NEW CREATIONS IN PLANT LIFE 
reduced foliage surface, while in moist ch- 
mates thorns are seldom seen, and foliage 
is more abundant and not so often acrid 
or distasteful. Similar environments produce 
similar results on the life-forces, even with 
the most distantly related plants or animals. 
This fact alone should be proof enough, 
if proof were still needed, that acquired 
characters are transmitted, even though in 
opposition to numerous popular theories. 
All characters which are transmitted have 
once been acquired. The life-forces are con- 
stantly pressing forward to obtain any space 
which can be occupied, and if they find 
an open avenue, always make use of it, 
as far as heredity will allow.” 
In this new century the new man comes, 
discarding the narrow canvases of the studios, 
and, upon the great canvas of the earth 
itself, he traces the supreme function of 
Nature, the Crossing of Species; and with 
this, the working of a vital Principle eternally 
recording Heredity, that sum of all past 
environments. He sees all Motion, all Life, 
all Force, all so-called Matter, following the 
same law of heredity in plant- and animal- 
350 
