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THE AMEBIC AN NATURALIST [Vol. XL VII 



briefly that no sin-He person ever noticed the seattered passages in his 



Grant Allen in his biography of Darwin (1888) calls 

 Patrick Matthew the unconscious author of the principle 

 of natural selection which he applied in his book on naval 

 timber to the entire Nature. 



Here then is a most interesting fact which seems to me 

 of deep significance to foresters. The first Darwinian, 

 who twenty-nine years before Darwin formulated the law 

 of natural selection, was a forester. I shall not attempt 

 here to compare Darwin's and Matthew's views on nat- 

 ural selection. Matthew's book, the full title of which is 

 "Naval Timber and Arboriculture, With Critical Notes 

 on Authors Who Have Recently Treated the Subject of 

 Planting," is accessible in the Congressional Library. 

 The chapter on Nature's Law of Selection I hope can be 

 reprinted in the next issue of the Proceedings of the So- 

 ciety of American Foresters, so that every one will be 

 able to draw the comparison for himself. 



In bringing together this evidence I am very far indeed 

 from any desire to detract in the least from the great 

 service which Darwin rendered to science. It was Dar- 

 win who first gave flesh and blood to the idea of natural 

 selection. It was his wonderful interpretation of all bio- 

 logical facts in the light of natural selection that made the 

 latter the universal law applicable to the entire organic 

 world. Before this accomplishment the claims of all 

 others must sink into obscurity. 



My purpose in assembling these records is twofold: 

 First, to restore the memory of one who ploughed the 

 same fields as we do now, the name of a forester whose 

 idea, although it did not perish, slumbered almost un- 

 known for nearly thirty years until another and bigger 

 man brought it to life and general recognition; and sec- 

 ond, to offer an explanation of the reason why a forester 

 above all others should be the one to observe and formu- 



