Hamilton Association. 



SESSION 1888-89 



IS SPECIES A NATURAL OR ARTIFICIAL DIVISION 

 IN NATURE? 



A Paper read before the Biological Section, December yth. 1888. 



BY J. ALSTON MOFFAT, 



(Member of the Council of the Entomological Society of Ontario.) 



Is Species a natural or an artificial division in Nature ? This 

 is a question that will bear a good deal of discussion ; for, although 

 volumes upon volumes have been written about the origin of 

 Species — what a Species is, and the correct use and application of 

 the term has been left in the most nebulous condition imaginable, 

 whilst, for practical value, this is of ten-fold more importance than 

 the other, and ought to have been definitely settled before ever the 

 other was discussed. 



Violent controversies have been and are being carried on about 

 Species with no profitable result, because the combatants are using 

 the same term whilst meaning quite different things. 



Wearied with the confusion, I found it necessary, for my own 

 comfort, to settle the question to my own satisfaction at least. So 

 I herewith give you my conclusions, and my reasons for them. 



We are often reminded that we should take Science exclusively 

 as our guide in the interpretation of Nature. I most unhesitatingly 

 and unreservedly accept the condition. The question immediately 

 arises, What is Science? As defined by Webster, it is, first, 

 "certain knowledge," and second, "knowledge arranged and 

 systematized." The only thing in which all men are born absolutely 

 equal, is in the matter of knowledge — that is, in the utter absence 

 of all knowledge. Time, opportunity and capacity is required for 

 the obtaining of knowledge — by our own observation and experience, 



