BOTANY. 1 
''Fortuitous Variations in Eupatorium " is the title of a 
paper recently read by Lester F. Ward before the Biological i^o- 
ciety of Washington. This was an interesting and suggestive talk 
without being a set paper, and led to many remarks by mem- 
bers present. Several definitions of life have been given, but 
Prof. Ward considered the best to be "a general tendency on 
the part of living matter to multiply itself, to increase its quan- 
tity.*' This increase may take place in all directions, and often 
does take place in more than one. If it is not in all directions it i 
because of obstacles in the way, and the real increase is in the di- 
rection of least resistance. Many variations are noticeable in both 
plant and animal world, that are apparently of no special advan- 
tage to the organism. These chance or fortuitous variations can 
scarcely have been produced by natural selection, inasmuch as 
there is no appreciable or even imaginable value in them to the 
plant or animal. There are, to be sure, many which are of advan- 
tage, and these are acted upon and improved through natural selec- 
tion. Darwin has said, though with many reservations, that only 
advantageous variations are selected and preserved. This does not 
seem to be at all universally the case. Quantity not quality is the 
end for which nature strives, and this may be considered an almost 
universal law. Perfection in structure is a secondary consideration, 
while increase of quantity is of primary importance. Prof. Ward 
did not believe all variations were of use to plants. The general 
tendency to vary in every direction is often counterbalanced by a de- 
termined progress in one direction, and this is generally useful. The 
specimens of Eupatorium were so arranged as to show the variations 
in the leaves, these being more prominent than in the flowers. The 
leaves varied from finely dissected to linear, then to lanceolate and 
ovate. One hybrid with intermediate leaves was shown. There 
are about four hundred species in the genus, most of them South 
American, one Australian, and about thirty North American. The 
fact of great variation in the plants was undoubted. The fact of 
these being all beneficial is not proved. How a sharp or an obtuse 
point, a serrate or a crenate margin to a leaf would be of any ben- 
efit to a plant in any situation he could not see. Therefore it 
seemed to him that many of these variations should be considered 
fortuitous or chance variations due to the general tendency of all 
life to increase in all directions and so adding to the total quantity 
of life in the world. 
Dr. :Merriam rather dissented from the views of Prof. Ward, he 
believing the variations to be generally of some slight advantage, 
' Edited by Charles E. Bessey, Lincoln, Neb. 
