230 



THE AMERICAN NATURALIST 



[Vol. XL VI 



One of the commonest fallacies of the older morphol- 

 ogy was to regard simpler structures as more ancient 

 and complicated ones as more specialized and modern. 

 This error is very deeply implanted in the existing highly 

 artificial systematic arrangement of the higher plants. 

 For example in the case of the conifers, the Taxaceae 

 are put lower than the Pinaceae, on account of the simpler 

 organization of their reproductive and vegetative struc- 

 tures. The paleobotanical record, however, shows us 

 clearly that the Pinaceae, particularly the abietineous 

 Pinaceae, are among the most ancient representatives of 

 the coniferous stock, while the Taxaceae, particularly the 

 genus Taxus, stand for the class in its most modern con- 

 dition of development. Let us take another illustration 

 from the Angiosperms. Systematic text-books invari- 

 ably place the Monocotyledones below the Dicotyledones, 

 on the basis of their simpler organization. This view 

 of the matter does not accord, however, with the results 

 of anatomical and paleobotanical research, which clearly 

 show that the Monocotyledones are neither ancient in 

 their occurrence nor primitive in their organization, but 

 represent a condition of reduction from ancestors which 

 were essentially dicotyledonous in their more important 

 characteristics. These two illustrations, which might be 

 multiplied indefinitely from systematic works, show that 

 the older morphology was essentially fanciful and phil- 

 osophical in its methods and by no means worthy of the 

 name of an inductive science. 



The new morphology, purely inductive in its pro- 

 cedure, is solidly founded on the testimony of the rocks 

 and considers no sequence valid, unless it is clearly 

 supported by the evidence derived from the study of 

 fossil forms. It shows itself moreover scientific in 

 its firm adhesion to valid general principles and 

 its disregard of uncoordinated facts. These general 

 principles too are few in number and are as easily 

 grasped in their simplest form as are the great general- 

 izations of the sister sciences, chemistry, physics and 



