ECOLOGICAL WORK IN BOTANY. 
169 
of his work to a treatment of the most evident factor in distribu¬ 
tion, viz., temperature. Light and moisture are very briefly 
treated. His discussion of geographical botany is quite complete 
and very interesting; treating at some length the distribution of 
cultivated and native plants, the geographical origin of cultivated 
plants and the probable origin of existing species. 
The year 1859 was ma< 3 e memorable by the appearance of a 
book whch gave a great stimulus to the study of all biological 
phenomena, but especially to that of adaptation, Darwin’s “ Origin 
of Species.” Of all the works which preceded, this one dealt 
most directly and scientifically with the origin and meaning of 
adaptation. Following this first great work came further studies 
on the adaptations of plants—Insectivorous Plants, Climbing 
Plants, The Power of Movement in Plants, Animals and Plants 
under Domestication, etc. His books are mainly records of 
observations on plants as they grew in nature; they are briefly 
treated here, not because they are unimportant, but because they 
are so comparatively well known. 
The value of Darwin’s work lay not only in the wealth of obser¬ 
vation and discovery of natural laws, but in the stimulation it 
gave to further study and experiment. Some who received and 
believed his theories sought to verify them by further work and 
observation, others, differing from him, busied themselves with 
observations and experiments to overthrow his theories. 
Among those who oppose Darwin’s explanation of variation 
and the origin of species is Henslow, who stands almost alone 
in his belief that species have arisen by self-adaptation to the 
environment. 
The methods and spirit of Charles Darwin were not restricted 
to England, but spread rapidly to other lands. The most fertile 
soil for the seed he had sown proved to be in Germany and the 
Scandinavian countries, with fewer though no less important 
workers in France, Switzerland and Italy. 
In Germany we find the work of Anton Kerner von Marilaun, 
professor in the University of Vienna, beginning in 1863 and 
continuing down into the recent period of ecological work. His 
work may be judged by his “ Pflanzenleben,” published in 1888, 
