7o 



THE ATLANTIC SLOPE NATURALIST. 



enburg made passible through the 

 printing press, the recording and pres- 

 ervation of the thoughts of men in 

 such a manner as would not have oth- 

 erwise been possible. With it litera- 

 ture has been preserved that otherwise 

 would have been lost. In the strug- 

 gle between the writing of the old 

 manuscripts and the printing of them^ 

 the latter being the fittest has sur- 

 vived, and the former, in the sense 

 here used, has succumbed. 



The universality of the application 

 of this principle may be easily illus- 

 trated in almost any department of 

 human knowledge, but it is to the 

 naturalist and to the anthropologist 

 that it especially appeals. Another 

 illustration of a different character 

 may be taken 



Suppose, for example, we take the 

 growth of the plant from the seed. 

 With the incipiency of growth, the 

 struggle for existence, although it is 

 an unconscious one, begins. Environ- 

 ment on ever} 7 hand affec.s it in some 

 way ; it may ne supposed a favorable 

 effect, and if so, in a very short time 

 it makes itself manifest. From the 

 seed comes the miniature plant with 

 all of its root, stem and organs of veg- 

 etation which later, if the favorable 

 environment still continues ultimately 

 gives rise to the organs of reproduc- 

 tion, the flower, fruit and the seed, 

 and with the proper performance 

 of the physiological functions through 

 these organs, we have for the plant 

 its complete cycle of life accom- 

 plished, its work is finished, and its 

 destiny is completed; it has lived and 

 grown and had its being. 



This life historj* of the plant is not 

 a simple one, nor is it easily lived. 

 It may have been a short one accom- 

 plished in a single season, or it 

 may have occupied years. It matters 

 not which it may have been, it has 

 been surrounded on all sides by 

 innumerable difficulties, both external 

 and internal, and that it should have 

 survived is truly wonderful. Exter- 



nally other plants, temperature, hu- 

 midity, soil and animal life have been 

 factors of importance, and internally 

 the growth and the relative develop- 

 ment of the different plant tissues have 

 been features of the greatest import- 

 ance. Not merely do we find in 

 plants and other organisms a struggle 

 with environment and other life forms 

 for existence, but we actually find 

 in most, if not all, an internal 

 struggle within the plant or ani- 

 mal bod} 7 of its own different struct- 

 ures for their development and sur- 

 vival. Reverting to the plant again, 

 an illustration may be taken from the 

 buds. In most plants that have leaves 

 we find that in the axil of each leaf a 

 bud is present and the tendency of a 

 bud is that it should grow and develop 

 into a bianeh with its leaves the suc- 

 ceeding season. Tins is never fully 

 accomplished. Were it so, the 

 branches would in a few 7 seasons he- 

 come so numerous as to interfere with, 

 if not stop growth entirely. Some of 

 the buds start growth in the spring 

 time and others remain dormant. 

 Those growing have some slight favor- 

 able condition usually difficult to rec- 

 ognize, as size or position, which 

 gives them an advantage, and these 

 are the ones which grow ; should, for 

 any reason, as frequentlj 7 happens with 

 the occurrence of a late spring frost, 

 they be destroyed; the dormant buds 

 are at once placed in an advanageous 

 position in the struggle for existence, 

 they then become the more fit and they 

 consequent^* survive. Any other por- 

 tion of the plant may be taken to il- 

 lustrate the same principle. 



Among the lower animals illustra- 

 tions of this principle may be found 

 ad infinitum. Take for example, the 

 young of any species of animal all of 

 which possess some characteristic in 

 which they differ from one another; 

 for, it is an established fact, that no 

 two individuals are alike in all par- 

 ticulars; and, being different, it fol- 

 lows that some will possess certain 



