NEW CREATIONS IN PLANT LIFE 
It seems but fair to say that very much of 
these systems has been built up upon a 
slender base of experimentation. From his 
unparalleled opportunities of observation he 
arrives at certain conclusions. He does not 
ignore the Survival of the Fittest or the 
principles of Natural Selection, but he goes 
beyond them. The grand principal cause 
of all existing species and varieties of earth, 
sea and air, he holds to be the Crossing of 
Species. Upon this point he says: 
“The very existence of the higher orders 
of plants which now inhabit the earth has 
been secured to them only by their power 
of adaptation to crossings, for through the 
variations produced by the combination of 
numerous tendencies, individuals are pro- 
duced which are better endowed to meet 
the prevailing conditions of life. Thus, to 
Nature’s persistence in crossing do we owe 
all that earth now produces in man, animals 
or plants; and this magnificently stupendous 
fact may also be safely carried into the 
domain of chemistry as well; for what are 
common air and water but Nature’s earlier 
efforts in that line, and our nourishing foods 
348 
