106 DARWINISM AND HUMAN LIFE 



The greatest contribution in this connection is 

 Bateson's work entitled, " Materials for the Study 

 of Variation," which showed that discontinuous 

 variations of certain kinds are not uncommon. 

 Abundant evidence is given of " the existence of 

 sudden and discontinuous variation ; the existence, 

 that is to say, of new forms having from their first 

 beginning more or less of the kind of perfection 

 that we associate with normahty." 



Mutations. — The idea that the Proteus may 

 leap as well as creep is prominent in the work of 

 the Dutch botanist De Vries, embodied in his 

 " Mutations-Theorie." De Vries tells the story, for 

 instance, of a stock of the evening primrose 

 {(Enothera lamarcMana), which he found as an 

 escape in a potato-field near Amsterdam. It was, 

 as it were, froUcking in its freedom ; " sporting," as 

 we say. Almost all its organs were varying, as 

 if swayed by a restless, internal tide. It showed 

 minute fluctuations from generation to generation ; 

 it showed extraordinary freaks, such as fasciation 

 and pitcher-forming; it showed hesitancy as to 

 how long it meant to live, for while most were 

 biennial, many were annual, and a few were 

 triennial ; best of all, it showed what seemed like 

 new species in the making. From this stock De 

 Vries obtained, in a short time, half a dozen or more 

 distinct varieties or elementary species, breeding 

 true generation after generation. He was led to 

 the important conclusion that " new varieties are 

 produced from existing forms by sudden leaps." * 



* It is unfortunate that nothing certain is known as to the origin 

 of (Enothera lamarcMana, which has been in cultivation for a 

 long time. It is possible that its "mutations" result from the 

 impurity of the stock, As Prof. S, J, Holmes says, in m interestiiig 



