106 WALTER AUBREY KIDD, M.D., M.R.C.S., P.Z.S., ON 



and whei] the finished product has been reached, how wonder- 

 fully is this again distributed through the downward system 

 of tubes contained in the veins of the leaves ! Consider the 

 importance to the life of the plant of the minute stomata or 

 moutlis for the respiration of the plant, and surrounding each 

 of, generally, two special or " guard-cells," for the purpose of 

 closing or opening the stomata, by means of which the discharge 

 of moisture from the leaf is regulated ! 



Under the third head the reproductive parts of plants present 

 a wealth of marvellous and diversified means to ends, the 

 flowers and their parts, the fruit, the seed, each witli their 

 many forms of protection and means calculated to ensure their 

 dispersal. In addition to all the incalculable numbers of 

 individual adaptations coming under these heads, what 

 ingenious defensive mechanisms are presented by plants for 

 the general protection of the organism ? 



But any educated person has sufficient knowledge of elemen- 

 tary botany to appreciate the extent, variety, and vahie as 

 evidence for purpose in the adaptations among plants. Yet 

 this again does not exhaust the evidence, for not only is each 

 species a witness, but each sub-species, genus, sub-genus, family, 

 sub-family, order, sub-order, and class gives its independent and 

 separate testimony that different adaptations appropriate to the 

 needs of each have been produced. Further still does the testi- 

 mony extend when we remember that each individual plant 

 and each structure of each individual at all periods of its life, 

 and every plant in all parts of the world, which has existed 

 since the dawnings of vegetable life arose in the warm primeval 

 seas, supplies potential evidence for the existence of purpose. 

 The incalculable repetition of the evidence, and all of this 

 harmonious in its tendency, is not often taken into account 

 when the value of adaptations as evidence for design or purpose 

 is assessed. In a human court of law when the object is to 

 arrive at the substantial truth of the question at issue, a 

 frequent repetition of the same evidence from credible witnesses 

 could not fail to convince. 



It may be mentioned that the number of the existing species 

 of plants has been calculated roughly at 500,000. 



Among animals a mere mental survey of the fringe of the 

 subject of adaptations and their meaning is enough to bewilder. 

 It may be taken as generally true that the variety, number and 

 complexity of adaptations among animals vastly exceed those 

 among plants, and there is no need for surprise at this when 

 we consider the more complex life, especially arising from the 



