THE SELF-FERTILIZATION OF PLANTS. 349 



have appealed to many plants, of the first-class, — name- 

 ly, those which are very fertile, though self-fertilized, — 

 which conclusively show, that, however much evi- 

 dence Darwin may accumulate to justify his "law," 

 there is an immense array of evidence which obviously 

 militates against any such induction as he would fain 

 draw. 



Darwin, 1 piqued by the distrust displayed, in many 

 quarters, towards his "law of nature," resolutely de- 

 termines to- confound all of the incredulous, by the re- 

 sults of a series of experiments which he has partially 

 made, and which he intends to continue. He declares, 

 that he intends to "settle forever" the question, by 

 means of the experiments he is now conducting, with 

 many plants of a certain species. 



It will, doubtless, be the occasion of some amuse- 

 ment to those who find that the theory of proportion- 

 ate development reconciles all of the vast array of 

 seemingly conflicting evidences, on this point, to see 

 Darwin patiently experimenting with many plants of 

 one species, in the full confidence, that his results will 

 confound all of those who dared to draw into question 

 what he, the autocrat of the world of natural history, 

 had declared to be a " law of nature." 



The cream of the joke lies in this, That the results, 

 of his experiments, depend entirely upon the struct- 

 ural condition of the species, which, he fixes upon, 

 with which to experiment ! If the species he were to 

 determine to use, had, as its individuals, ones which 

 had no characters reduced to a rudimentary condition, 

 or had no character pushed to the extreme of develop- 

 30* 



