solution of problems in ' evolu- 

 tionary biology,' it seems needless to argue. Many 

 of the most desirable experiments in heredity and 

 variation, for example, require such prolonged time 

 and such constant attention, that it is practically im- 

 possible for individual workers to undertake them ; 

 and, therefore, as M. Giard observes, they have never 

 been undertaken. But if there were an Institut 

 transformiste to which material might be sent from 

 any part of the world, with directions as to its treat- 

 ment, biologists of all countries would be furnished 

 with an opportunity of experimentally testing any 

 ideas which might occur to them in regard to these 

 or kindred matters. 



