1 882.] Editors' Table. 663 



occur; yet every anomaly of excess is a new step forward in 

 organic specialization, and if preserved must yield an advanced 

 species. When it does occur a decided change in organization 

 takes place immediately instead of gradually as in the variation 

 of mature individuals. Instead of natural selection of slight dif- 

 ferences in mature beings doing all the work in the evolution of 

 species, the process of germinal selection may be the primary 

 force at work. The lever of change is fixed lower down in the 

 line of development, and thus its lifting power is greatly en- 

 hanced. The origin of every new species may be a matured 

 monstrosity, representing either a partial reversion to ancestral 

 conditions, or the gaining of new and increased powers. Upon 

 this long step outward from the normal, selection at once acts. 

 The animal may perish. Its hereditary tendencies may hinder the 

 employment of its special powers, and thus cause them to become 

 gradually obliterated. The sexual union of such an animal with a 

 normal one, must also tend to obliterate the points of distinction. 

 Yet in rare cases all these difficulties may be overcome. The 

 animal may produce offspring possessing and employing its new 

 powers. The exercise of these powers will gradually overcome 

 the hereditary tendencies, produce a new accord with nature, and 

 tlraw the new form further and further away from its race, until a 

 specific difference is fully established. 



The hypothesis of natural selection, as usually advanced, has 

 proved insufficient to explain all the phenomena of organic varia- 

 tion. This hypothesis of germinal selection may serve to fill the 

 gap and explain the lack of linking forms between species. 



EDITORS' TABLE. 



EDITORS : A. S. PACKARD, JR., AND E. D. COPE. 



Progress moves slowly in the Philadelphia Academy. 



Since the election of a scientific man to the presidency of the 

 institution, several opportunities of recognizing that class of its 

 members have occurred, and have been thrown away. Perhaps 

 the anti-scientifics only needed a reputable figure-head to place 

 them in a more impregnable position than ever. The deaths of 

 two curators of no scientific reputation or position, was an excel- 

 lent opportunity to honor some of the younger scientists of our 

 city who have already made their mark. But with the grip of 

 the dying miser on his gold, the residuary legatees of reaction 



