UNDER THE APPLE-TREES 
Il 
More than any other man of our era, Charles 
Darwin has contributed to the tremendous growth 
which biological science has made in our time. No 
matter whether his theory of natural selection as 
an adequate explanation of the origin of species 
stands the test of time or not, it aroused men’s 
minds to the feasibility of the subject for scientific 
investigation. The questions Darwin put to Na- 
ture were all fruitful and stimulating. Whether 
he got the right answers or not, he showed men 
how to question and cross-question her, and showed 
that she was not so dumb as we had thought. 
Darwin loosed the whole animal world from its 
moorings in the theory of the fixity of species, and 
set it afloat on the sea of change. His solution of 
the origin of the various forms is bound to be 
greatly modified, may be negatived altogether, but 
he did a mighty service to biological science in 
simply raising the question of their instability, and 
in calling attention to the natural grounds upon 
which their stereotyped characters may be ques- 
tioned. Life is so fluid and elastic, so various and 
adaptive, that, on a priori grounds, one would say 
that species are not rigid and fixed. Darwin’s proof 
that they are not is overwhelming, and his provi- 
sional explanation of how their origin was brought 
about is stimulating if not convincing. He was a 
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