BACON. 



93 



the other. They may well be classed with the singular or hetero- 

 dite instances ; for in the whole system of things, they are rare and 

 extraordinary. Yet from their dignity they must be treated of 

 and classed separately, for they point out admirably the order and 

 constitution of things, and suggest the causes of the number and 

 quality of the more common species in the Universe, leading the 

 understanding from that which is, to that which is possible. We 

 have examples of them in Moss, which is something between pu- 

 trescence and a plant ; in some Comets, which hold a place between 

 stars and ignited meteors ; in Flying Fishes, between fishes and 

 birds ; and in Bats, between birds and quadrupeds." 



Bacon also observed " that plants sometimes de- 

 generate to the point of changing into other plants," 

 but so far as I know gave no grounds of support 

 for this opinion. These quotations show that even 

 at the beginning of the seventeenth century, the 

 mutability of species was a live question, which was 

 being more or less discussed, and that mutability 

 was seen in its modern bearings upon* Evolution. 



Bacon went further, and in his Nova Atlantis we 

 find he projects the establishment of a Scientific 

 Institution, to be devoted to the progress of the 

 natural sciences, for experiments upon the meta- 

 morphoses of organs and observations upon what 

 causes species to vary ; for researches which would 

 reveal the manner in which species had multiplied 

 and become diversified in a state of Nature. After 

 three centuries this project is materializing so that 

 one of our new experimental stations might well 

 be called the Baconian Institute of Experimental 

 Evolution. 



